Greg's (G3) Big Crappie

Thanks to Greg for letting me age his 15" 2.97 pound (lets call it 3 pounds) crappie. It was a healthy female white crappie that was full of eggs, fat, and shad. It was almost 6 years old (born the spring of 2008). Below is a picture of one of the otoliths (ear bones) with the annuli marked. To tell the age, you count the annuli (growth rings), similar to counting the rings on a tree. This otolith is about the size of your pinky finger nail and is located in the fishes head.

Attachment 150714

Anyone who catches a 3 pounder and wants to know it age (like me), give me a call 501-412-0356 and we can work something out so I can age it. Especially if you catch a fish in my district, D-10 (VanBurren, Cleburne, Perry, Conway, Faulkner, and White counties).

Thanks again Greg for letting me collect this data. We don't see too many 3 pounders in our samples, so this is very valuable info to us.

Thanks for posting that Matt. Very interesting. Not in your area but always read your posts. Wish we could get more guys like you on the other boards. Find your posts very informative and a great way to keep folks involved in use and protection of our resources.

Thanks for the info Matt.

Kind of like a trophy buck! Takes a little time to grow 'em big. Thanks for the information Matt. That is interesting.

Very cool.

Very cool information. Thanks Matt.

Very interesting.

Thanks for posting the info Matt.

:thumbup:

Can you tell how many times Crappie Pro caught that same fish and released it?

Definitely good info. Thanks.

I'd like to know the age of those 15''+ crappie we catch here. Man that must have been one fat fish ! Thanks for the info.

Man that's some good info. I've heard some people say it takes a crappie 10 years to grow to 10-11 inches.

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Originally Posted by bluethunder

Man that's some good info. I've heard some people say it takes a crappie 10 years to grow to 10-11 inches.

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In good habitat it should take about 3 years or less from what I've been told. Not the same in all lakes.

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Originally Posted by cray

Thanks for posting that Matt. Very interesting. Not in your area but always read your posts. Wish we could get more guys like you on the other boards. Find your posts very informative and a great way to keep folks involved in use and protection of our resources.

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Sissippi got our Turkey biologist!! Not getting our fish biologist!!! Thanks Matt!!

Good stuff right there... Im not sure im seeing what ur refering to though and would like to know. I may do some reading on it tomorrow... Thanks for the info

great info, thanks matt

That lake is a factory! Great post Matt.

That's good information. I had no idea it would be that old....

Matt, are they located behind the eyes, simular to a drum?

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Originally Posted by stormcloud

Matt, are they located behind the eyes, simular to a drum?

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They are located in a similar location for most freshwater game fish. In the capsule (behind the eyes) that connects the head to the rest of the fish's spine. I have never removed the otoliths out of a drum, but I imagine that they can be found in a similar location. The easiest way to find the capsule is to go in through the throat.

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Originally Posted by hawgdog

Good stuff right there... Im not sure im seeing what ur refering to though and would like to know. I may do some reading on it tomorrow... Thanks for the info

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Google otoliths. There are a lot of clearer images on the web that show the annuli. I used a microscope to verify the age. It is kind of hard to see with the naked eye.

Neat to see that

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Originally Posted by NIMROD

I'd like to know the age of those 15''+ crappie we catch here. Man that must have been one fat fish ! Thanks for the info.

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That data is available for Lake Nimrod. Contact the fisheries biologists in the Russellville Office (Bob Limbird or Frank Leone. They can provide the info that you are looking for. Generally there is a wide range of ages at a given length. For Conway we see ages from 3.5 to 6.5 that are 15 inches. We see very few crappie on Conway that are 16 inches or longer. For some reason they stop putting growth into length and just get fatter and fatter.

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Originally Posted by jackie53

Sissippi got our Turkey biologist!! Not getting our fish biologist!!! Thanks Matt!!

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Hope their Turkey population does'nt crash like ours have.:twocents

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Originally Posted by D10

Google otoliths. There are a lot of clearer images on the web that show the annuli. I used a microscope to verify the age. It is kind of hard to see with the naked eye.

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Ok thanks... Just thought i was missing something... Thanks again for educating us on our passion of fishing

http://www.sixoldgeezers.com/wild16l.jpg

Here is a clearer image of a crappie otolith.

Great post and info. Thx for posting D10

Thank you D10 for the great job you are doing in this area! Super fish Greg!

That is so cool Matt, can you tell the difference between a female and a male without cleaning them? Some of these 2lb plus fish that I've caught I thought were female turned out to be males.

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Originally Posted by Crappiejeff

That is so cool Matt, can you tell the difference between a female and a male without cleaning them? Some of these 2lb plus fish that I've caught I thought were female turned out to be males.

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I can in the spring. Some people say they can tell the difference other times of the year. I try to guess before I fillet it. I am right about 50% of the time.:biggrin

Lol thanks Matt:)

Thanks Matt

Me & my wife where night fishing on Maumelle in June of 2012 we caught 2 that where almost 16" she caught the biggest of course it was pushing 17"! Would have love to had that kind info on those fish. Great post thanks for the info.

great info but I think I will let you tell me the age on my 3+ ponder

Great Post. Thanks for the info.

Great post Matt! Thanks!