3 pound crappie revisited

[Team9nine]

I was digging through the archives looking at old posts, and there were several on 3 pound crappie as kind of being the bar for a true giant. Most guys that posted hadn’t caught a true 3 pound crappie, and the ones that had were typically just a single fish or two over a lifetime of fishing. Most all these posts though were from 2018 or before, making them all “pre-LiveScope.”

I was curious now that FFS has been out for several years, and so well adopted by crappie anglers, is 3 pounds still a “magic” mark for a truly big fish? Have more guys now caught 3 pound crappie since it’s came out? Have you at least set your new PB recently thanks to FFS?

Just curious what everyone’s thoughts are on the subject.

Thanks

[Grainraiser]

A 3lb crappie is really rare in most waters. I don't think your odds improve with Livescope because you still have to fish waters that contain a 3lber. I have been fishing for crappie since 1971 and I have only seen one 3lb crappie in that time. Oddly it was caught in the early 70's on a trotline in a lake located right in the middle of Dallas Texas. I would likely be a lake record but dad was fishing for food not records. I have seen some whoppers since then but never a 3lber. I just looked up the Texas state records for crappie and it's 4.56 for a white crappie caught in 1968 and 4lbs for a black crappie caught in 2002.

[Brag]

I caught my first 3 pounder last year. In fairness, my scale only reads in 1/10 pound increments and the scale was going back and forth between 2.9 and 3.0, but bounced to 3.0 more than 2.9, so I presume the fish was actually somewhere in the 2.95-3.0 range. I didn't have FFS on the boat at the time and now I do. I've only had it for a couple of weeks now, so haven't caught anything approaching that, but personally, my guess is that it's probably going to increase my catch rate a bit, but might not impact size on the top end as much. Although in fairness, I already CAN tell the difference between small fish, decent fish and tanks on the display.

[Kevind62]

My one and only on a 16" cutting board.

[Ketchn]

3 is a bench mark in lots of spots , but rarely attainable locally ,we have ZERO fish over 3 in dfw on the record books last I checked on local impoundments , lots of close fish but get this , the local fisheries fella told me that even though he electroshocks ,traps and even jigs for them doing surveys for ever and ever, he has never ONCE seen a 3 lb crappie on ANY of the lakes in my area .
he went on to tell me he did ketch over 50 in one trap one night that were all over the 2 lb mark out of lake Lewisville back when and Lake Bachman in Dallas was flat full of big slabs in the 2 range as well .
went on to tell me it was very much a possibility my hunt for a local in excess of 3 fish was a waste of my time .
mind you this , my avatar was huge and likely went close to 4 or more , BUT it came from an old ag lake that was not fished by anyone but myself and family back when .
seen a terribly high number of upper 2 lb fish though and to be very sure , my chases after a fish over 3 is not really my thing anyway , I just want to ketch ......(would like to ketcha 3 lb black though, just saying)
and as stated ....best hit spots that have 3 lb crappie if that is what you want to ketch
KABOOM

[slabbandit]

If the lakes you fish have plenty of opportunity for 2 lb fish they have the potential for 3 lbers. What my son and I have done for the last several years is to photograph and "immediately" release any 2 lb or bigger crappie. He even does this with all his guide clients. Of course if they want it mounted that's ok.
When most anglers bring home at least a gallon bag full of fillets why kill a fish that has already got 3/4 of the way to being a 3 lber. Personally a 1.75 is my cutoff for keeping.

[justinp61]

I've never caught a 3# crappie and have only seen a couple, maybe one of these days. If I ever do most likely I'll put it back in the water after taking photos and measurements for a replica mount. I turn back anything over 1 1/2 lb and have for close to 30 years. I prefer to eat 10-12" fish and haven't missed any meals by not keeping bigger fish. Nothing ethically wrong with keeping bigger fish, I just choose not to.

[Grainraiser]

This issue was brought up to a fish biologist on Crappie Connection. A fish over 2 1/4 pounds is pretty close to the end of his/her life expectancy. Depending on the lake she might make 3lbs but it really depends on the lake. In most cases they will die of natural causes before reaching 3lbs. Fish got to have the right genetics to reach 3lbs. Grenada has some beast but I would struggle on that lake because the vast majority of those fish are roamers and they lake stays muddy. Sniping them with Livescope would be the only way I would any chance at one.

[Blue Tin]

I used to fish in CT and we'd just troll white jigs and get 1 or 2 18-20 inch crappie per year. My ex-wife has a 20 incher on the wall.
My taxidermist lived in his folk's basement and his folks would go to a well-known lake that was usually busy with water skiers and such. They caught hundreds a year in the 20-inch bracket. Taxidermy guy used to teach folks how to do fish skin mounts with these giant crappie. Go figure. Anyway, the fish held in one area off a sunken island, you'd see these 2 folks out in a john boat in that area frequently but never knew what they were fishing.

It depends on where you fish, how you fish, and the water quality of the lakes that you fish for truly monster fish of any species.

[Brag]

I used to fish in CT and we'd just troll white jigs and get 1 or 2 18-20 inch crappie per year. My ex-wife has a 20 incher on the wall.
My taxidermist lived in his folk's basement and his folks would go to a well-known lake that was usually busy with water skiers and such. They caught hundreds a year in the 20-inch bracket. Taxidermy guy used to teach folks how to do fish skin mounts with these giant crappie. Go figure. Anyway, the fish held in one area off a sunken island, you'd see these 2 folks out in a john boat in that area frequently but never knew what they were fishing.

It depends on where you fish, how you fish, and the water quality of the lakes that you fish for truly monster fish of any species.

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.