King.Of.Anglers.Jeremiah
Fishing ? Instructor!
This is going to be one heck of a long post... Anyways, hello again all, sorry to keep folks waiting on this, as I know it was highly anticipated. This will be a multi piece project on crappie fishing. These elusive panfish are at the top of the list in terms of nationwide popularity and are considered america's favorite gamefish just behind bass, trout, and catfish I believe. Definitely america's favorite Panfish however.
With time getting closer and closer to the spawn, everyone is gearing up for some crappie fishing madness and the time is about right to cover this species. So, grab a chair, some snacks, a pen and some paper because we're diving into everything crappie today. (Almost). I really hope you don't have anything else better to do because this is going to be LONG. Without further ado....
CRAPPIE FISHING BASICS
"Crappy", "Croppie" , Specks, Speckled perch, Sac-A-Lait, Papermouths, or whatever you call them, have always been a popular fish species and have kept up with the furious rise to glory of the black bass species. Actually, crappie fishermen outnumber bass fishermen as well as most other fishermen nationwide. They're popular in Canada as well, even though there aren't as many up there. Despite how popular they are, there have been comparatively fewer studies done on crappie, so they are still pretty elusive and hard to figure out for a lot of guys. In the spring time, it seems like everyone's catching them. Anglers of every shape, size, age and color are shoulder to shoulder lined up and down the banks crappie fishing.
All the bass fishermen of the summer seem to not even be present and there are dozens of crappie boats on the water. Chewed crappie baits lining the banks and boat ramps and bucket after of bucket of minnows sold at whatever bait shop has them. Then after they get done spawning, it seems the crappie and the crappie fishermen all disappear.
The truth is, a better understanding of how and where crappies spawn, how they detect and select forage, and other background knowledge are unknown to most fishermen. They just happen to run across them by chance. The crappie is a nomad species, not staying in any one spot for too long and they're extremely adaptable, having been stocked all over the country and surviving in anything from tiny frozen over ponds up north to giant warm water reservoirs down south. You'd have to be a pretty hardcore crappie fisherman to be able to consistently find and catch these fish year round, but we'll get to that. Most popular gamefish like bass, trout, catfish, walleye and the like can live up to 25 years, normally with the longer life spans being northern fish. This holds true for crappie as well. They live up to 15 years in the north, but average 4-7 years down south. This can vary quite a bit depending on location. One lake may have younger fish than the next. Also, you have to assume that crappie won't end up in someone's frying pan by that point. If you're looking for larger size crappie, there must be abundant food available to them. Crappie are predatory fish, and survive mostly on smaller fish. Anywhere there's an abundance of shad from 2-4 inches, you may find large crappies. They are very cover oriented fish, although they may be found suspended in open water. Crappies also are filter feeders. Unknown to most people, crappies actually spend a lot of time eating zooplankton and insect larvae. However, crappie need meat to get big, and they get largest around baitfish. After baitfish get larger than 4 inches, crappie can't make much use out of them as far as food go, and then you start getting into bass food territory. This said, you can probably assume the best size crappie lures are in the 2-3 inch range, with most on the market being 1"-2" in length. Crappies have a big enough mouth and appetite though to grab a 3 inch bait. Trophy size crappie fishermen will use 3 inch baits almost exclusively. Don't overlook the tiny inch long baits though, as crappies are notorious for being fickle about color of baits, but what is equally important is size. A smaller overall profile can get you as many bites or more as changing color, or if your larger baits aren't working.
The standard size crappie baits work best in the spring and summer months, when shad are at the perfect eating size for crappie. By fall, a lot of them start to get too big. In the winter, crappie feed a lot more on zooplankton and tiny baitfish and times like these are better for little baits. Also, around insect hatches, they will feed heavily on smaller offerings. Most crappie baits imitate shad and minnows, but don't overlook bugs. A good mayfly hatch may leave baitfish going unnoticed.
Black Crappie VS. White Crappie
There are 2 species of crappie. The black crappie and the white crappie. These fish, although closely related, are different in shape, preferences and temperament. There's a difference in catching white crappie vs black crappie, so before you even go fishing, it may be a good idea to decide which one you're after. Just like how Largemouth Bass Fishing and techniques are different from spotted or smallmouth bass, you'll use different techniques for both species even though they're similar and eat a lot of the same food.
