Thread: Seeking Info About Trophy Crappie

Originally Posted by Vainnnn

That's awesome information! Thank you! Is there a way to encourage the growth of the zooplankton?

Not really any way to affect nutrients in a big lake like LOZ or Truman, but if you wanted to help out a pond, you could throw a hay bale or two in each year. Nutrients come mostly from runoff coming into a lake. If the watershed for a particular lake is all farmland, then it will be nutrient rich. Conversely, if the watershed is rocky forested land it might be nutrient poor. There will still be zooplankton, shad, and young fry to bigguns, but it may take longer for a crappie to get to a big size in an infertile lake than it does in a fertile lake.

Don't worry about any of that stuff right now....just get out and fish!

Hay is cheap I'm gonna have to try that. The lake in my home town is only 10-15 acres. So I'll give it a shot!

My personal best was a 3 pound, 18 incher I caught out of a deep farm pond on a slip bobber in winter. However I have seen bigger crappie caught out of blue holes in the Missouri River bottoms. These fish are left there during floods and grow to enormous sizes. Perche Creek near Columbia and Cedar Creek near Jefferson City give up large crappie fished with minnows in late summer. I fished this area years ago and routinely caught 2 1/2 pound fish. If I was looking for a trophy, that's where I would go.

Originally Posted by kennyb

My personal best was a 3 pound, 18 incher I caught out of a deep farm pond on a slip bobber in winter. However I have seen bigger crappie caught out of blue holes in the Missouri River bottoms. These fish are left there during floods and grow to enormous sizes. Perche Creek near Columbia and Cedar Creek near Jefferson City give up large crappie fished with minnows in late summer. I fished this area years ago and routinely caught 2 1/2 pound fish. If I was looking for a trophy, that's where I would go.

Draw me a map to a few of those places. I could handle a routine of catching 2 1/2 lb'ers.