Personal best crappie

[Brittany Chukarman]

Caught my personal best crappie yesterday. The day started out slow. I'd hit about 5 spots and was scratching out a catch of small crappie,some bluegill and perch. I owed a ranch some panfish in a swap for beef burger. I checked an underwater ridge and located a pod of fish 25' down. Lots of bass on this ridge but I decided to try it anyway. Hooked a heavy fish right off. I thought it was a bass but it felt different. It came straight up and surfaced 10' from the boat. That's usually when they get off, when their head breaks the water. He stayed hooked and I got him in the net. I didn't weigh it but I think it was pushing 3 pounds. 16" long, thick and deep girth. The boat swung off the ridge so I re-anchored and caught a solid 14"er. After that the wake board boats made it impossible to stay on them. Many days on the water to catch a crappie this big.

 

[Treeshark]

Legit 16” crappies are rare, beautiful fish!

 

[Duck-Slayer]

Very nice, my rod/reel fishing has been almost non existent this year! Congrats
Matt

 

[Elkmagnet]

Great fish!

 

[noharleyyet]

Yum…

 

[Jnasa]

That’s a nice one.

 

[Mallardsx2]

16” crappie are rare but we catch the $hit out of the 14”’ers.

 

[Southern Elk]

My old man really got into crappie fishing once he retired. He catches a few 16” fish and lots of slabs. Nothing beats crappie filets.

 

[WapitiBob]

13" is as big as they get up here. Been a weird year with early algae and no crappie, then they moved in but weren't really schooled up. Still did OK.

 

[Elkmagnet]

I think we all missed an opportunity here.
Ugh umm.
16" Thats a STUD!

 

[Gut Shot]

When I was a kid (late 1970's through the 80's) I caught a few 16-17" whites. Those were the days...no limits and didn't keep fish under 10" (Ok, we kept some fat 9"er's). Lake Odessa, Iowa.

 

[gouch]

I have caught two 16" crappy in my life and both times it was while bass fishing.

 

[wvhunter304]

Awesome fish. Congrats.

 

[squirrel]

They segregate by size so the best place to get a second 16 is within 3' of the first one!!

I dont usually shoot crappie but a boat captain kept going on and on and on about crappie this and crappie that... so one time I saw an exceptional crappie and poked it. Turned out to go 16.5". I pulled it out of the bag and asked what kind of fish is this?? I thought he would fall overboard he swooned so hard. Id have to say they are one of the prettiest freshwater fish out there when they drop in in formation to see what you are. A very graceful fish.