Articles on Premier Angler may contain affiliate links. Please see our Affiliate Disclosure for more information.
When then-seven year old Amarion Stockton landed a nearly four-pound crappie on High Rock Lake near Lexington, North Carolina a couple years ago, it was a special moment for a young boy and his father, Kevin.
In 2022, another youngster – Mark Mull – got to share in a special moment.
In this instance, it was Mark’s grandfather Charlie who pulled in a special fish. Regardless of the angler on the other end of the rod, however, it was the type of moment that makes multi-generational fishing one of the world’s greatest pastimes.
Success Comes Unexpectedly
Charlie Parker has spent many of his 51 years on this planet fishing. Admittedly, he is fonder of bass and catfish than he is crappie. His resume includes roughly a dozen crappie in the 2-to-2.5-pound range – not at all rookie numbers – yet Parker is aware that his status is far from elite.
“I’m not a prolific crappie fisherman by any means,” Parker told Premier Angler. “(I) mostly use live minnows. Sometimes (I) use jigs.”
Earlier this year, while fishing with grandson Mark, Parker stated that his intentions were to land one of his preferred species.
To Parker’s credit are a double-digit bass (10 pounds, 3 ounces, featured above) and a 64-pound blue catfish caught from the same Lake Wylie pier he has been fishing since childhood. In hopes of sharing yet another great fishing moment with his grandson (who regularly accompanies him to the water), Parker found a suitable location this Spring on a nearby private pond.
“I saw there was a tree that had fallen in the water. This was about the time of the catfish and bass spawn,” Parker recalled. “Ordinarily, when trying to catch a bass on the bed, I’ll use a bream. (I) hooked this one through its back, like a minnow.”
Sometimes success comes unexpectedly, and we often get what we want when we are expecting something else. In this case, Parker was pleasantly surprised.
“I Never Imagined a Crappie Would Hit It”
When the largest crappie Parker has ever caught – yet alone seen in person – took the bait, the experience was difficult to process at first.
“I never imagined a crappie would hit it,” Parker noted. “I thought it was a 4-5 pound bass or catfish until it got to the bank.” He also trusted his grandson to assist with one of the most impressive and important catches of his life.
“I said, ‘”Mark, get the net! Don’t you dare lose this fish!'”
The youngster did his job and Parker immediately realized he had connected with a specimen.
“He scooped that thing out of there and I basically collapsed on it to make sure it didn’t get away,” Parker noted. “I’ll be honest with you: it blew my mind! I’d love to say I caught it on purpose, but I didn’t. (I was) totally flabbergasted by the size of it!”
Faith and Trophy Fish
Parker considers his massive crappie the second “fish of a lifetime,” ranking it only behind his double-digit bass.
Considering his crappie weighed a staggering 4 pounds, 3 ounces, however, one could argue that it may be comparable to a 16-17 pound bass in its rarity.
For comparison, the current world record black crappie is 5 pounds, 7 ounces. The world record white crappie is 5 pounds, 3 ounces.
While Parker admits that he will never catch his trophy’s equal, he remains humble and thankful for the experience. A man of faith, Parker also believes that he did not achieve any of these successes alone.
“Anything I am is due to the fact that I know Jesus Christ as my savior,” Parker noted.
Comments are closed.