Big Fish

[Tony T]

What do all of you consider to be a BIG fish. I mostly go for the pan fish and on saturday we tried a new lake. We only caught 2. 1, a large blue gill and 2, was a 14 3/4 inch white crappie. now to me thats a big fish. What about all of you, BIG, large, or average? What other LARGE fish have been caught?

[CrappieJohn]

Different waters are going to produce different sized fish, so what might be a big fish in one lake may be considered small in another. As for crappies, any fish 14 inches or more is a dandy. While the white crappie is not uncommom in this area, the black crappie is far more prevelant and the blacks grow larger as a rule, so a white going that length is indeed a chunk.

[Dan Thiem]

Tony, first if all, congratulations! Any crappie that goes 14"+ is nice. Way to go! Not very may people can say they have got one that big. Not around here anyways.

Second, would you mind sharing what type of bait/lure you were using. How deep of water were you fishing? Was it suspended or on the bottom? Sorry so many questions, but at least I didn't ask what lake you were fishing.

[Tony T]

Dan, the bad part is I did not catch the fish, but I was able to watch my buddy dive elbow deep down the hole to grab it when his line broke. He only has a 6 inch auger and the fish didnt want to fit in the same space as the vex. As far as lure, it was a green jig with a waxi. We were in about 20 feet fishing 1 to 1 1/2 feet from the bottom. You didnt ask what lake but i couldnt tell you the name any way. Its one of those fancy private quary lakes that you need permission to be on. thankfully my buddy knows some people. But we are for sure going to fish it more. There has to be more at least that big out there. Whenever i get a pic. from him I will try and post for all to see.

Also, Tom I am not 100% sure that it was a white crappie. I am going off of what my pal told me. I fish plenty, but to me it looks like a "crappie". I guess I dont know the difference between a black and a white. Any info on that would help. Thanks!

[CrappieJohn]

Tony....black crappies tend to be more "plate "shaped while the white will have body lines similar to a white bass. The black crappies markings are random black and white mottling, looking more black under the white. The white crappie is lighter in base color with bluish vertical bars from front to back. I was just digging fore my bok on identification and can't find it, but there are a certain number of spines in the dorsal fin on one specie and another number for the counterpart. For me the best way to tell them apart would be to show you one of each.

The black crappies are more comfortable in our cooler waters and show better growth in it. While found here, the whites tend to not show the size ranges we see with the black. In my opinion any white that has hit the 14 inch mark from this area and points north is an exceptional fish.