Personal best Black crappie

[gim]

Crappies take an absolute beating here in the winter.  I would say that the majority of ice anglers are targeting them along with walleye and sunfish.  Our bag limits need to be dropped on crappie here, and soon.  Wouldn't bother me if the harvest for them was closed to coincide with the closure of walleye, pike, and bass season to protect them while they spawn too.  Catch and release would be fine, but filling a livewell of crappies that are full of spawn is just wrong IMO.

[GANGGREEN]

9 minutes ago, gimruis said:

Crappies take an absolute beating here in the winter.  I would say that the majority of ice anglers are targeting them along with walleye and sunfish.  Our bag limits need to be dropped on crappie here, and soon.  Wouldn't bother me if the harvest for them was closed to coincide with the closure of walleye, pike, and bass season to protect them while they spawn too.  Catch and release would be fine, but filling a livewell of crappies that are full of spawn is just wrong IMO.

 

I always tend to be on the conservative side of harvest regulations.  I'd rather be too restrictive than to end up learning a lesson years later when your fish populations are hurting or gone.   That said, I think they can take a whole lot of harvest.  I've spent the first 55 years of my life in northern PA and ice fishing central NY, so I know all about the guys who really target them and harvest up to and including the legal limit at every opportunity.

 

The last two years, I've spent my winters in the southeast and you truly wouldn't believe how large the harvest of Crappie is on these lakes.  Up north there's at least some catch and release ethic on panfish, bass, etc., but down here there's very little of that.  Almost everyone who's targeting Crappie is doing so to kill and eat them.   And they do it quite effectively all winter and all spring long (and maybe to a slightly lesser degree all summer and all fall).  I don't really know what the harvest is on these lakes, but it has to be many, many dozens of tons each year and the Crappie populations on most of the lakes seems pretty strong.   Crappie populations on my home lake down here are much smaller, but that's probably more a reflection of the invasive Spotted bass than it is of angler harvest.  

 

Who knows, as I said, I'm much more conservative in nature and would think that most people should be satisfied with a daily limit of 6 or 8 per day, and certainly ought to be OK with 10 or 15 per day.   I guess the question becomes, what percentage of the harvest would be eliminated by going from 20 to 10 per day or from 50 per day to 20 per day?

[gim]

11 minutes ago, GANGGREEN said:

Up north there's at least some catch and release ethic on panfish, bass, etc., but down here there's very little of that.  Almost everyone who's targeting Crappie is doing so to kill and eat them.

Very few people release them up here.  And people targeting them in the winter release NONE.  Even really big ones that have superior genetics for growing large fish.  I don't ice fish, so that demographic doesn't include me, but ice anglers tend to almost exclusively be meat hunters.  I haven't kept a fish in years, other than a few small pike, which really need to be thinned.

 

Part of the issue here with crappie (and other panfish) is that they are really the only species that does not have a closed season.  So they can be targeted all year round.  The pressure basically never stops, although once walleye/pike/bass/muskie season opens, there is reduced pressure because people target those instead.

 

Do I think the crappie population is suffering here?  In a whole, probably not.  The issue is harvest of larger fish, which are all females.  We have so many lakes that are full of stunted panfish.  Its heading down the same path that northern pike has - too many lakes with an abundance of small, aggressive pike that no one wants.  I don't quite understand why someone would voluntarily release a trophy caliber size bass, but then keep a comparable trophy size crappie without even thinking twice about it.

[Dogface]

6 hours ago, Jar11591 said:

Same for me. I love frying up some crappie. My favorite freshwater fish to eat without a doubt. But every single one I catch is incidental while bass fishing. The few times I’ve gone out targeting crappie, i blank on em and fill the stringer with bluegills and pumpkinseeds. 

 

I have a lake I fish for walleye. There is one section of the lake where I catch more crappie while trolling for walleye than I do walleye. In fact I always troll the section knowing that "hopefully" I'll catch some crappie. 

 

[slonezp]

Fatty.  My pb is 17" but weighed in a hair under 2lbs

[TnRiver46]

Somebody recently set the world record for black crappie in TN and it’s well over double the weight of any I’ve caught 

[GANGGREEN]

56 minutes ago, TnRiver46 said:

Somebody recently set the world record for black crappie in TN and it’s well over double the weight of any I’ve caught 

 

You see those and have to realize that the odds of catching one of those super giants is about the same as winning multi-millions in the lottery.   Those are just genetic abnormalities and they have to be one in 10 million or maybe one in 50 million.  Still, I'd love to catch one of those abnormalities.  

[TnRiver46]

2 minutes ago, GANGGREEN said:

 

You see those and have to realize that the odds of catching one of those super giants is about the same as winning multi-millions in the lottery.   Those are just genetic abnormalities and they have to be one in 10 million or maybe one in 50 million.  Still, I'd love to catch one of those abnormalities.  

I think he got it in a little pond 

[GReb]

I’ve caught a dozen or so in the 2.5-3lb range. Grenada Lake is slam full of them and if you ever want to have a great day charter a trip with one of the guides there. 

[SC53]

1 hour ago, GReb said:

I’ve caught a dozen or so in the 2.5-3lb range. Grenada Lake is slam full of them and if you ever want to have a great day charter a trip with one of the guides there. 

Are they black or white crappie?

[GReb]

52 minutes ago, SC53 said:

Are they black or white crappie?

