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Staff writer Mike Zlotnicki can be reached at 829-4518 or mikez@newsobserver.com
Brian McRae, left, studies a fish to determine whether it's a white crappie or a black crappie before he weighs and measures it aboard a boat on Jordan Lake. Fellow biologist Corey Oakley records the information about each fish.
Staff Photo by John Rottet
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After collecting enough crappie for their needs, the biologists beached the skiff in a secluded cove and started the business of "working up" the fish.McRae measured and weighed each fish, announcing the numbers to Oakley, who entered the data on a chart.On the fish that were sacrificed, McRae used a pen knife to cut under the jaw to the fish's skull, split the skull and extracted the otoliths with tweezers. Those then were scraped clean of mucous or blood and placed in tiny paper envelopes for transport to the lab.The pair sacrificed 10 fish from each size class. When each class was accounted for, the remaining crappie were weighed, measured and released. The fish that were released had tiny holes punched in their tails so they would not be counted twice if they were caught again.Killing fish to improve their status sounds counterproductive, but to make an omelet one has to crack some eggs. The fish did not go to waste, however; all 87 were destined for the menu at the Piedmont Rescue Mission in Burlington.McRae had no qualms about his job."It's science in action; I don't look at them as my kids," he said. "It's not like the 10-inch regulation is going to last forever. We'll be out here monitoring the population. If it turns out the [regulation] is not appropriate, we'll change it. Growth rate and condition of the fish will tell us what we need to do."Evidently, the new regulation already is helping to keep Jordan at the forefront of crappie fisheries."We were on some lakes earlier where all the fish were stunted and small," Oakley said. "You want to catch big crappie, come here."McRae said after the trip that 37 percent of the crappie sampled were greater than 10 inches. That was an increase compared to the previous three years, during which approximately 27 percent were greater than 10 inches. Also, the relative weight (fish condition) values for the 8- to 10-inch size class was the second-highest average relative weight since 1998.McRae said all of that information suggests the crappie are healthy and have an adequate food supply.And that's good news for crappie anglers, many of whom drive long distances to sample the fishing at Jordan Lake.
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