Testing the Limits of FFS

Mississippi is a long way from Texas, but big news recently surfaced in a local newspaper there that is sure to pique interest among crappie buffs across the Lone Star state and beyond. The story centers on the use of forward facing sonar.
On June 21, Clarion Ledger outdoors writer Brian Broom reported that Mississippi’s Commission on Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks voted to cut daily limits at four of the state’s more popular crappie lakes — Grenada, Enid, Sardis and Arkabutla Lake. All are well known for producing big crappie.
According to the story, the main reasons for the reduction hinge heavily on the growing popularity of forward facing sonar (FFS), and budding concerns among state fisheries biologists and anglers alike that the technology has made catching crappie so easy they believe it could damage the fisheries without measures to help curtail the harvest of large fish.
Daily crappie limits on the aforementioned lakes were slashed from 15 crappie to 10 over 12 inches per angler per day, and no more than 25 crappie per boat, per day, according to the newspaper report. The new limit goes into effect July 24.
Keith Meals, a regional fisheries biologist with the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, told the newspaper the changes were implemented following a three-year study that showed forward-facing sonar usage among anglers on three of the lakes — Sardis, Enid and Grenada — jumped significantly over the course of the study period.
"In that three-year period we saw our fishermen using live sonar increase from 20 percent to 70 percent and it’s probably higher than that, now,” Meals told the paper.
The biologist added that the study results showed that anglers who were using FFS were catching 2-3 times more fish than non-users, and that the main goal behind the more restrictive limit is to try to maintain a quality fishery in size, the newspaper reported.

Getting to Know FFS

FFS is all the rage these days in tournament and recreational fishing arenas nationwide. In skilled hands, FFS helps detect fish and cover from a considerable distance. It also allows for making precise bait presentations to fish and, more importantly, seeing how they react. Sometimes it’s possible to hound an individual fish with different baits until it bites, and depict large fish from smaller ones.
It’s cool stuff.
The technology has been so effective in bass tournaments that it has been banned from use in a few events. Earlier this year, Alabama-based BASS formed a special committee that is currently evaluating the use of the technology in its Elite Series events.

Zero in on Crappie

Some will argue the technology is even more effective for crappie fishing. In Texas, crappie are the third most popular freshwater fish behind bass and catfish. The school fish are highly sought for table fare.
Prolific in nature, crappie spend most of their lives suspended in the water column over deep water. They like to gather around brush piles, bridges, standing timber and docks.
Crappie anglers have historically dunked baits around potential sweet spots with a hope and a prayer, and caught plenty of fish doing it. Live sonar eliminates the guesswork. It helps anglers pinpoint fish in short order and keep baits in front of their noses.
There is no shortage of good crappie lakes in Texas, where a liberal statewide limit allows anglers to keep 25 fish daily, 10 inches or more. The exceptions are Toledo Bend, Caddo and Nasworthy, which allow 25 fish daily with no minimum length limit; and Lake Texoma, 37 fish daily with a 10-inch minimum.
The question has been raised more than once to Texas Parks and Wildlife Department inland fisheries staff as to whether or not the use of FFS might eventually have a negative impact on Texas crappie populations under the current regs.

