To catch large Crappie you need to make that your main focus. You cannot think about catching of large quantities and huge size. Truly trophy Crappie are a quarry that needs to be pursued in a different manner than you would the smaller members of the species.

First you need to understand the schooling habits of Crappie. Crappie are a fish that tends to school according to size. Simply put large Crappie generally can be found near other large Crappie.

There are of course exceptions to every rule. I am not suggesting you cannot catch a very large Crappie in the same location as smallish ones. I am saying however that if you want to focus on catching only large Crappie in the two pound and above weight class you are best served by searching for schools of that size. This means leaving a productive area that is producing a steady stream of half pound to one pound Crappies.

Understand your catch rate will drop if you fish only for the real trophies. Trophy fishing for crappie is a sport of patience.

Consider for a minute how a Crappie becomes over two pounds. First it has to have the genetic makeup to reach such a size. You need therefore to fish lakes that have a demonstrated reputation for producing fish for large size.

If you show me a lake that has never produced a Crappie of over two pounds I will show you one that likely never will. Genetics is a pretty straightforward science.

For example suppose you were to place one hundred people on a large island that were all below five feet in height. One thousand years later the population would have grown exponentially and would almost assuredly be an average of less than five foot in height.

As the saying goes the chips don’t fall far from the block. You need to apply this principle to your fishing efforts. Certain lakes continuously produce Crappie of large size because the fish whose genetic material repopulates the species are very large.

Lakes like Kentucky Lake, Reelfoot Lake and many others have an established fishery for monster sized Crappie. You need to target your efforts on these lakes and not try to fight a battle are you destined to lose by fishing lakes that have not in past produced the size of Crappie you are seeking.

You do not go to Antarctica to hunt lions, nor should you hunt monster sized Crappie in areas they simply do not exist.

Next in selecting an area you must think outside the box a bit. Crappie reach huge sizes by keeping away from predators. I am talking about predation from both larger fish and from fellow fisherman. Most of the classic crappie fishing sports will not hold the extra large jumbo fish.

These fish have learned to avoid these areas. Some of the largest Crappie I have caught have come from areas that are hard to reach and nor necessarily to stereotypical Crappie hideouts.