Minnesota Fisherman Breaks Own State Record With 17.5-Inch Crappie

A Minnesota man has broken the state record for the largest black crappie ever caught and confirmed not once, but twice this spring. Nolan Sprengeler caught a 17.5-inch black crappie in May that was certified at 3 pounds, 8.9 ounces, breaking the record he had set just a month earlier.

Details about the catch are scarce, as Sprengeler declined an interview, but the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources announced Friday that he had broken his own record. The first fish was a 16.25-inch black crappie caught in April. Sprengeler, who lives in a Minneapolis suburb, did not appear to submit the fish’s girth for the record books. Minnesota also does not include catch locations in its modern fishing records, though Minnesota’s New Country says the record crappie was caught in Rice County.

Minnesota keeps three types of fishing records: certified weight records, catch-and-release records, and historical weight records prior to 1980, when the DNR began requiring certification for records. Sprengler’s fish falls into the first category of certified weight, which requires the fish to be weighed on a certified scale, a witness’ signature, and two DNR fisheries biologists to positively identify the species in person (among other requirements).

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The largest black crappie ever caught in the state is an unconfirmed catch from 1940. That fish, caught in the Vermillion River, weighed 5 pounds (no ounces were reported) and was 21 inches long.

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In addition to his back-to-back black crappie records, Sprengeler also holds the state record for the largest muskie ever caught and certified in the state. That muskie, caught in November 2021, weighed 55 pounds, 14.8 ounces and broke a record that had stood for 64 years.