Frankfort, KY - A four-pound, 14-ounce monster crappie taken on May 8 by Penny Hopper of Crofton out of a watershed lake in Christian County is the new official Kentucky state record crappie.

Fisheries officials with the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources (KDFWR) hoped the crappie qualified as an all tackle world record black crappie, but genetic analysis of the fish dashed their hopes.

"We hoped for an all tackle world record black crappie, but it is a hybrid of black and white crappie," said Gerry Buynak assistant director of fisheries for the KDFWR. "We are disappointed it isn’t an all tackle world record crappie, but we are proud of a crappie that big coming out of Kentucky waters and is our new state record."

Fishery biologists became intrigued at the possibility of an all tackle world record black crappie after examining the fish in the flesh. The huge crappie possessed features of both white and black crappie.

"By looking at it, a number of people questioned it," Buynak said. "Some of our biologists said it was a white crappie, others felt it was a black crappie. It had seven dorsal spines, which is indicative of black crappie, but had the vertical bars on the side indicative of white crappie. We wanted to make sure it was a black crappie, so we sent it in to Auburn University for genetic testing."

Kentucky currently doesn’t differentiate between black and white crappie for state record status. The International Game Fish Association all tackle world record black crappie is a 4-pound, 8-ounce fish caught in Kerr Lake in Virginia in 1981.

Hopper caught the fish on a family outing using an in-line spinner on 10-pound test line. Her crappie bested the old 4-pound, 6-ounce Kentucky state record crappie, taken by Kevin Perry out of a Montgomery County farm pond in 1997, by a half a pound.

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