The quality of the crappie coming off the tops during the past couple of years has been outstanding: It is not uncommon to catch a few fish over 2 pounds.
“My largest are two (crappie) over 3 pounds,” guide Maurice Jackson said.
Toledo Bend records, as published by the Lakecaster Magazine, indicate the lake’s largest black crappie weighed 4 pounds. It was taken in 2002 by Hazel Bolton on a cane pole.
Lakcaster records also indicate the top Toledo Bend white crappie weighed 3.44 pounds, and was caught in 2011 by Claude Gilcrease Jr.
It’s the former species that show up most in anglers’ creels.
“White crappie make up 15 to 20 percent of the crappie population any given year on the Bend,” LDWF biologist Sean Kinney said.
And the explosion in the crappie population — both among black and white crappie — is being driven by the same phenomenon that has produced the incredible bass fishing.
“Crappie populations on Toledo Bend Lake are gaining from the same recovery following the cycle of low-water conditions in the lake,” Kinney said. “We are now seeing slightly larger sizes of crappie because of the lake’s bounce back from low waters.”
That was proven when the LDWF crew was kept busy during a recent event during which they tagged and released crappie.
“During the Sabine Parish Tourism Commission’s crappie rodeo, we saw a lot of large crappie,” Kinney said. “It’s not that often when we find 1,500 to 1,800 big enough to tag. There were a significant number of fish over 9 inches taken.”
