My experience with west side crappie is that they are usually pretty runty compared to what we have on the east side. The Columbia River Gorge and beyond holds enormous populations of crappie but are seldom targeted in what is mostly salmon and walleye water. Keep an eye open for sloughs and ponds that are open to the river, you will seldom see anyone on them but they are home not only to spiny rays but downriver juvenile chinook will get in them along with the occasional sturgeon! I have always found that an ultra light spinning rod was a superior tool for catching them than a fly rod because the action can be so fast when you hit a school that casting and stripping just slows you down.
Some hotspotting here. The Rowland Lakes upstream of White Salmon in the Gorge is a popular put-n-take trout lake that holds a good population of both bass and crappie. The lake on the north side of the highway gets stocked, the south side lake does not and is seldom fished but has produced obscene numbers of crappie in the spring. Expect some surprises in the south lake but lots of crappie in both lakes.
Further upstream at Crow Butte State Park I have caught crappie up to 16'' in length and at places on the Snake up to 14''. Even here in Ione on the Pend Oreille River I have landed crappie in the 12-14'' range. Probably only walleye are better table fare but a crappie dipped in beer batter and fried in Crisco and chased with an ale is a treat that will leave you longing for more.
