All of these lakes are on the Catawba Chain of Lakes except Lake Monticello, which is in the western part of Fairfield County.

Elizabeth Osier, Region 2 coordinator, noted that, "Some smaller lakes in the region are Wallace in Marlboro County and Dargan's Pond in Darlington County. Electrofishing samples in the spring there show a poor yield. Trap-netting is done for Lake Wylie in the fall, and is more effective than electrofishing in the spring, which is done on smaller lakes."

Officers Osier and Stroud were kind enough to share trap net data with me for Lake Wylie. The total crappie captured during the 2006 study was 167, covering 120 trap set nights. Crappie captured during the 2005 study totaled 136 in 24 trap set nights.

Note that in 2006 only 31 more crappie were collected than were collected in 2005 despite the fact that three times the number of night sets were in the 2006 sample. Numbers per night set were down drastically in 2006.

The total crappie aged in the 2006 study was 258. Males comprised 48.4 percent of the sample; females were 50.8 percent; 0.8 percent were sexually immature. Black crappie captured during the 2006 sampling season ranged from 2 to 10 years old. No young-of-the-year (age 0 or spring 2005-06 spawned fish) were captured and no 1-year-old fish were captured, either. Trap net studies on Lake Wylie have shown poor recruitment. Trap netting on Lake Wylie is targeted to run for three consecutive years starting in 2006.

Crappie fishing in this region has progressively slowed down in the past couple of years. Part of the reason for this is poor recruitment, but there is also an unknown factor involved.

There is no scientific evidence to support some of the theories, but many local fishermen share a common theory. White perch, blue catfish and stripers have a good foothold in the waters of the Catawba Chain of Lakes.

Robert, who works at Catawba Bait and Tackle in Rock Hill, is an ardent fisherman in his own right. I was lamenting poor crappie fishing on Lake Wylie for the past year or so when he made this statement: "When blue catfish and white perch are introduced into a fishery, watch what happens to crappie fishing in the next couple of years; it usually shows a drastic decline."

Blue catfish love to eat crappie almost as much as flathead cats love to eat redbreast bream. Flatheads' preference for redbreast bream has severely curtailed this fishery on the Edisto River -- so much so that a restocking program had to be put into effect.

White perch, of course, do not eat adult crappie, but they do have a ravenous appetite for crappie eggs. Is this a major part of the poor recruitment of crappie on the Catawba Chain?

Bill Nichols and James Covington of Rock Hill are of the same opinion as I am. I have fished Lake Wylie in excess of 100 days a year since the 1960s, and the current crappie population is the lowest I have ever experienced. I keep a daily total of fish that the fishermen in my boat catch, and have records for many seasons. Our catch rate is down around 90 percent. White perch showed up in Lake Wylie several years ago and crappie numbers being caught started on a downhill slide.