In Feb. of '17, I helped the G&F fisheries biologist run hoop nets on Hogue while he sampled the crappie population. His data indicated that the crappie population was mostly young (<1yo) fish that had not reached the size most anglers were keeping. This is part of the cycles I mentioned earlier. The lake is in the low of the cycle. Having gained popularity for good crappie being caught in good numbers over the past few years. The biologist (Brett Timmons) told me mid year '17 that he had small shad added to the lake to help boost the growth of the crappie. He was also kicking around the idea of submitting a request that the lake's crappie limit be reduced to 10 p/day for a year. I didn't see any changes in this year's regs so I don't know if he changed his mind or his request was turned down. Anyways, the lake's crappie are near the bottom of a rebound. It will be a couple of years before it produces the stringers it did 4 years ago.
As for identifying stunted crappie for those that may not have seen one, a crappie's eyes will continue to grow after it's length and weight stop increasing. The result is a small fish with very large eyes. If you find a lake with this type of population, it's safe to say that the crappie population is greater than what the food chain can supply.