About 10 or so years ago now maybe a few more give and take, right before the shad and wiper lead to crappie extinction at Willard, they were BIG. Caught numerous 13-14 thick thick slabs. Even caught my best in a lifetime one that went over 15" and well over 2 lbs. I was too young to understand the significance of a 15" crappie and neglected to take pics. I highly regret that now. I doubt I will ever see another 15 inch crappie even from pine. And nice pic. Don’t worry, not everyone is judgemental…it’s not a sin to eat fish…they are a renewable resource, regardless of the pervasiveness of catch and release ideology in contemporary times. Respect the resource, but enjoy it to the fullest extent. It may and likely will get destroyed from other factors than overfishing in the future. Like willard for example. If you hadn’t enjoyed it back then before I was born, the DWR decision to plant shad and wipers would give you no chance to enjoy that kinda of crappie fishing ever again, no matter how much you release them even. Just like kaysville ponds. I released a number of gigantic lmb there years ago, but then they drained and dredged it anyways killing everything. The banks are mud and sharp sloping now…it will never again recover. I erased it off my list entirely of spots to fish, even though I learned some major sight and bed fishing skills there. Sad but everything gets ruined eventually or overpopulates and crashes. Enjoy it while it lasts in whatever way you choose to on an individual level. Have respect, but don’t hesitate to utilize.
Thanks fer yer support. Appreciate the kind words.
In fishing, as with most other things in life, that old saying seems to be true: “You can never go back.” I suspect I am a few years older than you, and my sometimes functioning memory contains fond reminiscences of many times and places in the past that are forever gone…to me and everybody else.
The only good side, as you point out, is that these special spots were often the pivotal points in our ongoing fishing education, where we gained new knowledge and experience that would remain with us for the rest of our angling careers. But, if you are like me, you can get a lump in your throat when you make a nostalgic trip to a treasured spot from your past…only to find it altered or destroyed by “progress”.
**I think we share a special fondness for big slab crappies. I have had the good fortune to have fished them in many waters throughout the country and I always just love the heck out of them. I have caught small stunted crappies from some ponds that were still fun to catch…because they were crappies. I have also caught many crappies over 16 inches and over 3 pounds. My biggest was a 19 incher from Patagonia Lake in southern Arizona. **
Sorry, no pics of the biggest one, but I will attach a couple of pics of crappies from that FORMER crappie honey hole. Today it is rare to catch crappies there, and they are much smaller on average. That is one of MY memories.