NJ ice season = multispecies mayhem!

[fishingbuddies]

Some Studly looking fish right there. I'm most impressed by that 17inch Slab. One day...NJ will give up a 17. In the meantime... I'll keep crappie hunting!
Great Ice season dude. Too bad the NJ meet n greet over ice was canceled.
Maybe a spring meet n greet?? Some killer panfish action!!

[Chrisper4694]

Originally Posted by fishingbuddies

Some Studly looking fish right there. I'm most impressed by that 17inch Slab. One day...NJ will give up a 17. In the meantime... I'll keep crappie hunting!
Great Ice season dude. Too bad the NJ meet n greet over ice was canceled.
Maybe a spring meet n greet?? Some killer panfish action!!

someone always has a story. i've heard of crappie to 21 inches, but never really seen proof. I'm not sure if it's recorded how long the state records are or just weight, but i'd be curious how long those fish were. Just recently i saw a claim of an 18" crappie, but of course no proof and in the picture (even straight armed to oblivion) doesn't look any bigger than the 14-15" slabs i've seen.

I love crappie fishing and i specifically target them a lot and one over 16" is hard to come by these days. 14-15" are more common, but that 16" zone seems to be tough to get to. I, personally, wish people would show panfish the same respect as other game fish and release the bigger ones... the big ones are just worth more in the water, laying eggs and passing on their genes.

[Jigman13]

Originally Posted by Chrisper4694

someone always has a story. i've heard of crappie to 21 inches, but never really seen proof. I'm not sure if it's recorded how long the state records are or just weight, but i'd be curious how long those fish were. Just recently i saw a claim of an 18" crappie, but of course no proof and in the picture (even straight armed to oblivion) doesn't look any bigger than the 14-15" slabs i've seen.

I love crappie fishing and i specifically target them a lot and one over 16" is hard to come by these days. 14-15" are more common, but that 16" zone seems to be tough to get to. I, personally, wish people would show panfish the same respect as other game fish and release the bigger ones... the big ones are just worth more in the water, laying eggs and passing on their genes.

Was slip corkin' them this weekend with fat heads. Got em' up to 14" and that looked HUGE lol. I personally saw one 18", measured on a legit tape measure, a few weeks ago in Mercer County. It was a behemoth. It's wild seeing one the length of a NJ keeper fluke.

Bunch of years back I was fishing with my dad in some quarry lakes down in Cape May. We were live lining killies. He caught a black crappie that had to be over 20". It's head from forehead to front of the dorsal had to be 2-2.5" thick. It was absolutely massive.

Out of all sweetwater panfish, they're def my favorite to catch.

[Chrisper4694]

Originally Posted by Jigman13

Was slip corkin' them this weekend with fat heads. Got em' up to 14" and that looked HUGE lol. I personally saw one 18", measured on a legit tape measure, a few weeks ago in Mercer County. It was a behemoth. It's wild seeing one the length of a NJ keeper fluke.

Bunch of years back I was fishing with my dad in some quarry lakes down in Cape May. We were live lining killies. He caught a black crappie that had to be over 20". It's head from forehead to front of the dorsal had to be 2-2.5" thick. It was absolutely massive.

Out of all sweetwater panfish, they're def my favorite to catch.

they are awesome, especially when they get that big