Satilla Gets Another New Black Crappie Record

Steven Todd with the new Satilla River record black crappie.

Just days after releasing the annual edition of the Georgia Lake and River Records, another river record has already fallen.

On Feb. 6, Steven Todd, of Saint George, managed to reel in a 2-lb., 1-oz. black crappie that raised the river-record bar for the species for the second time in the past 13 months.

“I don’t fish the Satilla much, and the funny thing is we weren’t even planning to go fish that day. We were going to go hog hunting since it’s right at the end of small-game season, but we decided not to at the last minute due to it being really windy,” said Steven.

Steven and his son Cameron met up with his good buddy, Paul Minter, and had a quick breakfast before heading to the river and launching their boats around 7:30 a.m.

“Me and my son were in my boat, and Paul was in his. We were fishing the Brantley County section of the river, and the conditions were just plain terrible,” said Steven.

Roughly 30 minutes into the trip, despite battling the wind and the cold, Steven managed to catch a 2-lb. bass on the minnow and cork rig he was intending to catch crappie with.

“A few minutes after that, right around 8 o’clock, we were kind of drifting with the wind and all of the sudden my cork that was set about 3 feet deep went down kind of like it was hung on something,” said Steven.

Less than 100 yards from the boat ramp he’d launched at, Steven quickly grabbed the rod and the fight was on. The fish pulled down hard and Steven was convinced he was hooked up with another nice bass.

“That thing was pulling hard, and the way he was fighting, I just knew it was another bass,” said Steven.

Roughly 15 seconds later the giant crappie surfaced and Steven couldn’t believe his eyes. After a couple more seconds of tug of war, he was able to swing the slab in the boat.

Steven and his son Cameron fished another few hours until about 11:30 a.m. without catching another fish. Paul managed to put six or so crappie in his boat during the same time frame before the anglers decided to head for the ramp and call it a day.

Before leaving the river, some friends came along in another boat and mentioned the giant crappie could very well be a new GON record and told Steven he should get the fish to some certified scales.

“I was just gonna take the fish home and fry it up. I didn’t even think about a record,” Steven said.

Steven drove the fish to the WRD Waycross Fisheries Office where it was measured 15 3/8 inches long and pushed the scales down to 2-lbs., 1-oz., besting the previous river record, set by Kary Davis, by almost 3 ounces.

Catch A Lake or River Record? Requirements For Record Fish

• Fish must be caught legally by rod and reel in a manner consistent with WRD fish regulations.

• Catch must be weighed on accurate Georgia DOA certified scales with at least two witnesses present.

• Witnesses to the weighing must be at least 18 years old, and they must not be members of the angler’s immediate family nor have a close personal relationship with the angler.

• Catch must be positively identified by qualified DNR personnel. GON can correspond with DNR when high-quality, multiple photos are taken of the fish and emailed to GON. All record submissions and photos must be sent to [email protected].

GON’s records are compiled and maintained by GON, to be awarded at GON’s discretion. Additional steps may be required for record consideration.