Thread: Illinois State Record

Wow, congrats to the young man -- that's incredible!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I heard that was caught a little north of my aunt and uncle's farm between Mt. Vernon/ Centralia. Super big crappie, catch 2-3 that size and you'd have enough to eat....lol

one that size is enough for lunch. As for the fish it is a hybrid. and if i had to guess about the pond in question i would say it was probably stocked with crappie from a fish farm + crappie from carlyle and rend.

Awesome fish. Not to take anything away from what this kid did. Its just lucky Dad didn't find out what the record was for sure back in the late 70's. Here is a story I posted on another board:

Way back when (about 1973) we were visiting Grandpa's place and my cousins were there. Well Sunday afternoon we decided to hit the neighbors pond for some bass fishing. Dad told me "DO NOT bring any fish back cuz we're not cleaning them" and sent us on our way. Now being 10 (my cousin was 14) I didn't have the latest and greatest equipment Zebco 202 reel with a rod tha a broomstick had more action than and a box full of hand-me-down lures (ones no one else caught anything on)

Well my Cousin was catching fish left and right (bass in the 1 to 1.5 range) and I was catching squat. I was griping about heading back and my cousin told me to tie on the rubber minnow looking lure and cast it toward the dark spot out there and let it sink (just wanted me to shut up I'm sure). So I did as told and when I started to reel it felt like I was hung up. That is until the line started going sideways. Well after the battle we were standing there looking at the biggest crappie that either of us had ever seen (Dan and Pa fished a lot of crappie) and the biggest fish I had ever caught. The words of dad were ringing in my head but I wanted to take this fish back to show.

I guess I thought that if it were dead, he wouldn't have a problem with me bringing it back so I throw it up on the bank. We got back to the house a couple hours later and they knew by the look on our faces somethoing was up.
Dad - Catch anything?
Me - Yep bunch of bass and a crappie
Dad - what did you do with them
Me - threw them back........except the crappie
Dad - $%% I told you not to keep any.
Me - It died so I brought it back
Dad - Died? Guess ya gut hooked it.
Me - could have. Want to see it? Its pretty nice
Dad - Sure, (bring it in) Wholly crap!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!That's the biggest dam crappie I have ever seen. Anybody got a scale??? (none)

So he calls the lady that runs the local Ma and Pa market and we head down there. Now realize its going on 3 hours this fish has been out of water. She puts some paper on her certified meat scale and we lay the fish up there. The old needle hovers and finally settles on ...........4 lbs 13oz

Dad - I haven't heard of one that big here
Pa - Yeah I think heard of a 5lb 3oz caught at Rend
Dad - Maybe Doyle (Pa's good friend and big fisherman) will know.
Drive to Doyle's
Doyle - Wholly crap that's a monster crappie!!! Who caught it
Me- ME!!!
Dad - weighs 4-13. Do you know the record?
Doyle - I think its around 5 lbs
Dad - That's what we thought

So we cleaned it and ate it. Somewhere floating around there is an old polaroid of it but i can't find it

Its definetly a beast...but i am confused. If this is not a white or black crappie then it cannot be a state record because there is no state record categoty for a "hybrid" crappie...whatever that is. At least I didnt find one when I looked up a list of state record fish. If its a white it beats it by an ounce...if its a black its nearly a tie....if its a hybrid then I dont know what it is. Can someone clear this up for me? Is this one of those Hi-Tech Speck things or something like it from Kens fish farm out of Georgia?? I'll be honest, it looks like your everyday white crappie to me...but its hard to tell by looking at one picture.

Dear Carp: If you go to prariestateoutdoors.com it has the story on this fish. Somewhere in the article it states that the state record for hybrid is 2lb and some odd ounces. The article states regardless of whatever type it is, it will break the current record for that type.


TT

i copied and pasted that link.....and im not real sure that is the link your directing me to. It appears to be pretty blank site. are you sure that is the exact spelling of it?

Here is the site:http://www.prairiestateoutdoors.com/ I grew up in the Peoria area and really enjoy this website. Beside crappie.com this is the second site I check every day. Jeff Lampe is the outdoor writer for the Peoria paper and prior to that he wrote for the Decatur paper.