My Trophy 16 Inch White Crappie

[MurkyWaters]

I recently was bass fishing using a decent sized spinnerbait and hooked into this trophy white crappie. This fish came out of a metro area lake and measured 16 inches long and weighed 1 pound, 15 ounces. The fish was quickly handled, measured, weighed, photographed, and successfully released. The fish has been identified by a couple of experts as a white crappie as opposed to a black crappie. White crappies have vertical bars on their bodies and less than 7 dorsal spines. White crappies are a smaller species, with the state record at 18 inches, 3 pounds 15 ounces. The black crappie state record is 21 inches, 5 pounds. Therefore, I'm pretty impressed that I caught a 16 inch white crappie, especially out of a metro area lake. I plan on having a replica of the fish made. This is my first trophy fish so I'm really excited! I'm also glad that someone else may be able to catch this fish again someday.

[123fish]

Congrats that is a heck of a fish especially for the metro area. Nice job on the release also.

[TravP]

Nice fish!

[Jim Almquist]

Very Nice!!!

Glad to hear that you CPR the fish.

[reinhard1]

that would be one for a replica made for sure. congradulations. good luck.

[ozzie]

that is a great fish and congrats on the catch!!! but I think it might be a black/white hybrid with both the verticle lines and still a good amount of speckling also for future you will always want to measure a fish with its mouth closed and pinch the tail to get a true measurement....the reason I say this is because in todays fishing it could be the difference in a fine or not (slots). Great catch and good job on the release like mentioned that will make one great replica!!

[Slabasaurus]

I would not say that is a hybrid based on color, for a few reasons. A white crappie in the right water conditions, during the spawn, could very well be as dark as a black crappie in color. Second, water clarity has a lot to do with the color of crappies, and this can be misleading as well, if "your" lake produces lighter black crappie and another lake produces very dark white crappie.

Best thing is to check the spines... that will be the easiest and most consistent factor.

This one not only has the right number of spines (6), but also the vertical bars, so I'd go with it being a white crappie. The only way to confirm hybrid is with DNA testing as far as I know.

Alll that stuff aside... that's a nice fish, glad to hear it's still swimmin too, nice work

[blakeb]

wow, looks like you got it off of a dock too! congrats

[Outdoor Authority]

Nice fish, and catching it out of a metro lake just makes it that much more of a trophy.

[PurpleFloyd]

Great fish and way to go for releasing it.

[Fowlmouth]

very nice fish, congrats!

[JBone]

Sweet! Thanks for sharing

[Crankbait10]

Killer crappie!! two thumbs up!

[MN BassFisher]

Nice crappie! Way to go on the release too!

[paceman]

Wow! Congratulations! That will be purty on the wall.

[certified jumbo]

very solid

[ted4887]

Great catch! Glad to hear it's still swimming.

[Jim Uran]

Great fish, and thank you for sharing your pics and your story!! Looks like you have some serious fishing to do to break that mark!!!

[Jarrid Houston]

Rude blowaway! Takes a long time to get a fish like that,may not happen ever again. Nice fish! and nice release! Hopefully you'll, or someone else will catch it again. I have 2 - 17" mounted replicas on my wall from the golden days of Upper Red Lake! Closest I have come to since then is a few 15"s Good louck and tight lines

[harvey lee]

Congrats on a dandy slab.

[Gordie]

WOW what a slab a true trophy. congrats

[mrklean]

what a pig

[IamZombie]

Nice one, better color than mine

[scott b]

All those 16 inch crappies that people are catching out of Tonka Once per season are indeed Hybrid Crappies. None the less, Great catch! I fish for crappies all season every year, and still have never caught one of those elusive hybrids. Last one I saw was Ice fishing on this forum during a tournament. There's been studies done already of why this lake produces nothing bigger than 9-10in crappies and then holy cow a 16? Dna studies by the DNR. Look it up.

[tjbassmaster]

Awesome Crappie!!