3 pound crappie revisited

[Alphahawk]

Not calling you out and I'm sure there's some truth to what you post here, but catching hundreds of 20" Crappie per year on any lake isn't happening in my opinion. Purely out of curiosity, I just checked the CT state record and it's 4 pounds even, that's for a Black crappie and no mention of any record for Whites. I would think that even a really skinny 20" Crappie would have to hit that mark. Obviously, there have been state records caught that were never certified, but I'm a bit dubious here. My biggest was 17" even and it was right at the 3-pound mark. I THINK I hooked and lost one bigger this year and I've talked myself into believing that it might have been 18" and 4 pounds, but I live in a state that does have 5 pound records for Black AND for White crappie.

When I lived in Middleton, TN I would fish 5 days a week 52 weeks a year without fail. Caught a ton of crappie fishing the Pickwick tail race. Caught several at the 17 inch mark. One day I was invited inside my neighbors house. In his den was a stringer on the wall with 15 mounted crappie all at the 19-20 inch mark. I was flabbergasted when I saw that. Of course I asked him where he caught them and he told me he would take me there. It was at a small private lake not 4 miles from our house. This was in 2002 and the lake was 50 years old then. Seems while it was on private property since the state had built it as a watershed the agreement was to let people fish it. We arrived and pulled into a dirt ramp that had obviously not been used in a while. The lake had silted in and was quite shallow. But there was a creek running thought it. I had a Pinpoint trolling motor and sonar. The motor was extremely expensive for that time, costing about 1200 bucks. It had 5 transducers on the motor had and could lock you onto and track channels. We trolled that creek channel and caught a lot of crappie out of that lake until I left there in 2004. I had several at the 19 inch mark and 14-16 inch fish were common. Up until about 2009 or so I never carried a camera fishing with me. Never carried a scale either so I couldn’t tell you what they weighed. Those places do exist. In my 2 years of fishing that lake never saw another person there.


Regards


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com

[Brag]

When I lived in Middleton, TN I would fish 5 days a week 52 weeks a year without fail. Caught a ton of crappie fishing the Pickwick tail race. Caught several at the 17 inch mark. One day I was invited inside my neighbors house. In his den was a stringer on the wall with 15 mounted crappie all at the 19-20 inch mark. I was flabbergasted when I saw that. Of course I asked him where he caught them and he told me he would take me there. It was at a small private lake not 4 miles from our house. This was in 2002 and the lake was 50 years old then. Seems while it was on private property since the state had built it as a watershed the agreement was to let people fish it. We arrived and pulled into a dirt ramp that had obviously not been used in a while. The lake had silted in and was quite shallow. But there was a creek running thought it. I had a Pinpoint trolling motor and sonar. The motor was extremely expensive for that time, costing about 1200 bucks. It had 5 transducers on the motor had and could lock you onto and track channels. We trolled that creek channel and caught a lot of crappie out of that lake until I left there in 2004. I had several at the 19 inch mark and 14-16 inch fish were common. Up until about 2009 or so I never carried a camera fishing with me. Never carried a scale either so I couldn’t tell you what they weighed. Those places do exist. In my 2 years of fishing that lake never saw another person there.


Regards


Sent from my iPhone using Crappie.com

That's a remarkable story, and I'd dearly love to have a place like that to fish. I'd likely fish it with a fly rod if it was shallow, just to try something cool that wouldn't be easy to do on a lot of Crappie lakes. I have seen and have heard of some really large Crappie taken in parts of TN and Alabama, some by close friends, but usually 17-18" is the limit even to the really big ones and if you look at the charts, by the time you get past 18", you're often approaching state record sizes, especially during the cold-water months when they're starting to bulk up or during pre-spawn periods. As I said previously, I wasn't doubting that there was some honesty involved in that post and I wasn't calling anybody out. Just mentioning that the idea that hundreds of 20" Crappie were caught annually from the same lake is just unimaginable to me, especially up north where they have a shorter growing season.

[Kevind62]

[mperry]

I’ve caught 2 crappie that were over 2 pounds. Both came out of big ponds. I wouldn’t call them lakes. One was a 2.6 and the other 2.12. They were both years ago and I’ve never come close to catching any that big since. Small lakes or ponds can hold big fish also.

[CrappiePappy]

I’ve caught 2 crappie that were over 2 pounds. Both came out of big ponds. I wouldn’t call them lakes. One was a 2.6 and the other 2.12. They were both years ago and I’ve never come close to catching any that big since. Small lakes or ponds can hold big fish also.

INDEED !!

