B-RUN.... Was fishing up in the Boundary Waters of Northern Minnesota 'bout 12 years back.... Got into bunches of huge crappie... caught them on spoons and stuff I was casting for northerm pike and smallmouth. They seemed to be hanging out with the big boys and feeding on the same forage.... All the crappie were over 2 pounds and probably 17 inches or more........

Thought it was an aberration but when I got back to Ely and related the story at one of the tackle shops I was told that huge crappie in these lakes are very common.....

These Crappie were huge but they didn't taste very good.... smaller ones are excellent table fare but these big boys had a lot of dark fatty stuff in the fillets....

An interesting note for anyone who might have an opportunity to head back and fish northern minnesota at any time in the future.... Fishing is very popular in this state but everyone is after walleye for the frying pan.....

The tackle shops in Ely all have large quantities of leeches and minnows in live wells....... These baits tend to favor catching walleye over smallmouth bass or northern pike and that's where everyone's head is at.........

I don't like using bait (especially live bait) so I just started throwing out spoons and crankbaits and was hauling in all these northern pike, bass, and huge crappie while everyone else in the party drowned leeches and caught nothing.....