Really big crappie

Alright so here is the dilemma. I’ve been trying to catch a really big crappie (15+ inches) for years. I give it a go every spring after ice out until about mid May. I primarily fish a lake that is known and proven to have them, as I have seen them with my own eyes, caught by others every year. So I know they are there. So far the biggest I’ve personally caught is about 13 inches. I can routinely get into 11-12 inchers but never anything much bigger. I release all of them.

My question is this: if I’m catching 12 inchers regularly, should I stay put and expect that a freak 16 incher is going to show up at some point and find my bait/lure? Or do I need to move? I assume that even the largest crappies in the lake have to come in shallow for reproduction at some point too, just like all the other crappies, right?

I’ve asked some others on this forum and other forums but don’t get good answers, if any at all. People don’t seem to want to reveal their strategy (which is fine, I don’t blame them for not telling secrets like this). So if you have some suggestions, I’m all ears. The time will soon be upon me for this annual quest. Thanks

Are you sight fishing them? That is how I find my bigger crappies in that range. I get the boat up really shallow in pencil reeds and look for them. Obviously not all lakes are clear enough or have this type of vegetation, but I have done this on several lakes near where I live and up North.
Once I find them I spotlock (used to anchor) and just pester them until bite. Many times they spook as you are moving around, but they will come back.
My wife and I caught probably 30 one day years ago before we had kids that were over 14 inches with a few 16’s. I couldnt believe it. Havent replicated a day even close since and have tried every year.

If your catching 12″er regularly you need to call me and take me out. Maybe I can be good luck for you to catch the 16″ fish. lol

bigcrappie wrote:

f your catching 12″er regularly you need to call me and take me out. Maybe I can be good luck for you to catch the 16″ fish.

I’m not interested in 12 inchers anymore. Been there, done that. I’m after the big foot of crappies!

Fish a little deeper. Be stealthy. A 16″ crappie is a 12+ year old fish that has seen lots of his buddies disappear.

This would be everyone’s dilemma.

How about fishing for them at night? I usually target them during daylight hours in the spring when the sun is warming up the water, but never after dusk. People obviously catch them at night during the winter.

I have had my biggest crappies come at dusk or just after when it gets dark out in the spring. In fact every open water crappie over 13.5 inches I have ever caught have all been after sunset and with in an hour after.

jbg1219 wrote:

I have had my biggest <em class=”ido-tag-em”>crappies come at dusk or just after when it gets dark out in the spring. In fact every open water <em class=”ido-tag-em”>crappie over 13.5 inches I have ever caught have all been after sunset and with in an hour after.

Thanks, I’m going to try this.

I’d find the deep edge of the warm water you are fishing during the day and hit that right at dusk. I’d also upsize my lures….think 3″ plastics, #4 rippin raps, or even a big fathead on a float.

I fish for big ones on the river so it’s a bit different but I don’t find the big ones with other crappies. I find them with the walleyes hunting. Biggest ones I have caught are on #5 shadraps and 4″ moxies.

Of course, the biggest I ever caught was 16″ caught in the middle of the day on a tiny jig so I might not know anything.

Fish last few hours at dusk. That is my advice. Or in spring, fish deep in the weeds in the pockets where you can get a small float in. The big males are on beds once the water warms. It won’t be long! Here is last years 15″ from a southern lake not known for crappies.

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Nice eyeguy507! That’s a real dark one.

gimruis wrote:

Nice eyeguy507! That’s a real dark one.

thanks…… big spawning male and the darkest I ever got too. All day I threw all sorts of proven crappie lures and in the end. worm under a bobber!

When a lake has a night bite they will go all night and might not even start ’till after sunset, if you hear the lake does NOT have a night bite that does not mean things will not still be going into the dark. Last 15 I got in the metro was on a snowy fall day fishing a fathead near the bottom they start to act more like Walters at that size.

trolling for crappie on reservoir, we have caught 14 & 15 in amongst 10″ ers. Try the old adage bigger bait bigger fish maybe? You won’t catch as many but maybe bigger.

In 1959 when I was 14, I was fishing Lake Geneva off a private dock with an old wood fly rod and a white jig they called a pinkie (?) and I caught 7 crappies each about a foot long (+). The lake was not noted for Crappies and I never caught another (before or after) despite lots of L.G. fishing that followed. About the same time the neighbor lady caught several x-lg bluegills that each completely covered a dinner plate. She caught them while she was fishing off one of Wriggley’s docks where she had permission to fish. Never got anymore like that. On L.G. I had (few) evenings when I got big walleyes, usually two at a time, I recall times that I got a 6# & 6 1/4# fish, another time I got a7# & 7 1/4# and another night I got a 8 # 8 1/4, and another time I got a 9# & 9 1/4 # fish. I fished a lot then, in the 1970s. I think my various catches were “same year” class fish. We ate them all which no doubt was bad judgment on our part but this was 50+ years ago on a 5000 acre lake.

Out here in AZ, 15-16” is just an average size. Our club helped AZFG dept again this year stock 30k blackhose crappies 2-3” long in two reservoirs. They will be 11” long in 9 months. Us northern folks chase them around all winter mostly with spider rigging.

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bclii wrote:

Out here in AZ, 15-16” is just an average size. Our club helped AZFG dept again this year stock 30k blackhose crappies 2-3” long in two reservoirs. They will be 11” long in 9 months. Us northern folks chase them around all winter mostly with spider rigging.

That’s cool – is it common for them to grow that fast?

Bclii, Pics of these 15-16″ average size fish please?

Well, sadly, my quest has failed once again. The biggest crappies I could find this spring was just over 12.5 inches. I probably won’t be targeting them again with bass, walleye, and eventually muskie season starting as I really have no interest anymore.

Maybe next spring…

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Matt Moen wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>bclii wrote:</div>
Out here in AZ, 15-16” is just an average size. Our club helped AZFG dept again this year stock 30k blackhose crappies 2-3” long in two reservoirs. They will be 11” long in 9 months. Us northern folks chase them around all winter mostly with spider rigging.

That’s cool – is it common for them to grow that fast?

From my understanding talking to AZ crappie club members and the AZGF guys, they do grow fairly fast down here in the valley reservoirs. The stocked trout up in the higher elevations grow pretty fast also. Everything took a heavy hit being fished hard because of COVID this last year. My annual November trout trip last fall revealed that most rainbows caught were small stocked ones! We did get some larger browns, but fewer than years passed. All trout were released. Oddly enough, I did catch a couple small yellow perch last fall in a reservoir at 8300’.