A quick trip before work turned unforgettable when Jesse Miller landed
this massive 4.27-pound hybrid crappie from Ohio’s Great Miami River.
(courtesy of Jesse Miller)
Ohio Angler Lands Record Hybrid Crappie
By Keith Sutton
What started as a quick fishing trip before work turned into a catch that has rewritten Ohio’s record books.
On April 1, Middletown, Ohio angler Jesse Miller slipped down to the Great Miami River for a little bank fishing before beginning his evening shift as a delivery driver. He set out a lightweight rod rigged with a minnow under a float, then started casting another rod for smallmouth bass near the Middletown Dam.
“I’d made a few casts and happened to look over at my other rod and saw the float go under,” Miller told Outdoor Life. “It was in a spot near the wall of an old river dam. I got to the rod with the float, and there was a heavy fish on it.”
The battle didn’t last long, but landing the fish proved tricky.
“I almost lost it because where I was standing on shore was about three feet from the old dam wall, and the fish was hard to grab,” Miller said. “I finally got it, and at first, I thought it was a white bass because it was so big.”
Then he got a better look.
“But the mouth was huge, and I knew then it was a crappie,” he explained. “It looked like a white crappie on one side but different on the other side.”
The giant fish measured 18.3 inches long with a 16-inch girth and eventually weighed 4.27 pounds on certified scales, making it the first official entry into Ohio’s newly created hybrid crappie state-record category.
Miller initially rushed the fish to a nearby grocery store where it weighed 4.30 pounds, but later realized Ohio regulations require certified scales, printed documentation and witness signatures for record submissions. Keeping the fish alive in a cooler, he transported it to Zink Meat Market in Franklin, Ohio, where it officially weighed 4.27 pounds.
According to the Ohio Division of Wildlife, fisheries biologists Kipp Brown and Mike Porto confirmed the fish was a hybrid crappie, a cross between black and white crappie. Biologists noted that hybrids are not uncommon in waters containing both species.
“It took a week for me to get to the Ohio DNR office in Xenia so biologists could look at my fish, so I had to freeze it,” Miller said. “When I got to the Xenia office, the biologists verified it was a hybrid crappie.”
The Outdoor Writers of Ohio State Record Fish Committee reviewed the findings and established a new hybrid crappie category, making Miller’s catch the inaugural state record for the species.
For Miller, however, the fish represents more than a record.
“My family has been crappie fishing for many, many generations, and I am proud to carry on the tradition,” he wrote in a social media post. “I can say sometimes these fish kept food on our table when times got tough. I hope I’ve made my ancestors proud with this one.”
Biologists estimated the fish was 11 to 12 years old based on scale analysis. While the fish displayed the six dorsal spines typical of a white crappie, its coloration and body shape showed characteristics of both species.
Whatever label ultimately fits the fish, one thing is certain: it’s one of the biggest crappie ever officially documented, and proof that even a quick stop before work can become the fishing trip of a lifetime.
(Keith Sutton is the editor of CrappieNOW and CatfishNOW
