Twild....
I fish pool 5 of the Mississippi River a lot and have several area there where we see some huge old black crappies. I found these fish while trolling a size 15 Rapala for walleyes laying deep along rip-rap. Its sure a surprise when you get the net for what you think is a nice walleye and find a 16" crappie on the trebles. A friend and I discovered a deep scour filled with sunken timber created about 100 feet downstream from a new daymarker's rock base set in 20 feet of water not too far from shore. The corps of engineers added the daymarker and in doing so created the scour....lucky for me. lol The scour is at 37 feet at its deepest during "normal" pool levels and big black crappies love that wooden forest in the water. Its a bear to fish with lots of snagging possibilities but those brutes are well worth it.
The lake I fish north of home here about 12 miles has crappies up to 14". Lots of lakes further north are "big crappie" waters. 14" crappies are pretty common in Minnesota if you fish for them.
The Canadian boundary lakes and rivers put out crappies in the 16 to 18 inch range on a very common basis. A few years ago Upper Red Lake was a 16"-17" crappie mecca that once found out was reduced to your basis 11" fish type of lake in three short years....constant pounding by anglers all year long due to heavy promotion by resorts. It was a destination type of fishery that was reduced to a ho hum fishery. What a waste.
With the current flooding and high water likely to linger well into the late spring/early summer, lets see how the big river unfolds for later on in the summer, eh?
