Quote Originally Posted by riverhorse View Post
Craig the crappie at Clinton lake this year are huge, there are a lot of 1.75 lb+ fish being caught. Do you attribute that to a good year class or did the mild winter have a lot to do with their size this year?

Ths, river
River,

I sent your question to Richard Sanders, Fish Bio at Clinton, and his response is provided below.

Craig,

I think that it was a combination of things that resulted in large crappie. First, a strong year class that was able to still have "good" numbers on the backside of their lifespan despite natural and fishing mortality reducing strength. Good young of the year (YOY) gizzard shad production over the past few years allowed good growth and over winter survival. Finally in 2011, good YOY shad production along with very slow growth of these shad has allowed larger crappie to continue to feed on the 2011 year class of shad to the present. Growth certainly slowed over the winter, but fish should have still been able to grow some and probably at a faster than normal rate due to mild temperatures and abundant, suitable - sized prey.

Richard