High water levels in the 2008 spring were expected to improve the crappie prospects for the 2009 season on waters across Iowa.

The scrubby woods shouted "quail" as Dave Novak and I slowly worked our way through a brushy tangle surrounded by picked bean fields. Best of all, it was a public hunting area that we had to ourselves on a gorgeous fall afternoon.

After cresting a low rise, we were greeted by an unexpected sight. Tucked down in a ravine sat a fishy-looking pond. We hadn't seen a quail, so fishing gear beckoned from the pickup. A half-hour later, we'd traded shotguns for rods and were casting into a pond brand new to us. When fishing unknown water, I often start with a small Mepps spinner, a lure that suckers nearly all fish species.

A few cranks into my second cast, a heavy fish socked the lure and streaked for the pond's far bank. It was too heavy for a bluegill, but it didn't fight like a bass. As I gradually worked it toward me, I was greeted by another surprise. A monstrous crappie, probably the biggest I'd caught in Iowa, flashed its speckled, yellowish flank in the sun. Dave ran over, and soon we were admiring the 15-inch slab. Anticipating excellent fishing, we cast for a half-hour, with only a few small bluegills and bass to show for it. No more slabs.

Walleye and catfish anglers will argue that their favored species is the best eating of Iowa's many fish. To me, they don't hold a candle to fresh crappie filets, and that evening my wife and I dined on the husky fish.

Then, a nagging thought entered my mind. It was an awfully big crappie. I couldn't remember ever getting a better one in four decades of fishing, and I wondered if we'd just eaten a trophy. Within minutes I was on the phone to Iowa's premier crappie master, Bob Middendorf. A retired Iowa Department of Natural Resources fisheries biologist, Bob spends many of his days targeting crappies on Lake Macbride and Coralville Reservoir. It's a safe bet that no other living Iowan has handled as many crappies as Bob.

When I told him I had landed a 15-incher, his enthusiasm penetrated the phone line. "Bring that fish down right away. We need to get it weighed and measured. I haven't seen many crappies that big," he remarked. Then I sheepishly told him how good the fish tasted!

A few weeks later, Dave and I fished Middendorf's home turf. We pulled a stringer of decent crappies from a brushpile sunk in Coralville Reservoir. All were respectable, but none were remotely the size of the pond monster.

Crappies are fickle. They can be a snap to find, or frustratingly difficult to find. Once located, they may bite like a batch of starving football players or sulk with lockjaw. A lake may seem filled with hungry fish one year and devoid of them a few years later. Sometimes they're stunted and razor thin, while a year or two later the same lake's fish are chunky.