Just ask Lionel Furguson of Tenn or Penny Hopper of KY. (& Penny's state record eclipsed the previous state record by half a pound & the previous record was taken from a farm pond)

[KrappieKrane]

I may be stepping out on the gang plank but here’s my side since I’ve added FFS two years ago.
When I first installed, I tried to catch everything on the screen to learn how to do it. Idmkeep limits to provide enough fillets for two family fish fry’s annually.
Once, I got good or good enough to target better fish, I made a goal to catch my 1st 3lb.
I caught my PB @ 2.66lb and ten over 2lbs in 2023. I fished hard and a lot to specifically target Big Slabs.
Since Jan 2024 until today, I have caught 13) Slabs over 2lbs and a new PB @ 2.91lbs.
The FFS has definitely added to the equation of catching bigger fish but here’s some of the things I’ve learned.
You have to visit waters that has Big Slabs. You can’t make a lake have true Trophies. They’re either there or not. Throw in the factor if the Big Fish are off the bottom, feeding and willing to eat what you’re presenting and the catch rate definitely decreases.
It’s a challenge to cover so much water and find where the fish are on a particular day. And then again, will it bite?
There’s so many challenges to overcome to find and catch a True Giant that’s 3lbs or bigger.
So the answer to the original questions is this:
A 3lb Slab is still a Huge Trophy and They’re still hard to catch with FFS. Luck still plays a part of the winning equation. I’m still searching for one so I can get a Replica made.

[SuperDave336]

I may be stepping out on the gang plank but here’s my side since I’ve added FFS two years ago.
When I first installed, I tried to catch everything on the screen to learn how to do it. Idmkeep limits to provide enough fillets for two family fish fry’s annually.
Once, I got good or good enough to target better fish, I made a goal to catch my 1st 3lb.
I caught my PB @ 2.66lb and ten over 2lbs in 2023. I fished hard and a lot to specifically target Big Slabs.
Since Jan 2024 until today, I have caught 13) Slabs over 2lbs and a new PB @ 2.91lbs.
The FFS has definitely added to the equation of catching bigger fish but here’s some of the things I’ve learned.
You have to visit waters that has Big Slabs. You can’t make a lake have true Trophies. They’re either there or not. Throw in the factor if the Big Fish are off the bottom, feeding and willing to eat what you’re presenting and the catch rate definitely decreases.
It’s a challenge to cover so much water and find where the fish are on a particular day. And then again, will it bite?
There’s so many challenges to overcome to find and catch a True Giant that’s 3lbs or bigger.
So the answer to the original questions is this:
A 3lb Slab is still a Huge Trophy and They’re still hard to catch with FFS. Luck still plays a part of the winning equation. I’m still searching for one so I can get a Replica made.

Good reply and post. I agree

[Kevind62]

[mperry]

INDEED !!

Just ask Lionel Furguson of Tenn or Penny Hopper of KY. (& Penny's state record eclipsed the previous state record by half a pound & the previous record was taken from a farm pond)

I didn’t think a record would count if it came from a pond? Seems like I read that years ago somewhere.

[mperry]

I may be stepping out on the gang plank but here’s my side since I’ve added FFS two years ago.
When I first installed, I tried to catch everything on the screen to learn how to do it. Idmkeep limits to provide enough fillets for two family fish fry’s annually.
Once, I got good or good enough to target better fish, I made a goal to catch my 1st 3lb.
I caught my PB @ 2.66lb and ten over 2lbs in 2023. I fished hard and a lot to specifically target Big Slabs.
Since Jan 2024 until today, I have caught 13) Slabs over 2lbs and a new PB @ 2.91lbs.
The FFS has definitely added to the equation of catching bigger fish but here’s some of the things I’ve learned.
You have to visit waters that has Big Slabs. You can’t make a lake have true Trophies. They’re either there or not. Throw in the factor if the Big Fish are off the bottom, feeding and willing to eat what you’re presenting and the catch rate definitely decreases.
It’s a challenge to cover so much water and find where the fish are on a particular day. And then again, will it bite?
There’s so many challenges to overcome to find and catch a True Giant that’s 3lbs or bigger.
So the answer to the original questions is this:
A 3lb Slab is still a Huge Trophy and They’re still hard to catch with FFS. Luck still plays a part of the winning equation. I’m still searching for one so I can get a Replica made.

We have some small lakes here compared to others. A little over 750 acre (Hardy Lake) and 8,800 acre (Patoka Lake) I caught a crappie out of the smaller one, actually I didn’t catch it. Just got it to the boat, but judging by the mouth it would have probably been well over 2lbs. My wife caught one out of the bigger, Patoka, lake that was right at 18 inches and full of eggs. Didn’t have a scale to weigh it. All the fish that I’ve caught, 2lbs and over, was before livescope. I find myself playing with the livescope more than fishing. When I have fished I have never come close to seeing any that big. I don’t really target them Though either. I also don’t think Indiana has that many over 3lbs.