The ten-year fishing ban policy in the Yangtze River provides a key research opportunity to reveal the adaptive response mechanisms of fish life history strategies to the lifting of fishing pressure. This study estimated the life history parameters of Collichthys lucidus using linear mixed-effects models, von Bertalanffy growth equation, and length-converted catch curve, based on samples collected from the resource survey of the Yangtze River Estuary in the pre-and post-fishing ban time periods (2017‒2023). Spawning stock biomass per recruitment models were then applied to estimate the stock status during pre-ban and post-ban period. Finally, short-term changes were analyzed and summarized in the life history characteristics and stock status of C. lucidus after the fishing ban. The results showed that the mean body length of the C. lucidus in the Yangtze River estuary increased from 7.86 cm pre-fishing ban (2017‒2020) to 9.22 cm post-ban (2021‒2023), and the mean body mass increased from 10.12 g to 16.19 g. The results of the optimal linear mixed-effects model indicated that the estimated value of the growth parameter b for C. lucidus was 2.87, and that the estimated values of condition factor a for C. lucidus were 2.32×10–2‒2.36×10–2 during 2017—2021, and then decreased to 2.14×10–2 in 2022 and 2023. Similarly, the growth rate of C. lucidus estimated based on von Bertalanffy's growth equation increased from 0.17 (pre-fishing ban) to 0.26 (post-fishing ban), and the infinite length of C. lucidus increased from 15.86 cm to 19.53 cm. The total mortality coefficient of C. lucidus in the Yangtze River Estuary increased from 0.66 pre-fishing ban to 0.80 post-ban, which was mainly due to the increase of natural mortality coefficient (0.52 to 0.78) after the fishing ban. Spawning stock biomass per recruitment for C. lucidus increased substantially from 0.45 pre-fishing ban to 14.66 post-ban. Before the fishing ban, its biological reference points (F20%, F40%) were 0.23 and 0.13 with corresponding SSBPR values of 0.24 and 0.48, while post the fishing ban these reference points changed to 0.99 and 0.47 with SSBPR increased to 3.08 and 6.16, respectively. Sensitivity analysis showed that the SSBPR model result were highly influenced by the estimation of natural mortality, and as the natural mortality coefficients increased, the corresponding SSBPR20% and SSBPR40% both decreased gradually. The results of this study are expected to provide an in-depth understanding of the resource dynamics of the C. lucidus during post-fishing ban period, and to provide support for the evaluation of the effectiveness of the fishing ban in the Yangtze River.