I headed out that way to see if I could pick off some larger keepers on the flats and around structure. I found some decent fish, but they were chasing shad or being run off by gar. I put a nice 11" keeper in the boat, but it was slow. That was until I pulled into a cove with massive bait ball. This bait ball was 20 yards in diameter and went from the surface to 12 feet down. They were holding there no matter how many larger fish charged the school. 15 feet off that bait ball was a huge school of fish. Lots of dinks at the top, with lots of keepers 10ft down and larger ones 12-14 feet down. I boated 40 fish, with almost all of keeper size. Only problem, I tossed all but 7 of them back.

Question for those who use one of those crappie measuring tools. A lot of the fish I threw back were over the 9" mark by 1/16-1/8". I really don't want to get in a pissing match with a game warden over 1/16 of an inch. Even worse getting a fine because my board says keeper, but they don't agree. Do any of you worry about them if the tail goes over the 9" mark, but just over? I don't want to hear about letting them get bigger. This school was massive and 10's didn't come up as much as the 9.062 or 9.125s did. I was content with keeping the 7 that I kept and they made some tasty tacos. I wonder if you have concerns on using a board vs how a warden might check them?