Reelfoot follow up

Hymie3

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Sep 7, 2018
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Southeast TN
Made it out Monday afternoon to go see our blind(rd27) and sure enough it was sheared off at the floor. We lost everything inside the blind but did manage to recover about 80% of our decoys. Oh, We did find one other item which is a mr buddy heater attached to a 5 lb propane tank. The tank was floating and the heater was buried in the mud still connected by the hose. Glad no one hit it in a boat. Recovered our decoys and got out of there. We ended up finding a public timber hole close to black bayou refuge and scratched out a few mallards. I will say if your going out there this year and get drawn you have to eat at boyettes. Some of the best eating I've had in a while. Sadly, eating was the highlight of the trip…. Oh well we will try it again next season.
I was telling my buddy that the crappie fisherman are going to snag some crazy items this spring if they fish in our blind area hahah.
 

TheLBLman

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Jun 12, 2002
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Knoxville-Dover-Union City, TN
I remember that.
Only restaurant I've ever been to that served fresh fried crappie.
Actually, I think there was another nearby restaurant or two that did as well, just don't remember their names, but they were very close by, same area.
Seems one was "Martha Parker's"? "Blue Bank's"? "Lakeview"?
 
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Hymie3

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Southeast TN
I had pork chops one night and fried chicken the next. I ate so much I couldn't breathe. Both were excellent and they give you so much food it's crazy. And not expensive. I wish it was closer to my house. I would be a regular 😁. My buddy got the catfish. Had three pieces with the option to upgrade to all you can eat. He's a fat boy and couldn't get past the three….
 

GUNNERX2

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Apr 22, 2018
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Ridgetop, TN
My 1st trip to Reelfoot in 1974, most all the restaurants had fresh fried crappie. Don't remember when the commercial fishing for crappie stopped. It was also during that time that blinds and roadhouses got dynamited on a regular basis. It was a different time indeed.

It appears that commercial crappie fishing stopped in 2003.
 
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RUGER

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My 1st trip to Reelfoot in 1974, most all the restaurants had fresh fried crappie. Don't remember when the commercial fishing for crappie stopped. It was also during that time that blinds and roadhouses got dynamited on a regular basis. It was a different time indeed.

It appears that commercial crappie fishing stopped in 2003.
As soon as crappie were listed as a game fish I believe.
 

SEC

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Nov 1, 2010
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I remember a fish market in Jackson tn selling scaled headless crappie with a lil tag in there back proof that they were caught commercially at Reelfoot lake.
 

Hawk

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Sep 3, 1999
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west tenn.
I remember a fish market in Jackson tn selling scaled headless crappie with a lil tag in there back proof that they were caught commercially at Reelfoot lake.
Rumor was that many crappie came from from other waters. Takes lots of fish of size to furnish fish markets and restaurants with enough to sell.:rolleyes:
 

Dodge Man

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Oct 15, 2003
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Dyersburg, TN
I don't remember the year the Reelfoot area restaurants stopped serving crappie, but believe it was many years before 2003.

On the other hand, might just be that I seldom ordered fish in an area restaurant back then, as simply was catching all I wanted to eat.
I think a few years before they totally stopped commercial fishing they lowered the limit so much that it wasn't worth the fisherman to keep catching them to sell.
 
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