| Crappie Articles |
John N. Felsher's Crappie Fishing Adventures
 | |  | |  | |  | |  |
A crappie by any other name would
still taste just as deliciously sweet
still taste just as deliciously sweet
Steve Coleman, a professional crappie angler from Tiptonville,
Tenn., shows off a crappie he caught while fishing a backwater off
the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway near Columbus,. Miss.
Tenn., shows off a crappie he caught while fishing a backwater off
the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway near Columbus,. Miss.
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One of the most prolific fish in North America, crappie often produce as
many colloquial names as they do offspring.
Some anglers call them white perch, papermouths, calico bass,
strawberry bass, rock bass, silver bass, bachelor perch, sunfish, perch,
speckled perch or specks and perhaps a dozen or so other names. Cajuns
in south Louisiana call them “sac-a-lait,” meaning “sack of milk” because
they look white and taste sweet. To complicate matters, anglers may catch
two different, but similar species.
Members of the sunfish family, black crappie, Pomoxis nigromaculatus,
and white crappie, Pomoxis annularis, share many common traits besides
nicknames. They look very similar, almost like a cross between a bass and
a bluegill. Some people even confuse them with white bass.
“White crappie tend to be lighter colored,” said Dr. Bobby Reed, a
fisheries biologist. “Spots or pigmentation tend to be more aligned in
vertical bars on the sides of the fish. A black crappie is darker. The
pigmentation tends to be more randomly distributed on the sides of the
fish. The best way to distinguish the two is to count the spines. A white
crappie has six spiny dorsal fins. A black crappie has either seven or eight.”
Most crappies weigh less than 1 pound, but anglers sometimes catch
fish exceeding 2.5 pounds. Spoke monsters occasionally break 4 or 5
pounds.
Both species frequently share the same habitat, jointly occupying nearly
every suitable water body in the state. They both eat the same prey,
mainly minnows and threadfin shad. However, a black crappie may eat a
few more insects. People generally use the same tactics, dangling live
shiners or small jigs around cover, to catch both species. While they might
populate the same lake, both species prefer a slightly different habitat
niche.
“White crappie generally prefer muddier, running water in big rivers,”
Reed said. “Black crappie prefer clear, quiet, calm backwaters.”
In late winter or early spring, anglers typically catch the largest crappies of
the year as both species congregate in huge schools just before they
spawn. Once anglers catch one or two crappie, they should thoroughly
probe an area for more fish. In the right spot, crappie anglers can often
catch a pile of fish without moving very far.
Crappie fishing in cold water sometimes resembles hunting for
submarines. Both species follow baitfish schools. Anglers search for
baitfish with electronics. A baitfish school might appear as an inverted “V”
on depth finder graphs. Find the bait and hungry crappies probably lurk
just below the school.
After finding fish suspended in deep water, mark line in one-foot
intervals. Attach a live shiner to the line and drop it vertically with as little
weight as possible. Count marks until the bait reaches the desired depth.
Always dangle the bait slightly above where crappies suspend. Fish look
up to spot minnows and shad silhouetted against surface glare. They might
rise three or four feet to hit a jig, but might not even see a jig bouncing just
below them.
Among the first fish to spawn, crappies move from the depths to shallow
water as waters warm. They typically spawn over sand or gravel beds in
three to four feet of water. Among the most prolific game fish in North
America, a single female crappie lays about 20,000 to 25,000 eggs. They
might spawn twice a year. On a big reservoir like Lake Ouachita, the spawn
may last several months as different parts of the lake warm to the
appropriate temperature at different rates. In some lakes, the spawn may
extend into June.
“Crappie are the rabbits of the fish world,” Reed said. “I do not
recommend that people stock crappie in ponds less than 50 acres in size
because they can take over a small pond. In a good water body, they can
grow to nine inches in one year. It typically takes two years to grow up to
10 or 11 inches long.”
In the shallows, many anglers drop plastic tubes or feather jigs around
logs, brush piles or other cover. Of course, the old standby shiners work in
shallow water as well as deep water.
If you can catch them, you can call them anything you want. They all
taste great -- and less filling!
many colloquial names as they do offspring.
Some anglers call them white perch, papermouths, calico bass,
strawberry bass, rock bass, silver bass, bachelor perch, sunfish, perch,
speckled perch or specks and perhaps a dozen or so other names. Cajuns
in south Louisiana call them “sac-a-lait,” meaning “sack of milk” because
they look white and taste sweet. To complicate matters, anglers may catch
two different, but similar species.
Members of the sunfish family, black crappie, Pomoxis nigromaculatus,
and white crappie, Pomoxis annularis, share many common traits besides
nicknames. They look very similar, almost like a cross between a bass and
a bluegill. Some people even confuse them with white bass.
“White crappie tend to be lighter colored,” said Dr. Bobby Reed, a
fisheries biologist. “Spots or pigmentation tend to be more aligned in
vertical bars on the sides of the fish. A black crappie is darker. The
pigmentation tends to be more randomly distributed on the sides of the
fish. The best way to distinguish the two is to count the spines. A white
crappie has six spiny dorsal fins. A black crappie has either seven or eight.”
Most crappies weigh less than 1 pound, but anglers sometimes catch
fish exceeding 2.5 pounds. Spoke monsters occasionally break 4 or 5
pounds.
Both species frequently share the same habitat, jointly occupying nearly
every suitable water body in the state. They both eat the same prey,
mainly minnows and threadfin shad. However, a black crappie may eat a
few more insects. People generally use the same tactics, dangling live
shiners or small jigs around cover, to catch both species. While they might
populate the same lake, both species prefer a slightly different habitat
niche.
“White crappie generally prefer muddier, running water in big rivers,”
Reed said. “Black crappie prefer clear, quiet, calm backwaters.”
In late winter or early spring, anglers typically catch the largest crappies of
the year as both species congregate in huge schools just before they
spawn. Once anglers catch one or two crappie, they should thoroughly
probe an area for more fish. In the right spot, crappie anglers can often
catch a pile of fish without moving very far.
Crappie fishing in cold water sometimes resembles hunting for
submarines. Both species follow baitfish schools. Anglers search for
baitfish with electronics. A baitfish school might appear as an inverted “V”
on depth finder graphs. Find the bait and hungry crappies probably lurk
just below the school.
After finding fish suspended in deep water, mark line in one-foot
intervals. Attach a live shiner to the line and drop it vertically with as little
weight as possible. Count marks until the bait reaches the desired depth.
Always dangle the bait slightly above where crappies suspend. Fish look
up to spot minnows and shad silhouetted against surface glare. They might
rise three or four feet to hit a jig, but might not even see a jig bouncing just
below them.
Among the first fish to spawn, crappies move from the depths to shallow
water as waters warm. They typically spawn over sand or gravel beds in
three to four feet of water. Among the most prolific game fish in North
America, a single female crappie lays about 20,000 to 25,000 eggs. They
might spawn twice a year. On a big reservoir like Lake Ouachita, the spawn
may last several months as different parts of the lake warm to the
appropriate temperature at different rates. In some lakes, the spawn may
extend into June.
“Crappie are the rabbits of the fish world,” Reed said. “I do not
recommend that people stock crappie in ponds less than 50 acres in size
because they can take over a small pond. In a good water body, they can
grow to nine inches in one year. It typically takes two years to grow up to
10 or 11 inches long.”
In the shallows, many anglers drop plastic tubes or feather jigs around
logs, brush piles or other cover. Of course, the old standby shiners work in
shallow water as well as deep water.
If you can catch them, you can call them anything you want. They all
taste great -- and less filling!
