After bluegills, crappies are the most commonly caught fish in Minnesota. Photo by Kenny Darwin.

The most commonly caught fish in Minnesota, after the abundant bluegill, is the crappie. They grow big, can be fished throughout the year and put up a great fight when you get one on the line. Oh yeah, they taste darn good as well.

Minnesota is home to white and black crappies, although the black crappie is the most abundant -- found throughout the state -- while white crappies are primarily found in the south. There are a ton of great lakes for crappie anglers to try and the vast majority of them are small bodies of water.

Finding those small bodies of water where crappies are bigger than your hand is a tough but worthy pursuit. Because there's always the fear of exposing a secret honeyhole, those small waters are yours for searching.

In this article, we focus on lakes large enough to support extra fishing pressure; however, overharvesting any body of water diminishes the fishery.

Catch-and-release is critical for preserving the future of trophy fisheries. Some lakes mentioned offer opportunities to harvest wallhanger crappies.

What defines a trophy crappie?

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, but get into the range of 13 to 15 inches and you have a crappie that most anglers have never caught. Anything above 16 inches is definitely a trophy.

In addition to this article, the next best place to find high-quality crappie lakes is in the Minnesota fishing regulations. Those lakes with special crappie regulations have been selected because of their potential. Many of these lakes have been protected for several years and DNR biologists are seeing the payoff. Lakes where 8- or 9-inch crappies were the biggest are now producing 13- and 14-inch crappies.

One of the biggest things to remember about crappies is that they aren't as predictable as anglers think. Oh sure, in the spring they flock to the bays, channels and shallow-water locations to feed and prepare for spawn, but once the water warms up, they begin to roam.

Crappies roam for a variety of reasons but mainly in search of food and shelter. Food sources vacillate throughout a lake as summer progresses triggering movements and changes in activity. Shelter means escape from large predators. It's an unfortunate coincidence for Mr. Crappie that the lakes where he's most abundant are also lakes filled with big predators like muskies and pike.

UPPER RED LAKE
Beltrami County
It won't be much longer before Upper Red Lake falls off the map for being a trophy crappie fishery. The year-class that made the lake legendary is almost all gone due to predation, harvest and old age. While that story is near an end, there is still good news. Upper Red Lake is probably the only lake in the state where an angler has a legitimate shot at catching a 17-inch crappie pushing 3 pounds.

"Crappies are now few and far between, but if you are looking for a trophy lake, you can't beat it with plenty of fish upward of 14 to 16 inches and even larger," said "Tackle" Terry Tuma, a crappie-angling expert.