Small Crappie

[robbor]

Just wondering, I never seem to catch really small crappie. You guys catch many micro crappies. Smallest ive caught is probably 3.5 or 4" with most of the dinks being about 5-7. I yuse really small lures, smaller than probaably all of you guys. Ive caught bluegill 1-2" but never a crappie.

[chaunc]

I've caught hundreds under 5" on Shenango lake in Pa. We've had good hatches now for the past 5 years.

[billr12]

I've never caught any crappie under 5 inches. I wonder where they are until they get bigger? That may explain how you can catch a lot of 10 to 15 inch crappie on tiny baits or lures.

[grubby]

I catch a lot of 4 to 6 inch crappie on minnows 2 inches long. so i dont think the size of bait your using has any thing to do with it. If they are hungry they are going to eat.

[CK14]

i don't catch many of them, but i have caught some under 3" at one lake (were the size average for crappie is like 6" :D )

[bama647]

i havent caught any under 4 inches myself. id love to have a 2 or 3 inch crappie for my fish tank. anyone ever tried this?

[crappiefarmer]

I don't think that they eat many minnows when they are under 3 or 4 inches. feed on plankton and very small minnows like fry size and other small organisms until they get big enough to eat minnows then they start growing like crazy. CF

[fish.on]

I caught one on a 1/64th ounce jig that was barely longer than my jig. I think I got the record small crappie. May be someone out there caught a smaller one would be interesting to know. Was in a tournament that day too. My partner finally forgot about it and quit razzing me.

[Glowgood Jigster]

I caught one around 3" on a small jig this last fall that surprised me, first dink we'd caught. All the other fish on that jig were bluegill. So I unhooked and released it, but it wouldn't swim away, just layed on top until a big bass came up and SPLASH!!! ATE IT!
It was really heartbreaking this past Christmas week when we were geocaching along a river coming out of the local mercury/crappie lake. Very High waterflow, and cold water. There were dozens of dead baby crappie and bass no more than 1-2" all along the bank. Talking to a few people later from the area, they said probably these fish were sucked out of the lake during drawdown and washed downstream. Probably happens at most flood control reservoirs. Still pretty sad to see.

[wrwest]

I was playing with a fly rod last year and was catching a lot of dinks 3", small gills and red ears. It was still fun