You can go by the guesstimater calculators, but even their weights can differ widely. And that's not even taking into account the difference in the body structure of a White Crappie vs a Black Crappie.

Take a 16" fish & use a calculator site ... and you get 3.41lbs ( uhhh, not hardly !!)

Take the girth x girth x length/800 formula ... and your 16" fish weighs 1.81lbs or 1lb 13oz (much more likely !!)

So, just measuring the length of the fish isn't going to cut it ... but, measure the girth along with the length & use the formula GxGxL/800 and you'll get a pretty close weight.

Now, let's take your guesstimate of a 16" fish being an average of 2lbs ... and assume the girth of the fish is 10"

10x10=100 100x16=1600 1600/800=2lbs

Now ... let's say those measurements were from a Black Crappie, and a White Crappie of the same length doesn't have quite the same girth. Let's say the White Crappie only has a girth of 9.5" ... so:

9.5x9.5=90.25 90.25x16=1444 1444/800=1.8lbs (which was the "girth" I used in the original formula statement)

So .... if 3oz is the only difference between the two fish of the same length, and you're not guesstimating your tournament weight, then a 16" fish averaging 2lbs is a reasonable standard. IMHO, only ... of course.

... cp