Sunday is the official kickoff of the 2019-2020 crappie restriction on Lake Fork. From December 1st until the last day of February, anglers are required to retain the first 25 crappie caught.

Ordinarily the statewide rules for crappie is a 10-inch minimum length limit and a 25-fish bag limit. During the special season there are no minimum length limits and anglers are required to keep the first 25 fish caught.

Historically in these months shad will form giant schools and migrate to the deeper areas of the lake. The deeper water will be warmer than the surface temperatures; the shad will succumb to the frigid water temperatures the shallows experience during winter. Large schools of shad form up in the deeper, warmer water, along with large schools of crappie following the shad.

Fish pulled from 30 to 40-foot depths quickly may not be able to decompress their swim bladders. These fish that did not make the minimum length limit had to be released and the majority ended up as food for turtles, bald eagles or other birds.

TP&W recognizing the waste of the resource, put the special season into place at Lake Fork.

Most of the fish caught are close to 10 inches and make spectacular filets so the anglers win. The smaller fish are not wasted so the fishery wins. Both lakes have outstanding crappie populations so it’s an outstanding program all the way around. Keep in mind the “slabs”, or bigger crappie are still in the mix so limits may only have 10-inch plus fish even during the special season.