Tennessee record and World Record

[Slab]

So we know our buddy Jam Ferguson's fish was a Tennessee State Record Black Crappie, but I remember someone questioning whether it was a World Record Black Crappie or not. Some articles said world record, others said state record, and I just wanted to know for sure. Seems like the State Record has been confirmed, and the Word record certification process is still underway. Very cool.

Here's a few lines from a story out of the Tennessee Wildlife Magazine.:

"The Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency said the results from a genetic analysis verified the record. An application for a world record status will have to be submitted to the International Game Fish Association.

"TWRA received verification from Prairie Research Institute at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign that Mr. Ferguson’s fish is a pure strain black crappie without any hybrid genes and is being certified as the new state record," TWRA wrote in a release.

The crappie Jam reeled in ended up outweighing Tennessee’s current state record of 4 pounds, 4 ounces. That fish was reeled in by Clyde Freeman in Brown’s Creek Lake, 42 miles east of Jackson, Tennessee in 1985. Ferguson’s crappie ended up weighing in at around 5 pounds and 7.68 ounces with the help of one wildlife officer who found him a proper scale to weigh the fish on.

The fish even busted the scale for the world record black crappie weighing in at an even 5 pounds, caught from a private lake in Missouri in 2006, according to the International Game Fish Association."

Original article can be found here: It's official: Loudon Co. fisherman reels in state, world record-breaking fish | wbir.com

[wicklundrh]

Ed,

It is very cool. I did some research a while back on this as I was curious what the thought process was regarding the catching of said fish within a pond. Obviously, we all have varietions of what we call a river, stream, creek, lake, impoundment, pond, and so on. I was always curious as to IF a fish such as this were to have been caught in a private pond, would it be allowed to earn the tittle of state or world record. It appears as though the community has zero issue with this being in a pond and therefore the record will go as stands. Obviously, the genetic testing was done in order to ensure the fish met the criteria of actually being a pure black crappie (in this case).

Keep feeding that fish in your fish tank at the house! A little more than 4 lbs to go!

[trypman1]

Awesome catch, unreal size!!

[T_om]

Ed,

Keep feeding that fish in your fish tank at the house! A little more than 4 lbs to go!

I always though record fish from "private" ponds was suspect.

Get a nice 120 gallon aquarium, declare it a "private pond" and raise your very own record fish.

Tom

[tenncrappie]

Talked to Jam Ferguson last evening and he told me he will be presented a certificate from the TWRC this friday at their monthly meeting in knoxville as the new state record. He also talk to the IGFA folks and was told he would here from them sometime in Oct.

[wicklundrh]

I always though record fish from "private" ponds was suspect.

Get a nice 120 gallon aquarium, declare it a "private pond" and raise your very own record fish.

Tom

I really didn't have an opinion one way or the other. I just always wondered what they would say "IF" it happened. And then... boom, it happened. It was a great catch by Mr. Fergusun and we have to remember that it did in fact bite the line and he fought it in and landed it. It does make you wonder though where the line would be drawn. There are some pretty big ones in the Bass Pro and Cabelas aquariums.

That being said, I really don't know what the gain would be to do something like that? I would venture to guess that, even if we took a Crappie out of the wild, put it in a pond, nursed it, fed it, babyed it, and so on, we STILL couldn't grow something like this. Those genes are probably 1 in 10billion! That is why I think that, regardless of where it was caught, it was still a record as I'm betting it might take 30 years and millions of fish at a hatchery before you came across ONE that has all the right stuff to grow this big.

My hat is off to Mr. Fergusun for his catch!

[tenncrappie]

And we could take a crappie out of any lake, river etc and also put it in an aquarium and do the same thing. The crappie world could not have got any finer young man to catch this record than Jam Ferguson. Great young man.

[Slab]

Growing crappie is not what this thread is about. Congrats to Jam. Get us a good pic tenncrappie, if possible.

[Hanr3]

Couple of things.
Crappie will only grow as big as genetics and their environment will allow. There no way I will be 6' tall, not in my genetics.

Fish in Basspro tanks are trophies caught locally and donated.

Congrats to him for catching a once in a lifetime monster.

Sent from my XT1710-02 using Crappie.com Fishing mobile app

[jpdawg]

Sounds like a fine young man. I like to see good things happen to good people. Congratulations!