Ya, I'll second that. No volleyball or basketball. Zero camps. No band activities, no Jiu-Jitsu training or mat time for any of us has freed up tons of opportunities and time. One thing that is good.. The miles and fuel consumption on these vehicles have come to a screeching hault.

I’m by no means saying that people shouldn’t fish. I think it is a great thing. I personally taught two kids some basics their first time fishing and each caught a few crappie in the process. I would imagine a few new anglers for life will come out of this. I would also imagine a likely record of license sales this year. Which should help in stocking in the future, if that money stays with the PFBC.

I am saying to think twice about keeping as many as we might normally do. Since a bunch more people out there, likely keeping some as well. The stocking system (and natural reproduction) very likely was not putting this rush on fishing into the biologists calculations. With the state possibly taking money from fishing to cover other expenses that this mess has presented, it just might make for the perfect storm of fish shortages for a few years.

Popular, well-known spots like Arthur are gonna get hammered this year. The lesser known spots that are more difficult to access are probably gonna be the ticket for me this summer.

For example.... me and my girlfriend biked about 40 miles on the redbank creek trail on Saturday and we saw maybe 20 people the whole day. Won’t be easy to access the water but you could kayak it, or bust through brush if you are on a bike, or do some wading. The casselman below confluence is like that too. The difficult access is gonna keep the noobs away from spots like that, but water looks super nice.

Might have to work if you want to get away from the crowds this summer but I think it can be done.

Pork I'm wondering if the present situation will be a good test for the need of state regs.

Pymie and Shenango both having crappie creel limit in place and (last I knew) Wilhelm and Arthur not having 'pan fish' regs.

At this point in my life I don't want to clean more than 20 crappie, and I don't think I'd mind measuring (I already try to only keep 9 and over anyway).  Plus, my boat limit would be 40, since my fishing buddy doesn't eat fish.  Even if they were all 12" Pymie crappies I wouldn't want to clean 40 of them.  Not that I've ever had that problem.  
 
I'm not sure the regs would matter though on Arthur.  The DNR hardly ever check anything, let alone measure fish.  

When I go out its 20 by myself or 30 for a two man limit. 10 -12"s. We try to throw the bigger spawners back. Besides, you guys are definelty right. Thats plenty to fillet at one time.

I must agree about regs, in all the years I've fished, I've been asked to see my creel/live well one time and that was, leaving the water after sunset at Wilhelm.

Must be my honest looking face🙉

Lot of pros & cons about over population stunting growth too so I'm not sure, about the over fishing thingy.

I too limit my catch as filleting bunches of fishes at one setting just ain't my forte. 🤔 Come to think of it, catching bunches of fish ain't my luck either, but that's another story. Stupid fish.

Hey speaking of trailering or launching a boat during darkish hours. As I was leaving a launch area this evening I was reminded of a pet peeve of mine.

Don't y'all love it when y'all are backing toward the launch ramp and the guy that's sitting in the lane beside y'all, leaves his head/fog lights on? Hell, even them "tactical" sun glasses, 😎as seen on TV, ain't no match for blinding headlights in the mirrors.

So what I'm askin is, to all the not knowing, when sitting on a launch ramp and it's dark would y'all mind turning y'alls dam headlights off, so somebody else can back into the lane beside you. 😁 Please?

Sure was a beautiful holiday weekend and looks to be more of the same the remainder of the week.

Hope all y'all can find more time to hit the water this week.

Good times and tight lines.

  He says he needs it most of the time. This FC he just bought he could have bought a brand new truck. 95% top brand name crank baits & spinners. He will probably unload the less expensive lures. 
 
 Worst part is I worked at a sporting good store in high school & as a 2nd job for a bit as a adult. So ov course I will sort through every darn lure and organize from Muskie down to Trout and Pan fish. When I was a kid I used safety pins and bent nails for hooks, sticks for bobbers, plastic bags as waders, metal coat hanger with a onion sack & red rubber band for a net, bolts for sinkers,tried making my own boat & some times only had a hand line when skipping school.
 
