Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Very Old State Records for Crappie

Just an observation, to see if anyone can create an interesting discussion.

The two oldest (by far) Kansas state fishing records are for White Crappie and Black Crappie.

CRAPPIE, WHITE 4.02 lbs. 17.5 inches Rod & Reel w/minnow Farm Pond, Greenwood County 03/30/64

CRAPPIE, BLACK 4.63 lbs. 22 inches Rod & Reel w/live minnow Woodson State Fishing Lake 10/21/57 (This lake is only 180 acres.)

Have we fished out the genetics for our biggest crappie?

Based on the dates, my theory is that the subsequent use of depth sounders/fish finders has made crappie fishing MUCH more efficient. Seeing the exact brush pile dimensions, or seeing the large crappie directly, has resulted in the biggest crappie being caught at 3#, before they can ever reach "near record" size?

(Just posted for a fun discussion. Please don't do any "homework" in an attempt to solve a "problem" for me.)

Sometimes people just don't turn them in. My biggest white crappie was 19 inches. Threw it back.

Because that record for a BG isn’t very old with low length and weight numbers ?
I have spoken with KDPW about this in length. You get nothing for it other than a piece of paper.
Very few fisherman are aware of what the record numbers are.
You have more than one forum members on here that have state record fish in their ponds and don’t want to turn them in.
BG is currently not separated between northern strain vs coppernose but they have considered dividing them out

I am skeptical of the white crappie length of 17.5 inches for a 4# fish. Don't know it that is a typo, or if that fish was a mutant slab.

Any estimate as to what your 19 inch crappie weighed?

Yep, I agree with you that highly managed ponds with supplemental feed are capable of somewhat easily producing near record to record fish of certain species. For example: yellow perch and bluegill. Probably combined with selecting good genetics for the brooder fish.

Perhaps that is why the crappie records are so old, no one intensively manages for "trophy" crappie ponds?

The lack of reporting is certainly another issue. When I first started reading Pond Boss in 2007, I figured someone would be able to manage LMB genetics between northern strain and Florida strain, combine that with a steady diet of optimal sized live fish plus supplemental feed, and produce a new world record LMB.

Maybe someone did grow and catch a record LMB and chose to keep that a secret? Imagine the problem with poachers if people knew there were 22# LMB in your pond!

After replying to your comment, I went back and checked the record for BG. I see that when I was scanning the dates, I clearly missed that the BG record was from 1962!

Agree that we might have members in Kansas that have beaten that record in their own ponds.

Further, that might be an interesting topic for its own thread - who has raised and caught a BG in their own pond that bested the record for their state?

There are 11 species records that are 30+ years old. That tells me most people don’t put much in to reporting a record, there are also a lot of the records from farm ponds or private impoundments. I don’t think most people want their name and location out in public.
Let’s take RES or BG for instance, I can catch those 2 species in my pond all day long that are close to the recorded length and weight records and it’s been less than 2 years since stocking. I would never report it. Snipe has/had SMB well above the record but would never report it.

LMB is a different story IMO. The climate isn’t going to allow for much more than the 11+# record even though 9-10 could be very common in a highly managed lake/pond. 7-10 years is a long time for a pond owner to keep up with culling, sampling forage, water quality, etc. to grow something that big.

Any record requires the right person to catch the right fish at the right time to report it and make it official

Yeah, I was being kind of sarcastic with my BG response LOL.
After was was catching huge supplementally fed BG a year after stocking I called the state and ask them about all
The rules, regulations, subspecies requirements to make a record official

Even with a dose of deserved sarcasm, you did make an interesting point about BG. Since we generally have them across the entire eastern 2/3rds of the country, I started a new thread about "record" BG.

No clue what it weighed. I keep a length measuring board on the boat, but not a scale. Caught it, measured it's length, took a few pics, turned it loose.

At the time I had no idea it might be a record. If so maybe I would have kept it and jumped through the hoops for the state, but maybe not. I like to hunt deer. The last thing you want to do is advertise that you have a monster buck running around on your place. Poachers and fence sitters complicate my enjoyment of the outdoors. I want no part of any of that.

The white crappie record for Oklahoma is 4 lbs, 15 ozs, 19 inch length, and 16.25 inch girth caught 5/4/1991. It was caught in a Kingfisher County pond which is Central Oklahoma.

https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/sites/default/files/2021-09/white_crappie_frank_robinson.jpg

The black crappie record for Oklahoma 4 lbs, 10 ozs, 20.25 inch length, and 17.75 inch girth caugh 6/16/1974. It was caught in an Ottawa County pond which the most northeastern county in Oklahoma.

https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/sites/default/files/2021-09/black_crappie_rollie_williams.jpg

The oldest state record for Oklahoma is a spotted bass weighing 8 lbs 2 oz caught 6/27/1958.

https://www.wildlifedepartment.com/sites/default/files/2021-09/spotted_bass_oj_stone.jpg

The Kansas record is 4.44#. The Texas record is 5.56#.

I suspect that whopper was a misidentified LMB?

Of course, the world record is 10.48# from California - so who knows about the OK record.

Sure looks like a LMB to me It was in Pittsburg Co. from a Pond. They do have them in that part of the state but I've only seen spots in a flowing creek (like Flint Creek near Siloam Springs AR) or a lake. Certainly never seen one that large.

I was thinking I might be able to grow a record that my grandkids could catch from my pond but OK has a rule that won't allow it. The ODWC’s regulations on state records consider the location where the fish was caught. For a fish to qualify as a state record, it must have been caught from a body of water that is legally open to the public, ensuring that the angler had the proper licensing and access rights.

Learnin,

Good luck on growing some state records for the grandkids! Even if it is not "officially" recorded, they will still have the great memory of catching a record with Grandpa.