It Was A Crappie Day...

[Gonna Smoke]

It's been a LONG time, way too long, since I have fished for crappie, but growing up, that was my dad's favorite thing to do and I dearly love them fried up. Well this past weekend a good friend and guide called and asked if I wanted to go, he offers crappie charters and was going to do some scouting. Of course I jumped at the opportunity. It wasn't fast and furious, but we ended up with 14 nice fish with the smallest being 1lb. 4oz. and the largest being 2lbs. 2oz...

After filleting them, I also ended up with...

May not be everyone's thing, but I also love fresh fried crappie roe...

 

[gmc2003]

Nice catch Charles.

Point for sure
Chris

 

[indaswamp]

Very nice! My buddy in Kansas has had a couple really good trips so far this spring. Fresh fried cold water crappie are awesome!

 

[uncle eddie]

I have some crappie areas in a couple of lakes on the farm...rarely fish for them though. But they taste so darn good.

Seeing your pic's is going to make me make some time to fish for them.

Never tried the roe before...any sort of recipe?

 

[Timber II]

Looks good! I’m gonna get some bass before the day is over I hope

 

[Smokin Okie]

Those are some nice crappie.

I've had the bad habit of bass fishing all my life and I've got the shoulder pain to prove it. I haven't fished in a while, but I've been thinking crappie might be the solution to my physical problems.

And they're mighty tasty.

 

[Gonna Smoke]

I have some crappie areas in a couple of lakes on the farm...rarely fish for them though. But they taste so darn good.

Seeing your pic's is going to make me make some time to fish for them.

Never tried the roe before...any sort of recipe?

Eric, I just bread them the roe same as I would the fish and deep fry for a minute at most. Needs to be done outside if possible because they will pop and splatter hot oil.

 

[smokerjim]

Nice, Bet they were good

 

[Gonna Smoke]

Those are some nice crappie.

I've had the bad habit of bass fishing all my life and I've got the shoulder pain to prove it. I haven't fished in a while, but I've been thinking crappie might be the solution to my physical problems.

And they're mighty tasty.

Bass fishing for me stopped after my second shoulder surgery. I've had 2 more since so I know what you're feeling. For the crappie fishing, he used a technique that wasn't even around the last time I fished for them. We were trolling, pulling long lines out the back of the boat. 1/32oz jig tipped with small minnows. A jig body with some chartreus in it seemed to be the ticket...

 

[Gonna Smoke]

Nice, Bet they were good

They're going to be, haven't cooked any yet...

 

[Smokin Okie]

Bass fishing for me stopped after my second shoulder surgery. I've had 2 more since so I know what you're felling. For the crappie fishing, he used a technique that wasn't even around the last time I fished for them. We were trolling, pulling long lines out the back of the boat. 1/32oz jig tipped with small minnows. A jig body with some chartreus in it seemed to be the ticket...

I would guess this new Forward Facing Sonar would be the ticket for locating schools of crappie. Its amazing what they've done with electronics.

 

[Gonna Smoke]

I would guess this new Forward Facing Sonar would be the ticket for locating schools of crappie. Its amazing what they've done with electronics.

I know a guy who knows a guy that only tournament fishes for crappie. He says that if you don't have LiveScope or similar, you will not be competitive in the tournaments. I've not had any first hand experience with it, yet...

 

[Smokin Okie]

I know a guy who knows a guy that only tournament fishes for crappie. He says that if you don't have LiveScope or similar, you will not be competitive in the tournaments. I've not had any first hand experience with it, yet...

Pretty controversial in bass fishing tourney's right now. Its totally upending conventional methods of competing.

 

[Gonna Smoke]

Pretty controversial in bass fishing tourney's right now. Its totally upending conventional methods of competing.

I've read some about that and having no experience with it, here's my thoughts. If everyone has it, what difference does it make? Yes, some people will be better at using it and understanding it, but it's not like everyone can't have it. Just think about how the Super 60 changed fishing and later, paper graphs, then what we have now. Then came GPS, advanced trolling motors, and anchoring systems such as Power Pole. They've all had a major impact on fishing and catching, but there still seems to be plenty of fish. As long as fishing regulations are sufficient and adjusted as necessary, I don't see anything changing...

 

[JLeonard]

Great looking crappie! All you need is some slaw and hushpuppies to make it perfect!

Jim

 

[Brokenhandle]

Looks like a fun day was had! Nice catch!

Ryan

 

[SmokinEdge]

Nice little mess of fish. Those crappie are great pan fish. Delicious for sure. Nice work Charles.

 

[tallbm]

It's been a LONG time, way too long, since I have fished for crappie, but growing up, that was my dad's favorite thing to do and I dearly love them fried up. Well this past weekend a good friend and guide called and asked if I wanted to go, he offers crappie charters and was going to do some scouting. Of course I jumped at the opportunity. It wasn't fast and furious, but we ended up with 14 nice fish with the smallest being 1lb. 4oz. and the largest being 2lbs. 2oz...
View attachment 691422

After filleting them, I also ended up with...
View attachment 691423
May not be everyone's thing, but I also love fresh fried crappie roe...

Nice haul!!!
Crappie may be my favorite fried fresh fish. It's sooooooo good!

 

[zwiller]

NICE SLABS! That's my kinda crappie day. Been way too long for me too. All the boathouse areas here used to be LOADED with them but sadly no longer. Was no limit for them too until recently. I never ate them but blew plenty up with firecrackers. LOL My family are diehard perch only folks. They think I'm weird since I also like walleye.

 

[Hijack73]

Man - that would equal my best day ever as far as the size of the slabs. Me and my buddy have a nice section of the Catawba where we can generally catch a stringer, but we are lucky to get 2 over 2 lbs. One day back about 4-5 years ago we had a day where the small one was about 1.5lb - and that was a doozy of a day