  Now don't know if I'm in Heaven or Hell with this FC.
 
  crappy  

Let's face it, catching Crappies and other panfish isn't that hard. Minnows n a bobbers arent exactly high on the difficulty scale. With LA becoming the new hotspot, I could see guys taking way more than needed. Which can't do anything but hurt the fishery. The enhancement regs are doing wonders for Shenago. I think it was a season or two late at Pymie. The most we have ever killed was 76 at Wihlem in the early 90s. Those days are long gone. Even with the electric, thats still a lot of work. 20 is a good number. IMO. Thats 40 fillets, which is 2 meals for this household. With this heat wave, those fish won't stay in the shallows too much longer anyways. They've probably already spawned and are in the summer haunts. If you dont know where those spots are, then your not really gonna make any large "scores". Again, jus MHO.

crappiefisher
 They tried a combined limit ov 10 pan fish on Arthur in the past. They didn't notice a difference in quality. 20 Crappie is plenty. 

when they did the 10 fish limit the bluegills where great , the size was outstanding , then they ended the restriction an then the size on them slowly went back down , it was great for a few years, would like to see it restricted again

 The Crappie that I cleaned today from the fridge still had eggs. A couple had red tails from spawning. Haven't been out for a good bit & might not go at all. Make more room for others & not be part ov the "It's so crowded". Dogwood in back yard is in full bloom & the cooler temps starting Saturday & following week should keep the Crappie easy pickens for the average angler.
 
 
crappy

psu_fish
 
I launched from Bear Run on Sunday 5/24. Parking lot at 6:15am had about 4 or 5 trailers. Fished till noon, when we left the lot was darn near full, but its 90% filled with vehicles with no boat trailers. Oh and the fishing was slow. Didn't go fishing for crappie, went hunting for other species and struck out. Did catch one crappie as a by catch.

Sounds pretty similar to my past two times out, trying for the others and not much (a few takes but not landed).  I usually end up trying for crappie for an hour or two to avoid a skunk though.  The launch situation sounds similar too, although I was expecting with Memorial Day weekend and nice weather for it to be a zoo.    
 
They really need to open up the North Shore beach area (not sure if South is closed too), even if they aren't allowing people to swim.  It is packing the other lots and having people park on the sides of the streets (with many no willing to pull off of the road).  The North Shore beach area has probably 300 parking spots in the upper and lower lots that should be open for parking at the very least.
 
It seems that their attempt to keep people off of the beach by shutting those lots is forcing people into much smaller confined areas and causing more distancing issues.  I forget what day we went out last weekend, but the launch next to the sailing base had every spot taken and the entire shoreline filled with people fishing.  I have never seen the bike rental lots as filled as they were.  

My experience last weelend 5.24 also. Great spot, had good bait and heard striper everywhere. Came up empty handed except for bullheads.

At Porter's Cove another guy pulling in around 1AM told me he had his best night in 15 years with stripers the prior Saturday. That is also the same Saturday I couldn't go fishing because my mother in law was coming over.

Sometimes I think I need a new hobby.

so just got off the water and I'll say the alewives are VERY SLIM fished and trolled around most of the lake.  Every since they started letting us throw casting net ale's simply are not there, Well a FEW here and there. heard a couple fish hitting top water only to be large mouth and Of coarse the freaking cats destroying my lures. Almost got myself a kayak on a long cast NOT SEEING THIS FOOL WITH NO FREAKING NAV LIGHTS WHAT SO EVER He said He didn't need them HMMMMMMMMMM next time WON"T BE SO NICE like tonight kayaker's BEWARE LOL   BE SAFE OUT THERE 

The girl Crappie my son gave me yesterday evening still had eggs. He said very few boats out that he could see. Another year of good size Crappie for the lake. They fillet so nice when packed in ice over night. crappy