HARTS, W.Va. — Jerry Porter of Harts, W.Va. has caught some big crappie while fishing at Wayne County’s East Lynn Lake, but none could compare to the one he caught while he and some buddies were there back on May 7th.
“We just decided to go crappie fishing. We go there a lot. We were using minnows and jig heads. Man, we were just lifting the crappie and then I hooked the big one,” Jerry explained in an interview about his record catch for West Virginia Outdoors.
Listen to “Jerry Porter — Record Black Crappie” on Spreaker.
Once he was able to lay eyes on the big fish, Jerry said things got a little tense.
“I guess when he came to the top and I saw him I got a little excited and told my buddy to get the dip net,” he laughed.
The big crappie weighed 3.6 pounds, which was good enough to become the new state record for weight. Jerry’s fish was 17.7 inches long and was just a hair shy of the record for length caught by Dwight Priestly of Alum Creek last year at Woodrum Lake in Jackson County.
Porter said he typically does well when he’s after crappie at East Lynn.
“I think that’s the fourth one I’ve caught over 17 inches. I didn’t realize what the record was. I’d say I’ve thrown some back that were bigger than that one,” he said.
The black crappie record was one of those which was wide open when the DNR modified the fishing records a few years back. For many years there was only a record for the crappie and it wasn’t separated into black or white. That was one of the changes made by the Natural Resources Commission. When that was done, biologists were able to trace the records back and found the old crappie record was actually on a white crappie and left the opportunities open for folks to catch state record sized black crappie.
Don’t be surprised if the record falls again. Porter wouldn’t be surprised if he were to break it himself. He said the place where he caught the big fish has been a good spot through the yeas.
“It’s a place I go to a lot. There’s big oak tree that fell years ago in about five feet of water,” he said.
Porter kept the fish and plans on getting it mounted.