A MO buff hunt

[buddyb]

Nice fish Kenney, they are good tasting fish. I found they have a lot of bones but taste good.

[okcaveman]

I always miss the first one, shoot high.

 The conservation guys said they would like to have all of em out of there, they mess the crappie spawn up because they spawn about same time and hog thru the crappie beds...

There were two different kinds, big white ones and smaller blacker ones .

That seems like pretty poor attitude from your conservation folks. I am guessing that they arent fish biologists specifically, but wildlife biologists or law enforcement?
Buffalo are native species. They don't destroy habitat or fish eggs to any appreciable degree. Non-native carp are a different story at times.

Honestly I imagine that one of the species you have in that area are Black Buffalo, a state species of conservation need pretty much everywhere they occur. And those bigmouth buffalo, there are some pretty scary research articles out there on their age structure.

I'm not opposed to responsible harvest of any species, and buffalo are mighty tasty. Just cant believe any knowledgeable biologist would say that

[kennym]

The guys weren't biologists, just the guys who take care of the area.  And just their opinion, I kind of agree with them, the crappie fishing was great when fishing was first allowed right after the lake was built  but now not good at all.

There are also tons of the non native carp in there also.

[okcaveman]

Are the fish smaller? Crappie are really bad about stunting, especially in smaller bodies of water. How big is the lake?
 I'd wager that buffalo have absolutely nothing to do with any change in the crappie, and that its some other factor. Like I said, buffalo are native. So crappie and buffalo would have always interacted during the spawn. Carp are an entirely different story

[kennym]

The crappie are just few and far between.

[Silent footed]

Could be due to water level control or drought.  I do believe black crappie spawn in woody cover and need flooded timber to do the best. When the lake was first built I suspect there was likely flooded timber in the lake bed, and perhaps it has declined, or there have been shoreline improvements altering spawning habitat resulting in population decline of crappies. I also believe black and white crappies have different turbidity requirements, which could mean the problem could very well lie miles upstream. I'm certainly no crappie expert though. Used to catch them on a fly rod when I was a teenager.