Jim Zimmerer claims rights as “Crappie King” at his house with this 17-inch slab he took at a sandpit lake in 2006. His son Preston took a 15-incher in ‘07. Photo courtesy of Jim Zimmerer.

Crappie of both the black and the white subspecies will command a lot of attention this month in Nebraska. Why so? Well, consider that, in total, 86 Master Angler crappie were taken in the Cornhusker State in 2006. (The 2007 totals had not been completed as this issue was going to press.)

Great Plains Game & Fish questioned a cross-section of slab-catchers and found that they caught dozens of nice-sized papermouths for every trophy they landed. The popularity of this fish is evident among young and old alike -- and that includes both male and female anglers.

Jim Zimmerer, 42, of Columbus fishes with his son Preston. They spend much of their crappie time at Lake North, the Loup Canal and local farm ponds.

“Preston is 12, and he caught his first crappie when he was 10,” dad Jim said. “Last year we were fishing Lake North, (a 200-acre impoundment just north of Columbus) on May 31 when he hooked into a big one. The crappie qualified for a Game Commission Master Angler Award (a minimum of 15 inches or 2 pounds). He was fishing a jig sweetened with a minnow.

“We usually fish with a 1/32-ounce jig and generally use orange-and-black or chartreuse. I didn’t get one of the big ones last year, but I caught a 17-incher from a sandpit lake in ‘06, so I’m still the ‘crappie king.’ I really don’t expect to hang onto the throne very long -- Preston is determined to better the 17-incher!”

The father-and-son crappie-catchers report that the crappie they caught last spring were smaller than usual, perhaps because of the heavy rains that produced high, turbid water. They report that they fish some farm ponds and sandpit lakes in the area, which also produce some good crappie action.

Richard Dunn, a 77-year-old fisherman from Beatrice, might be referred to as the modern era’s Compleat Angler, probing watershed ponds in Gage and Pawnee counties for crappie and bass, and going after a variety of fish in Canada, Alaska and Baja, as well as Texas and Arizona. His best crappie, which was on the Master Angler list, is a 3-pound 18-incher that he caught last year from a sandpit lake near Blue Springs.

“I’ve had some good crappie fishing in Arizona too,” he said. “I really like to fish. I have spent a lot of time on bass as well as crappie in this area. I usually rig up my spincast outfit with a jig, and prefer a brown-spotted color or a minnow-jig combination, and use the trolling motor to work the good bass water. I often rig a second pole with a hook and liver and drag it along for catfish while casting for bass. Within the past couple of years I have been finding it kinda tough to stay with the trolling motor on my boat -- I find I enjoy just sitting in it and fishing for crappie and catfish.”

Dunn had his name in the Nebraska fishing record books, too, holding the top spot for bullheads for years with a 3-pound, 14-ounce specimen. That record was topped in June 1984 by Oakdale’s LaVerne Heermann, whose new record bullhead, an ounce heavier than Dunn’s, was pulled from a farm pond.

“I’m still pretty active on the outdoor scene,” Dunn said. “I don’t fish as hard as I used to, but I also hunt -- killed a nice whitetail buck last fall on some property I own not far from town.”