Minnesota angler doubles down on new certified weight state-record black crappie – Outdoor News
The Minnesota DNR on June 27 posted photos of two black crappie catches on its Facebook page, along with the accompanying message: “Nolan Sprengeler, of Plymouth, caught this whopping 16.25-inch black crappie in April (shown below). The man was on a mission, though, and broke his own record again in May with a 17.5-inch black crappie (pictured above). The May crappie was certified at 3 pounds, 8.9 ounces.”
Earlier this year, the department began accepting record applications that would replace “non-certified weight” record fish – those deemed records prior to 1980. The noncertified weight record black crappie weighed 5 pounds and was caught from the Vermillion River in Dakota County in 1940, according to the DNR’s website.
Sprengeler declined an interview request after his latest record catch, but he is no stranger to record fish. He also holds the state’s certified-weight record for a muskie that he caught in 2021 on Lake Mille Lacs — a fish that measured 57.75 inches and weighed 55 pounds, 14.8 ounces.
“She had been hooked in the gills, so we couldn’t get her in good enough shape for release,” Sprengeler said in a story published on the Norsk Lithium website. “By this time, we also realized she was a state record so we got off the lake with the fish in the livewell.”
The catch-and-release muskie record in Minnesota was caught by Eric Bakke of Princeton in 2022 on Lake Mille Lacs. That fish measured 58.25 inches.
Visit www.dnr.state.mn.us/fishing/staterecords.html for more information on the fish records program.
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