Do you ever catch small crappie pulling cranks?

[hunter71]

I just started this crankin thing and only been twice. First time I caught 11 1/2 and 12 1/2. Next time 12 1/2 and 13 1/2. I had to work for those. I caught couple large mouth that I am not sure what he was going to do with the lure one they got it. I pulled back threw same location several time times. Look like there would be more smaller ones than bigger ones around.

[M R Dux]

It depends on the population and several other factors. Earlier this summer we were probably AVERAGING 13+ inches on our crankbait crappie with very few short fish. Recently in the same areas it has been just the opposite.

I think the crankbait is more a large fish bait than most other baits since we target the more aggressive fish with it. Noting finesse about a 10 inch crappie hitting a 4 inch long bait. I have caught crappie as small as 6 inches on Bandits and c55s. The bait looks almost as large as the fish and it is often hard to tell if the little guys are on the bait.

[CrappiePappy]

I've caught many a "dink" Crappie when pulling cranks ... some weren't much longer than the crank, itself.

I believe that there are times when Crappie will school with their own year class (size), and times when they can be a mixed group of sizes. It could also be the density of year class sizes of the lake you're fishing, that determines how often you will encounter the smaller fish.

... cp