When I filleted the largest crappie we got today I found maybe 300 freshly eaten pin minnows in the gut. Where we found these hounds this morning the water is absolutely rife with huge shoals of the tiny minnows. The 13s are fun fish so imagine what its like sticking the hook into one of the guys that pull 15" or more of tape. These brutes snap 6 and 8 pound line like they practice it. And actually that 5 pound record black was caught no more than 18 miles from where we were standing today, that fish was over 19". I carry a tape in my pail all the time and when the hefties show up I take time to measure. Today the largest fish were hooked the deepest and would not have lived if released. If they are going to die, I consider them table fare and that includes the small fish.
People have asked why I don't take pictures. Firstly, I have nothing to prove in a picture. Secondly, and probably more important to me, Minnesota and Wisconsin are both, sadly, full of people who would care nothing of raping a resource of big crappies. Minnesota's Upper Red Lake is testament to this. In three short years a prime crappie fishery went from a place where 15 to 17 and 18 inch crappies were as common as dust went to a fishery where an 11 incher today is huge. The Mississippi River in the last thirty years has undergone a transformation from a polluted mess to a wonderful and resourceful body of water. Many of the waters found in Wisconsin that feed the big river have also been cleaned up. As a result, walleyes, sauger, pike, muskies, the basses and the whole of the panfish clan have blossomed and upper size ranges that were almost rare 30 years ago are small by todays standards. Can you imagine a 20" perch? Move over Dakotas because this big river has them now and the numbers are growing in spite of areas where over-harvest threatens.
Until I took a very serious interest in crappies maybe 40 years ago keeping a limit each time out wasn't a problem for me at all. Then things began to get cleaned up a little at a time and the crappie's average size began to increase. Where it took the 15 fish limit to make a decent fry for 4 people, only 10 fish were soon needed to do the same fry. When these big suckers hit the sink I don't keep more than 5 for Carole and I and even at that its two meals. I don't freeze crappies or sunfish. Imagine filleting the 25 that can be legally kept on the Mississippi River. There are those who would do so every day as long as the bite held together. Our more local lake sees that kind of fishing all winter long and today the crappie numbers, especially the large fish numbers, is dwindling. Every once in a great while a 13 will hit the net out there now where 14s were as common as they are on the river. The lake is going downhill fast mostly due to people without scruples who if they aren't fishing have nothing more to do than to sit on the internet to find out where the best big fish bites are happening so it can exploited. I have no desire to fuel that fire and that's all pictures do in my opinion. There's a reason the pools of 4 and 5 of the big river have fish of this caliber. Much of it is food availability. A lot has to do with extensive backwater areas where these fish spawn un-bothered and those young fish can sanctuary. Genetics is a huge factor. But not telling where and not showing pictures of how big also help to keep over-harvest of the true heavy-weights in check.
Gary, some year you should plan a couple day's get-away and fish the fall with me. One can almost bank on Halloween as the start of prime time that can last thru November. maybe have to dress a little warmer but the rewards are super. This is my all-time favorite time of year and the big crappies are one of the reasons why.
