Illinois-record crappie: Is it a black crappie or hybrid crappie

Ryan Povolish caught an Illinois-record crappie Tuesday from Kinkaid Lake. At last word from Illinois fisheries chief Dan Stephenson, it was uncertain whether it would go in the books as a black crappie or a hybrid.

“It appears to be a pure black but we may test for hybridization, so more to follow,” emailed Stephenson, who wanted to discuss the question with his staff.

Either way, the 4-pound, 8.8-ounce crappie will be an Illinois record.

The record for black crappie is one of the longest standing records of significance in Illinois. John Hampton caught the standing Illinois-record black crappie (4-8) from Rend Lake on May 15, 1976. Marcus Miller caught the standing Illinois-record hybrid crappie (4.52 pounds) from a Jefferson County farm pond on May 14, 2008.

Illinois fisheries biologist Shawn Hirst checked and weighed Povolish’s crappie. It is 18 1/8th inches long with a girth of 16 1/4 inches.

Les Winkeler, veteran outdoors columnist and sports editor for the The Southern, posted an initial report on the catch.

Povolish of Carbondale was fishing with Josh Jackson and working a weed bed in 6 feet of water with a Strike King jig, Winkeler wrote.

More to come I suspect.