Black Crappie are more rounded in shape, have 7-8 dorsal spines, and are covered in irregular spots or "specks" on the body. They also have a black stripe that crosses their eyes most times.
White crappie are more elongated, featuring 5 or 6 dorsal spines, and have dark, vertical bars down their sides. They also have a more upturned mouth than black crappie. These fish can hybridize, and their hybrids usually favor the white crappie, although they are darker. There is also the "blacknose” crappie, which is actually not a separate species or hybrid, but a genetic mutation of the black crappie. Nothing wrong with them at all, just a black crappie with a dark, prominent stripe down their forehead and back.
In structure and cover preferences, white crappie prefer deeper and dirtier water than black crappie, and they relate to wood cover extremely well. On the other hand, black crappie prefer slightly shallower water, cleaner water and relate well to vegetation. Where both species are present in the same lake, expect to find black crappies in weed beds and along weed edges in the cleaner parts of the lake and find white crappie in deep wood cover in dirtier water. This explains why white crappie are found all over the south and midwest, and black crappie are in more northern and western states than white crappie. I should add that there are not really any white crappie in Florida. They're nearly all black crappie and were stocked there. Southern states like Georgia, Alabama, Texas, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee have excellent white crappie fisheries though with their longer, hotter growing season and dirtier water. This is important to remember, because most people think you need clean water to catch crappie. If you're fishing for whites, you can literally catch them out of a mud hole. As far as size, most folks think white crappie get bigger than black crappie, but they both reach about the same maximum size at about 5-6lbs. The world record for both are in the 5 range, but some people have caught some they claimed were 6 but they couldn't be proven. A 2lb fish isn't hard to come by in any healthy fishery, but 3lbs is considered a trophy crappie. Any lake you fish for crappies should be at least 65+ acres in size, as smaller lakes and small ponds tend to get overpopulated quickly and only produce very small fish.
HOW CRAPPIES FEED
Crappies have incredibly acute eyesight and have one of the largest eye sizes relative to their bodies to any gamefish. Even the juveniles have huge eyeballs that are just about too big for their heads. This is to let more light in and it's part of why crappies feed so well at night. They have multiple light receptor cones in their eyes and cnn distinguish color, which explains why they can tell whether you're using chartreuse today or not, and allows them to actually see zooplankton, which almost guarantees their survival, because they are the smallest available animal food source. Even though they're invisible to us without a microscope, crappies actually see them. They have great black and white vision and as such feed very well under low light conditions. This also comes into play with location of crappie, because there is a such thing as too much of a good thing. Too much light from a bright sun, and crappies go deep or hide in shaded areas. They have no eyelids and it can get too bright and too hot in a lot of places so they leave, which is why people stop catching them after the spawn in the spring. Crappie also have pretty good smell and taste capabilities. Not like those of a catfish or salmon that uses their senses to migrate or find food, but pretty good nonetheless and they can actually determine flavor through taste buds. This is important for two reasons. First, minnows use their sense of smell to sense danger, and they put off a chemical alarm pheromone called Schreckstoff when injured. Other minnows respond to this with a flight response to avoid being eaten. Studies have shown that pike and bass are attracted to this pheromone, but nobody knows if crappie are. Still, it is used in a lot of fish based attractants, and it can trigger bites on slow days. Secondly, an attractant can put a coating on your bait that makes it easier to see and detect by crappie. There are many UV enhanced products that will make your bait "glow" in the water, attracting fish.
SOUND AND VIBRATION
In crappie fishing, most baits are made to be silent and lifelike, but there are some that take advantage of the crappies use of their lateral line system. They respond well to baits that shake, rattle and roll. Most of these are just scaled down versions of bass lures. Crappies grab spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, crankbaits, blade baits, jerkbaits and other lures like that. A tiny lipless crankbait is a fantastic crappie lure and even ice fishing lure, and like most baits in the aforementioned lineup, work well in stained or muddy water. Crappies in stained water will use vibration and sound to locate a bait and then use vision as a final check before swallowing it whole. Crappies have a pretty big mouth relative to other panfish and prefer to engulf thier food items entirely and swallow them whole much like bass. Smell and taste help them locate baits in dirty water also and scent can help get fish that only look at a bait to strike it or hold on much longer than they would have otherwise.
