Smallest Crappie that you are willing to keep and eat?

[Moose1am]

I was wondering what size the crappie have to be before everyone keeps them and takes them home to eat? 10"? 12" or would you keep an 9" or even a mess of 8" crappie?

If you keep small crappie how to you clean them? Do you just gut and scale them and cut the heads and fins off? Or do you try to filet small crappie?

I can't seem to find the large crappie in the lake that I fish. They are all small size. I can catch plenty of these small buggers but I am getting to the point that if I can't find a bigger crappie I may have to get a road trip planned.

[S10CHEVY]

I was wondering what size the crappie have to be before everyone keeps them and takes them home to eat? 10"? 12" or would you keep an 9" or even a mess of 8" crappie?

If you keep small crappie how to you clean them? Do you just gut and scale them and cut the heads and fins off? Or do you try to filet small crappie?

I can't seem to find the large crappie in the lake that I fish. They are all small size. I can catch plenty of these small buggers but I am getting to the point that if I can't find a bigger crappie I may have to get a road trip planned.

I usually don't keep them smaller than ten inches. I filet all that I keep. Its quicker than gutting and scaling. If we are catching them mostly 12 and over, then we make 12 the smallest. Don't you feel like your the only one catching them 9 and below right now, cause here in western Pa, that is about the biggest we are catching too. Keith

[Indy-Travis]

When times are good, we keep them 10-12" and release the smaller/larger ones. I have filleted some 8-9" crappie though, just depends how bad I want a mess. Besides, I grew up cleaning blue gill, so cleaning smaller crappie is not a big chor.

[crappieseeker]

Alot of lakes and areas have size limits these days where the fish have to be atleast 9 inches in some places and 10 inches in others. I agree with Indy Travis, if you ever clean bluegill, a 9 inch crappie isnt hard to fillet, and they actually have more meat than it looks if you fillet it right.

[chaunc]

As Keith said, here in n/w Pa., we dont have a size limit. If i want to have a fishfry and the only fish biting are 8-10"s, i'll keep some and fillet them. Those smaller crappies dont have as much meat on them but they sure taste good. Right now my home lake is producing lots of bigger fish so i've been keeping them 10 and better. I've also been filleting 7-9" gills too.

[Roberta]

It really depends on the lake. Most lakes around here don't have a limit and some consistently produce larger crappie - like GLSM. Our closest and favorite lake has tons of small crappie and if you're willing to clean them you can fill a cooler with 7 and 8 inch fish.
When we first got back into fishing, we kept anything over 8", but the occasional 7.5 snuck in there, too. As we improved, we kept moving up the size. Absolute minimum now is 9, but we're real close to changing that to 10. We only keep a half dozen fish for the two of us anyway, so we don't need to keep the little ones.
I clean the small ones just like the others - scale and filet. We like the skin on. It's not a bad idea for some smaller fish to be taken if the lake's getting overrun by dinks.. They're tasty - it just takes more of them to make a meal. - Roberta

[fatboy]

Here in Tennessee, the only lake I know of that doesn't have a size limit is Reelfoot. Two years ago the TWRA went from nine to ten inch minimum. Of course now, i have thrown back no telling how many this year being a quarter to a half inch short.

[Cane Pole]

The fish here in Tennessee have gone to school and know the length law.... I catch plenty between 9 to 9 1/2 inch...When I start catching lots of these little buggers, I just move to deeper water....Has worked for me the past 1/2 century....However, if I have the Grandkids, I stay where the fish are biting...The kiddies don't care how long the fishies are, just get um. It is entertaining for this old man...The kiddies also bring different friends, most of whom have never been fishing....It is a real treat for me....Sometimes I think young parents are lost in making a living than living and showing off rather than showing how...MY thoughts for what it is worth....

Happy Crappie Days

Cane Pole

[cmistfp]

The fish here in Tennessee have gone to school and know the length law.... I catch plenty between 9 to 9 1/2 inch...When I start catching lots of these little buggers, I just move to deeper water....Has worked for me the past 1/2 century....However, if I have the Grandkids, I stay where the fish are biting...The kiddies don't care how long the fishies are, just get um. It is entertaining for this old man...The kiddies also bring different friends, most of whom have never been fishing....It is a real treat for me....Sometimes I think young parents are lost in making a living than living and showing off rather than showing how...MY thoughts for what it is worth....

Happy Crappie Days

Cane Pole

I live in a nice home in a subdivision that has many young families . Both parents work full time for the most part . They don't really do much with their children . Sure they buy them lots of nice things to occuppy the kids . Isn't that sad ? I'm not trying to offend anyone that does this out of a genuine need . But most here do it to afford a higher costing lifestyle . Notice I didn't say better ? I grew up dirt poor with very little . But my Father did take me fishing on sundays . It didn't cost much and sometimes yeilded a nice meal or at least a few good stories. I get to tell my kids those stories when we fish which makes us closer . That 10 bucks I spent on that zebco outfit for my kids is the best 10 bucks I've spent. Just take a look at the brag board with my kids pics . You'll se the joy in my daughters eyes holding her crappie she caught . It just makes it all worthwhile . Just my 2 cents. Chris

[Sam W.]

Our lakes here have a 10" minimum on crappie, and we have some mighty tasty fish fries with the ones of that length or larger.

If I can't catch enough crappie to make up a mess of fish, I'll sometimes tie a small Roostertail on a light rig and go along the rocky banks catching lots of green sunfish (called Black Perch locally) and bluegill (Bream to you Southerners). For those I have an 8" mark on my rod handle - and if they're 8" they go in the live well. They have a little more meat than a crappie of the same size, and there are only a couple of bites in each filet but they sure are good.

I just filet 'em all with an electric knife and a good cleaning table. Cleaning works out to about 1 minute per fish, including clean up - unless I have some catfish which take longer to filet and skin.