World Record?

[Okie_Noodler]

I caught this fish in April while fishing in the Sand Springs Lake in Sand Springs, OK. It was caught on a size 8 olive wooly bugger, and 5x tippet.



She was about a 5 minute fight, and she took off into the depths of the lake, but I managed to turn her, and she didn't struggle much on the way in. When I landed her, I noticed that she was full of eggs, so I photographed her, and put her back.

This week I noticed in "American Angler" that the IGFA world record for White Crappie on a fly rod is only 2 lbs 8 oz. I estimate this fish to be between 17 and 18 inches long.

According to [url=http://www.outdoorsweekly.com/weigh.html:c18d5]www.outdoorsweekly.com/weigh.html[/url:c18d5] this fish is 3.3 lbs.

Did I break the world record?



[This message has been edited by Okie_Noodler (edited 04 July 2006).]

[djo]

That is one amazing fish. I have never seen a crappie (strawberry bass in my kid hood) anything near that size. In fact I took a couple of largemouths that are smaller than that and thought they were great.

Amazing.....

David

[HideHunter]

Well, you were sure in the ball park - especially prespawn

Congratulations on a beautiful fish..g

[Okie_Noodler]

Here's one of me holding the fish, just in case you aren't so convinced...

Keep in mind that I'm 6'3'' and I have the largest hands of anyone I've ever met.


oh, btw; my wife had a baby yesterday...more pics to follow.

[Jed]

Congratulations on the baby. Fagetabout the fish!

jed

[okflyfisher]

That is a nice crappie ! It looks like it is about 2.2 times the length of your cork grip

[This message has been edited by okflyfisher (edited 06 July 2006).]

[TerryB]

Nice one Okie! Were you fishing the bank or from a boat? I've heard there's some crappie fishing on Shell Lake but that's amazing!

Terry

[Okie_Noodler]

I caught her from the bank. I was taking a week of between jobs vacation, and my wife and I went to OK to visit her family. It wasn't like I was on a dedicated fishing trip or anything; I walked over to the municipal lake, just to get out of the house and burn some time while my wife was having lunch with her college friends.

Ha, the entire rig (rod, line, and reel) cost me less than 75 dollars, and the fly was one that I got from the FAOL beginners swap!

I cast my fly next to a metal pole which was sticking out of the water, and let it sit for a second while I fixed something on my vest, and when I picked my rod up again, it had this monster fish on the other end.

I was going to keep her, but knew that it was probably more sporting to put her back and let her lay her eggs. Of course at the time, I just thought "oh, cool. a huge crappie." And then I realized that my father, just like my father-in-law with whom I was staying, probably wouldn't believe just the story, so I had to run up the hill quickly, and get an old man smoking a cigarette in his car to take my picture. I tried to put the fish in the water for a few moments before I had the man take my picture. When I released her I tried to rehabilitate her, and she seemed to swim off just fine.

So if this is a world record, is there anything I can do to claim it?

[brhokla]

I caught one in a Strip Pit in Broken Arrow that measured 17.5 inches. It was pretty hefty and beautiful.. I let it go after measuring it. Didn't have a scale in my tube but a very nice fish.

[Okie_Noodler]

Castwell: where did your comments go? Don't tell me that you've never thought to yourself "I wonder how this fish stacks up to that state record..."

Brholka, catching those fat crappies is fun. I've never caught as many crappies in other states as I have in OK.