TPWD: No worries about populations

TPWD fisheries biologists Dan Bennett and Jake Norman don’t think so.
Both men were heavily involved in a 2022-23 study carried out on eight lakes — Tawakoni, Fork, Pines, Palestine, Sam Rayburn, Richland Chambers, Ray Hubbard and Oak Creek. The purpose of the angler creel study was to learn the difference in catch and harvest rates between live sonar users and non-users.
Norman said 1,200 anglers were interviewed during the study. About 57 percent of them were using FSS. He said FFS users accounted for 64 percent of harvested fish.
Bennett said the study showed the average number of crappie harvested per day by a live sonar user is about 7-8 fish.
“The main finding is that crappie populations are not at risk of collapse due to FFS,” Bennett said. “There is a relatively small percentage of crappie anglers that harvest 10 or more crappie. You're not going to see a large number or anglers, or the crappie population, impacted by lowering the bag limit.”
Bennett said the study found that, on average, FFS users catch and harvest about double the number of fish per hour than non-users. “Since the average fishing trip lasts about 4-5 hours, we are talking about four or five more fish harvested per person,” he said.
The Texas study also showed FFS users were more size-selective in the fish they harvest. Bennett said that group harvested more 11-12 inch fish, and voluntarily released smaller, legal-length fish that he believes contribute to the bulk of the annual spawn.
“I think we are seeing a lot of self regulation come out of this Live Scope phenomenon, which may be a silver lining,” Bennett said. “Some anglers are concerned about the possible over harvest of larger brood fish, but I would say in reality the 9-10 inch fish are more responsible for future production each spawn, because there are so many more of them than the fish over 12 inches.”
Norman contends crappie crowds have nothing to worry about as far as technology harming their fisheries. Like Bennett, he believes lowering the limit on crappie could lead to reduced growth rates by increasing the competition among smaller fish.
“Our data did confirm the potential to reduce the overall abundance of larger fish, but it also supports the idea that we will not see a decline in populations, regardless of improved technology or increased harvest,” Norman said. “Our regulations are not intended to create trophy crappie fisheries. They are aimed at insuring sustainable harvest.”
Norman added the anglers would need to harvest over 80 percent of all legal crappie in a reservoir, regardless of growth rate, before there would be a meaningful decline in population abundance. “It is essentially impossible for harvest rates to reach anywhere near 80 percent, suggesting we cannot ‘fish down’ our crappie in most Texas waterbodies.”

Some guides concerned

Toledo Bend fishing guide Stephen Johnston of Hemphill isn’t so sure about that. Johnston is concerned about whether or not our lakes will be able to keep up with modern fishing pressure and FFS usage. And he isn’t alone.
Johnston says the amount of fishing pressure and guide operations chasing crappie have increased significantly in recent times. He noticed a big spike during the pandemic, and the pressure hasn’t let up yet.
“Ten years ago, I never would have dreamed it would be like this,” Johnston said. “It seems like everybody wants to crappie fish nowadays, and most of them have FFS. I’m not saying technology is a bad thing, but I think TPWD really needs to keep an eye on things as far as the crappie populations on every lake. You might not see it now, but if we had a couple of bad years spawning the fish might not ever catch back up.”
Veteran Lake Fork guide Gary Paris of Quitman is another angler who is concerned about the potential impacts FFS usage might have on crappie populations, especially on lakes known for producing numbers of large fish. Lakes Fork, Lake O’ the Pines and Palestine are three impoundments he named. He thinks a 15-fish, 10-inch limit might be a good fit on those lakes.
Paris is a FFS junkie himself. He has a number of clients from up north who come to Lake Fork each year because it has an abundance of 11-13 fish.
“They always tell me they can’t catch fish of that quality up north,” Paris said. “If FFS could eventually hurt the population of large crappie on this lake — and I think it already has — what happens then? Are people going to continue to come fishing here for the 10 inchers? I don’t think so. What would that do to the economy?”
Here’s another scenario Paris pondered.
“If the bigger fish are thinned out, it makes sense that anglers would start keeping the smaller fish to fill their limits,” Paris said. “How long would that population be able to hold up to all the pressure?”
Mike Wheatley is a veteran crappie guide on Sam Rayburn. Between three boats, his operation averages cleaning 5,000-6,000 crappie for clients each year. He says he wouldn’t be opposed to a reduced daily bag limit of 15-fish, 10-inches statewide.
Like many guides, Wheatley and his wife, Cathy, do most of their crappie fishing around dozens of brush piles placed at strategic depths. He frequently has as many as eight clients in the boat, all gunning for a 25-fish limit. Sometimes they fill their limits. Other times they don’t. He sometimes wonders how long the lake can hold up to the pressure.
“I don’t know if it’s 100 percent because of FSS or increased fishing pressure, but we have definitely seen our numbers go down over the last 2-3 years,” Wheatley said. “I don’t want FFS taken away, but I believe it has certainly opened the door to the possibility of some over harvest under the current limits. More people are getting FFS, and they know how to use it.”
Here’s something else to think about.
Technology knows no boundaries. Some believe FFS as we know it today is only the tip of the iceberg compared to what might surface in the future.
It’s hard to imagine something better than modern day FFS coming along, but it will. Industry leaders may already have the next best thing sitting on the shelf somewhere, just waiting until the time is ripe to unveil it.
You can bet fishermen will take the bait. Wait and see.
Matt Williams is a freelance writer based in Nacogdoches. He can be reached by email, mattwillwrite4u@yahoo.com .