Eric Morey is a part-time fishing guide living in the southwest Illinois town of Bunker Hill. He prides himself on fishing many lakes for varied fish species. But he guides chiefly for crappies and bass on sprawling 25,000-acre Lake Carlyle, just an hour drive from his home.
About 9 a.m. on March 20, Eric and his 26-year-old daughter Chelsea launched their boat into a small public lake — one that they want to keep secret because it’s already highly pressured.
“It’s a well-known lake and gets a lot of fishing attention, and I sure don’t want to see more people hammering its big crappies,” Eric tells Wired2fish. “That morning, we were headed to another lake. But I just had a feeling that the lake we turned to that morning was going to be good for big fish — so we changed our destination spot.”
The Catch is Spotted
It was a good change of venue.
According to Eric, just 15 minutes after launching their boat, he spotted a large fish with forward-facing sonar. He believed it was a huge crappie.
“Chelsea was still getting settled in our boat when I spotted a big fish three feet deep suspended over nine feet of water alongside a treetop that broke the water’s surface,” said Eric, 50. “I used a long 16-foot spinning rod and dropped a 1/16-ounce unpainted jig with no minnow toward the fish.”
Taking the Bait
As he worked the two-inch Strike King Shadpole jig in smoky shad color over the fish, Eric watched on sonar as it took his lure, fitted to 10-pound test fluorocarbon line.
“The fish came right up and hit,” said Eric, who owns The Reel Experience guide service as a licensed Illinois guide. “I told Chelsea I got a big one and get the net, but she didn’t hear me at first. Then she realized I had a good one and netted it right at the boat.”
Eric weighed the crappie at 4.10 pounds, measuring 18 inches long with a 16-inch girth.
After taking a few photos of the crappie, Chelsea made a video of Eric releasing the huge fish back into the anonymous Illinois lake.
A Year of Big Crappie Continues
There was no question that the colossal crappie would return to the water.
“We don’t keep big crappies we catch, releasing all of them,” said Eric. “This is the second fish over four pounds I’ve caught from the same lake since January.”
That first one weighed 4.06 pounds. Eric also released that oversize crappie, while again fishing with his daughter on Jan. 16.
Eric believes the two four-pounders are different fish. His January crappie was 18.125 inches long with a 15.62-inch girth.
“That January trip was a really good one,” Eric recalled. “We had four crappies each weighing over three pounds, including the 4.06 pounder — all released.
“That kind of fishing isn’t available in many public waters, and that’s why I don’t want to mention the lake’s name.”