With time getting closer and closer to the spawn, everyone is gearing up for some crappie fishing madness and the time is about right to cover this species. So, grab a chair, some snacks, a pen and some paper because we're diving into everything crappie today. (Almost). I really hope you don't have anything else better to do because this is going to be LONG. Without further ado....
CRAPPIE FISHING BASICS
"Crappy", "Croppie" , Specks, Speckled perch, Sac-A-Lait, Papermouths, or whatever you call them, have always been a popular fish species and have kept up with the furious rise to glory of the black bass species. Actually, crappie fishermen outnumber bass fishermen as well as most other fishermen nationwide. They're popular in Canada as well, even though there aren't as many up there. Despite how popular they are, there have been comparatively fewer studies done on crappie, so they are still pretty elusive and hard to figure out for a lot of guys. In the spring time, it seems like everyone's catching them. Anglers of every shape, size, age and color are shoulder to shoulder lined up and down the banks crappie fishing.
All the bass fishermen of the summer seem to not even be present and there are dozens of crappie boats on the water. Chewed crappie baits lining the banks and boat ramps and bucket after of bucket of minnows sold at whatever bait shop has them. Then after they get done spawning, it seems the crappie and the crappie fishermen all disappear.
The truth is, a better understanding of how and where crappies spawn, how they detect and select forage, and other background knowledge are unknown to most fishermen. They just happen to run across them by chance. The crappie is a nomad species, not staying in any one spot for too long and they're extremely adaptable, having been stocked all over the country and surviving in anything from tiny frozen over ponds up north to giant warm water reservoirs down south. You'd have to be a pretty hardcore crappie fisherman to be able to consistently find and catch these fish year round, but we'll get to that. Most popular gamefish like bass, trout, catfish, walleye and the like can live up to 25 years, normally with the longer life spans being northern fish. This holds true for crappie as well. They live up to 15 years in the north, but average 4-7 years down south. This can vary quite a bit depending on location. One lake may have younger fish than the next. Also, you have to assume that crappie won't end up in someone's frying pan by that point. If you're looking for larger size crappie, there must be abundant food available to them. Crappie are predatory fish, and survive mostly on smaller fish. Anywhere there's an abundance of shad from 2-4 inches, you may find large crappies. They are very cover oriented fish, although they may be found suspended in open water. Crappies also are filter feeders. Unknown to most people, crappies actually spend a lot of time eating zooplankton and insect larvae. However, crappie need meat to get big, and they get largest around baitfish. After baitfish get larger than 4 inches, crappie can't make much use out of them as far as food go, and then you start getting into bass food territory. This said, you can probably assume the best size crappie lures are in the 2-3 inch range, with most on the market being 1"-2" in length. Crappies have a big enough mouth and appetite though to grab a 3 inch bait. Trophy size crappie fishermen will use 3 inch baits almost exclusively. Don't overlook the tiny inch long baits though, as crappies are notorious for being fickle about color of baits, but what is equally important is size. A smaller overall profile can get you as many bites or more as changing color, or if your larger baits aren't working.
The standard size crappie baits work best in the spring and summer months, when shad are at the perfect eating size for crappie. By fall, a lot of them start to get too big. In the winter, crappie feed a lot more on zooplankton and tiny baitfish and times like these are better for little baits. Also, around insect hatches, they will feed heavily on smaller offerings. Most crappie baits imitate shad and minnows, but don't overlook bugs. A good mayfly hatch may leave baitfish going unnoticed.
Black Crappie VS. White Crappie
There are 2 species of crappie. The black crappie and the white crappie. These fish, although closely related, are different in shape, preferences and temperament. There's a difference in catching white crappie vs black crappie, so before you even go fishing, it may be a good idea to decide which one you're after. Just like how Largemouth Bass Fishing and techniques are different from spotted or smallmouth bass, you'll use different techniques for both species even though they're similar and eat a lot of the same food.
Black Crappie are more rounded in shape, have 7-8 dorsal spines, and are covered in irregular spots or "specks" on the body. They also have a black stripe that crosses their eyes most times.
