Growth rates of Crappie

[jifigz]

I love fishing for all sorts of stuff on the fly rod but panfish are certainly near the top. My question is typically how big will a crappie grow in 2 years? I'd like to harvest some panfish and I was thinking of targeting Colyer Lake or Lake Perez. Both of these lakes were recently drained and repaired and both received black crappie fingerlings in 2016. Would any of those fish be of a harvestable size by now or should I just go to other lakes?

I ask about these two specifically because Colyer is the closest to my house and I've always liked that lake and I've never fished Lake Perez. Plus both have chain pickerel which I find to be a bonus.

 

[afishinado]

jifigz wrote:
I love fishing for all sorts of stuff on the fly rod but panfish are certainly near the top. My question is typically how big will a crappie grow in 2 years? I'd like to harvest some panfish and I was thinking of targeting Colyer Lake or Lake Perez. Both of these lakes were recently drained and repaired and both received black crappie fingerlings in 2016. Would any of those fish be of a harvestable size by now or should I just go to other lakes?

I ask about these two specifically because Colyer is the closest to my house and I've always liked that lake and I've never fished Lake Perez. Plus both have chain pickerel which I find to be a bonus.

I Googled the title "growth rates of crappie":

According to some information recently compiled by officials with the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, a six-inch black crappie that weighs 0.1 pounds will be, on average, 2.1 years old. A white crappie (distinguishable because it has five or six dorsal spines, compared to the black's seven or eight) of the same length and weight will be 1.9 years old.

A nine-inch black crappie that weighs 0.4 pounds will be 4.2 years old. A white crappie of that length will probably weigh 0.3 pounds and be 3.8 years old.

At fourteen inches, the typical black crappie weighs 1.7 pounds and will be 14.3 years old. A 14-inch white crappie will be 1.4 pounds and 9.1 years old.

And a 19-inch black crappie, like the one that stands as the state record fish• It will have been swimming around for about 19 years.


Link to source: http://triblive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/sports/outdoors/s_327411.html

 

[sarce]

From that article the 19 incher would be 19 years old...holy crap, that's an old fish. Hard to imagine a panfish living longer than a mean old 24" brown trout.

 

[jifigz]

Yeah, I googled it too and found out that a fish can hit 7 inches in about two years. We have seen threads here extolling the virtues of growth that can happen in newly restored reservoirs. I wonder if the same applies for Crappie and that they may grow larger than they normally would in two years until the lake stabilizes. I'll probably haul the kayak around and check it out and see what kind of size I can turn up.

 

[Mike]

We have lakes where they reach 8 inches in two years or two years plus a few more growing season months. They also stall at that length if they don't have a suitable forage fish population onto which to switch. When they reach 8 inches the gill rakers are far enough apart by then that they can't efficiently feed on zooplankton.

 

[jifigz]

Mike wrote:
We have lakes where they reach 8 inches in two years or two years plus a few more growing season months. They also stall at that length if they don't have a suitable forage fish population onto which to switch. When they reach 8 inches the gill rakers are far enough apart by then that they can't efficiently feed on zooplankton.

Interesting Mike. How do you feel about the two lakes mentioned to provide a sustainable number of forage fish? Also, can you recommend any good lakes in central PA for crappie? I don't want Sayers as a recommendation. I have done well at Holman Lake for crappie in the past. Black Mo has by far been my best producer of large crappie, however.

 

[mav1958]

FYI I'm pretty sure Lake Perez is still catch and release for every species but trout.

There were lots of 8-9 inch largemouth two summers ago.