Both

[roadwarrior]

17 hours ago, GANGGREEN said:

 

You see those and have to realize that the odds of catching one of those super giants is about the same as winning multi-millions in the lottery.   Those are just genetic abnormalities and they have to be one in 10 million or maybe one in 50 million.  Still, I'd love to catch one of those abnormalities.  

Well, for whatever reason, northern Mississippi produces World Record crappie. 

The main lakes are Grenada, Arkabutla, Enid and Sardis. Other well known

destinations include Tunica, Pickwick, Reelfoot and Kentucky Lake. 

[VolFan]

Growing up in Memphis we fished Arkabutla with some regularity- try was amazing for crappie when you found a school of big ones. We had a farm pond on a neighbor’s land that had crappie, green sunfish, and a scant few channel cats. It was only about 5 acres at most but got to about 20 ft in the creek channel that ran through it. Most out of there were 10-12-14 inch fish and super fun but every once in a while there be ***+ at the deep end of the point the spawned on. Probably caught 4 over 3 lbs in 10 years with one pushing but not quite 4. That one even looked old. Great little farm pond.

[Blue Raider Bob]

On 1/27/2023 at 3:02 PM, TnRiver46 said:

Somebody recently set the world record for black crappie in TN and it’s well over double the weight of any I’ve caught 

Lionel Ferguson I think his name was. Five pound seven oz. Private pond in East Tennessee

That's bigger than all but one bass I've ever caught!

[Siebert Outdoors]

Wow.  Thats a big Crappie

[roadwarrior]

A friend of mine caught a 3 lb crappie last year at Pickwick. That was the biggest

I have ever seen.  Hard to imagine a crappie almost  twice that size.

[Blue Raider Bob]

On 2/7/2023 at 1:22 PM, roadwarrior said:

A friend of mine caught a 3 lb crappie last year at Pickwick. That was the biggest

I have ever seen.  Hard to imagine a crappie almost  twice that size.

Yes that's hard to imagine. Think of catching five one pound crappie, and realizing that Lionel's was bigger than the group!

 

I was at Reelfoot one day catching dinks when I came up on an old man in a wooden boat. He said he only got two but they was some biggun's. I took a look. He had an big ole old Blue igloo cooler and his biggest crappie's nose was folded up on one side, and the tail was folded up on the other. The crappie was so old it was white. Hardly any color. I said it was a big drum until the old man picked it up and it's mouth opened. I was, and still am speechless. It was bigger than any bass I had ever caught up to then. I'm not likely to see another five pound crappie again. That was 45 years ago.

[Blue Raider Bob]

On 1/28/2023 at 10:15 AM, VolFan said:

Growing up in Memphis we fished Arkabutla with some regularity- try was amazing for crappie when you found a school of big ones. We had a farm pond on a neighbor’s land that had crappie, green sunfish, and a scant few channel cats. It was only about 5 acres at most but got to about 20 ft in the creek channel that ran through it. Most out of there were 10-12-14 inch fish and super fun but every once in a while there be ***+ at the deep end of the point the spawned on. Probably caught 4 over 3 lbs in 10 years with one pushing but not quite 4. That one even looked old. Great little farm pond.

So you left Memphis too! Memphis Central Alum class of 78'

Left 33 yrs ago. Sure do miss fishing Eastern Arkansas and northern Mississippi. Tunica Cutoff was the most fun a man can have back in the day!

[GANGGREEN]

I suppose that I should mention that I've broken my personal best black crappie again this spring.  This one wasn't as long, but it was just a tiny bit heavier at 2.9 lb. 16.25 inches long versus 17 inches for the previous PR.  I've been having a really remarkable spring for big ones and have now caught at least 22 crappie that surpassed 14 inches in just this calendar year (9 of those surpassed 15 inches, 3 surpassed 16 inches and one made 17" exactly). On the morning that I took the 2.9 pounder, I also caught another 2.5 pounder as well. Just one big one after another this winter and spring and I've been having so much fun with them.  The picture of this one doesn't do it any justice either.   Until this year, I never would have imagined catching even these 2.5-3 pound fish that I've been catching this year, but now I keep adjusting my goals and I feel that it's just a matter of time until I catch an honest 3 pounder and then, who knows........

 

[Jar11591]

@GANGGREEN awesome crappie!

[GaryH]

You are on a roll… great job

[Alex from GA]

Caught a 2-8 several years ago and the next year caught a 2-10 while waiting out rain in a dock.  Took my 8 yo son crappie fishing @ Lake Castaic and couldn't clean them fast enough to what he was catching.  I fileted over 90 that day.

[KP Duty]

On 1/20/2023 at 3:55 PM, GANGGREEN said:

 

No.  I like Crappie, but truthfully, I release 90% of them and I never keep the big ones.  Aside from the fact that they're the more efficient and effective breeders, the big ones simply don't taste as well as a 10" crappie, I don't care what anyone says.

 

Kuddos.  The big ones never taste as good as the small ones...especially with catfish.

[looking45]

Here’s one that was caught a couple weeks ago

[GANGGREEN]

6 hours ago, looking45 said:

Here’s one that was caught a couple weeks ago

 

Holy smokes.  You can never really tell with a photo because of perspective, but that looks like a total slob.  I read yesterday that someone caught a 4.33 pounder the other day on Lake Chautauqua in NY (where I've been known to fish, especially for walleye).  

 

By way of an update, I think I'm now up to 33 Crappie over 14" this calendar year, which for me is remarkable because until this year I had only caught a handful that size in my entire life.   I'm just fishing a lake that doesn't have a ton of Crappie but that DOES have some really big ones.