The Texoma crappie was caught by Edmond angler Charles Cather on a jig and tipped the scales at 2.8 lbs. The Thunderbird crappie was caught April 28 by Shelby Adcock, Moore, and weighed 2.3 lbs. And officials with the Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation say anglers hoping to catch their own lake record crappie, or even just a mess of fish to serve at the dinner table, may have their best chance now.

"We're coming into a time of the year when catching a lake record crappie could be easier than ever," said Greg Summers, fisheries research laboratory supervisor for the Wildlife Department. "But even if you don't catch a record, you can certainly catch high numbers of fish, and you can do it without a boat and with simple tackle."

Summers is referring to annual the spawning activity of crappie, when they move to shallow waters — usually only two to three feet deep. Naturally, this activity makes the shallows along banks an excellent place for anglers to target the highly sought after fish as well to introduce youngsters to the sport of fishing.

"All anglers really need for bait this time of year for crappie fishing is a handful of jigs or minnows," Summers said.

Anglers hoping to score on crappie this time of year should concentrate on brush and rocky structure in shallow water. Anglers know crappie will bite a variety of bait, are easily accessible from the bank and make excellent tablefare.

For a complete list of regulations, anglers should consult to the current "Oklahoma Fishing Guide" or log on to wildlifedepartment.com.

The Web site also offers more information about the lake record crappie and the Wildlife Department's Lake Record Fish Program. Through an easily-operated search feature, visitors to the site can view a wealth of lake record fish information, ranging from the size of record fish caught to what kind of bait or rod and reel was used to catch them.

Lakes included in the program include Arbuckle, Broken Bow, Canton, Eufaula, Ft. Cobb, Grand, Kaw, Keystone, Sardis, Skiatook, Tenkiller, Texoma and Thunderbird.

Species eligible for spots in the lake records book include blue, channel and flathead catfish and largemouth, smallmouth and spotted bass in addition to crappie, paddlefish, striped bass, striped bass hybrids, sunfish (combined) walleye/saugeye and white bass. Minimum weights are set for each species are detailed on the Wildlife Department's Web site at wildlifedepartment.com.

Anglers who catch a potential record from a participating lake should contact designated business locations around the lake that are enrolled as lake record keepers. A listing of official lake record keepers is available on wildlifedepartment.com.

Once it has been determined that an angler has landed a record fish, the media is notified and the public will be able to view information about the catch on the Wildlife Department's Web site at wildlifedepartment.com.

All past and current state record fish are registered in the Lake Record Fish Program as records for their respective lakes.

To see the complete database of all lake record fish caught, or to learn more about the Lake Record Fish program, log on to the Wildlife Department's Web site at wildlifedepartment.com.