When it comes to fishing in Colorado, the state isn’t known for housing monster crappie like other parts of the country.
So, when this Colorado man reeled in an absolute MONSTER of a crappie while fishing for bass on a small lake in Adams County, Colorado, he knew he could potentially have himself a state record.
It all went down on November 12th, when Eric Allee decided to take the kayak out for a little fishing day.
Although his main goal was bass, his forward-facing sonar landed him in what could potentially be a hot bed for crappie, so he tossed out his artificial lure.
He shared the story with Outdoor Life:
“It was late morning, and I’d already caught a 2.5-pound bass when I noticed on my sonar three fish near a deep sunken brush pile in 14 feet of water.
I figured they were crappies. So, I eased close to them in my kayak to present a small finesse lure.”
After tossing out the bait, Allee believed that he was going to have it easy with this crappie, until the fish got close to the surface:
“I was nervous netting it when I saw how big it was, and thought that it might be a Colorado record.
When I measured it, and weighed it carefully, that made me even more nervous because I knew it was a giant of a crappie, especially for Colorado.”
Allee has competed in several kayak bass fishing tournaments, so he was carrying measuring boards and a scale so he could record all of his catches.
Although he admits that he normally just uses crappie for eating, he knew this specific one was something special…
And I’m talking about a MASSIVE 18.25-inch black crappie, weighing around three pounds, 15 ounces according to his scale. Allee’s black crappie will be a state record, as the previous record was set at 16.25 inches back in 2023.
Although the new state record hasn’t been announced, Colorado Parks and Wildlife’s Brandon White confirmed in an email to Outdoor Life that Allee’s crappie is the new Colorado state record.
Have a day.
