We examined the feasibility of mass culturing advanced-size black crappie fingerlings (90-160 mm total length, TL) and assessed the effectiveness of micro-wire tags for marking fingerlings for stocking evaluations. Approximately 142,000 advanced fingerlings were reared in four 0.4-ha ponds during spring-fall 1997. An inverse relationship existed between total length and density of fingerlings in culture ponds (R² = 0.93, TL= 155912 + -991(density), P < 0.01). We used coded wire tags to mark fish prior to stocking. In January 1998, Lake Jeffords (65 ha) was stocked with wire-tagged fingerlings (315/ha). Mortality was assessed 24 hours after stocking by placing 100 fish into cages located at the lake. Mortality averaged 76%, resulting in an estimated final stocking rate of 76/ha survivors at 24 h after stocking. Conversely, untagged fish stocked into another lake had only 5% mortality after 24 h. Thus, high mortality of tagged fish was likely related to extra handling during the tagging process. Contribution of stocked fingerlings to the population will be assessed during fall 1998.