Min. Size

I was just wondering what some of your personal minimum sizes for keeper crappies would be. I am catching a lot of them as of lately but they are boarder-line, in my opinion. Although the ones that I have been keeping are at my personal size limit of no less than 9 inches. Just let me know what you think.

Thanks–Lars

i’d say 9″ is a good size.

I would have to agree also, 9 inchers on up for the most part but…if you wanted fish to eat and needed a few smaller ones to make a mess I don’t blame anyone for keeping smaller ones too.

I let all my crappies go…..thats just what i do

9 inches sounds good to me, crappies usually have the thick back on them when they get about that long

Depends if i have to have fish and if the lake needs more crappies. Or i picture what the fillet will look like and is it worth cleaning and eating.

Depends where I’m at. In some places, it’s not unlikey that there may be two or three strong year-classes of crappies. Rathbun, Coralville, and MacBride are right in that class of water. If I’m catching 8″ crappies, I’ll probably continue the hunt until I get into the bigger slabs. If I’ve hunted long enough and am still stuck on the 8″ fish, I’ll start keeping them.

After all, nothing is better than a mess of crappies… Mmmmm.

Who says you have to fillet those smaller ones. Just head and tail them and fry um’ up. You wont waste any of the flesh on them. I prefer them that way…..Tony

I was fishing with a friend of mie this last week and he too does something similar.

He scales them,head and tails them , of coarse guts them, then pan frys them….

No Waste !! and he said the skin add to the flavor !!