White crappie are more elongated, featuring 5 or 6 dorsal spines, and have dark, vertical bars down their sides. They also have a more upturned mouth than black crappie. These fish can hybridize, and their hybrids usually favor the white crappie, although they are darker. There is also the "blacknose” crappie, which is actually not a separate species or hybrid, but a genetic mutation of the black crappie. Nothing wrong with them at all, just a black crappie with a dark, prominent stripe down their forehead and back.
In structure and cover preferences, white crappie prefer deeper and dirtier water than black crappie, and they relate to wood cover extremely well. On the other hand, black crappie prefer slightly shallower water, cleaner water and relate well to vegetation. Where both species are present in the same lake, expect to find black crappies in weed beds and along weed edges in the cleaner parts of the lake and find white crappie in deep wood cover in dirtier water. This explains why white crappie are found all over the south and midwest, and black crappie are in more northern and western states than white crappie. I should add that there are not really any white crappie in Florida. They're nearly all black crappie and were stocked there. Southern states like Georgia, Alabama, Texas, Mississippi, South Carolina and Tennessee have excellent white crappie fisheries though with their longer, hotter growing season and dirtier water. This is important to remember, because most people think you need clean water to catch crappie. If you're fishing for whites, you can literally catch them out of a mud hole. As far as size, most folks think white crappie get bigger than black crappie, but they both reach about the same maximum size at about 5-6lbs. The world record for both are in the 5 range, but some people have caught some they claimed were 6 but they couldn't be proven. A 2lb fish isn't hard to come by in any healthy fishery, but 3lbs is considered a trophy crappie. Any lake you fish for crappies should be at least 65+ acres in size, as smaller lakes and small ponds tend to get overpopulated quickly and only produce very small fish.
HOW CRAPPIES FEED
Crappies have incredibly acute eyesight and have one of the largest eye sizes relative to their bodies to any gamefish. Even the juveniles have huge eyeballs that are just about too big for their heads. This is to let more light in and it's part of why crappies feed so well at night. They have multiple light receptor cones in their eyes and cnn distinguish color, which explains why they can tell whether you're using chartreuse today or not, and allows them to actually see zooplankton, which almost guarantees their survival, because they are the smallest available animal food source. Even though they're invisible to us without a microscope, crappies actually see them. They have great black and white vision and as such feed very well under low light conditions. This also comes into play with location of crappie, because there is a such thing as too much of a good thing. Too much light from a bright sun, and crappies go deep or hide in shaded areas. They have no eyelids and it can get too bright and too hot in a lot of places so they leave, which is why people stop catching them after the spawn in the spring. Crappie also have pretty good smell and taste capabilities. Not like those of a catfish or salmon that uses their senses to migrate or find food, but pretty good nonetheless and they can actually determine flavor through taste buds. This is important for two reasons. First, minnows use their sense of smell to sense danger, and they put off a chemical alarm pheromone called Schreckstoff when injured. Other minnows respond to this with a flight response to avoid being eaten. Studies have shown that pike and bass are attracted to this pheromone, but nobody knows if crappie are. Still, it is used in a lot of fish based attractants, and it can trigger bites on slow days. Secondly, an attractant can put a coating on your bait that makes it easier to see and detect by crappie. There are many UV enhanced products that will make your bait "glow" in the water, attracting fish.
SOUND AND VIBRATION
In crappie fishing, most baits are made to be silent and lifelike, but there are some that take advantage of the crappies use of their lateral line system. They respond well to baits that shake, rattle and roll. Most of these are just scaled down versions of bass lures. Crappies grab spinnerbaits, chatterbaits, crankbaits, blade baits, jerkbaits and other lures like that. A tiny lipless crankbait is a fantastic crappie lure and even ice fishing lure, and like most baits in the aforementioned lineup, work well in stained or muddy water. Crappies in stained water will use vibration and sound to locate a bait and then use vision as a final check before swallowing it whole. Crappies have a pretty big mouth relative to other panfish and prefer to engulf thier food items entirely and swallow them whole much like bass. Smell and taste help them locate baits in dirty water also and scent can help get fish that only look at a bait to strike it or hold on much longer than they would have otherwise.
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