| Crappie is a freshwater fish in the sunfish family. | | | | coves, fallen trees, stumps, rock piles and |
| Bass are also members of the sunfish family. | | | | submerged brush all act as fish attractors and are |
| Members of the sunfish family are predators that | | | | favorite hot spots to fish for crappie. The |
| feed on other fish. Bass is the most popular game | | | | pre-spawn and spawn periods of spring offer the |
| fish because they are its aggressiveness and | | | | best fishing of the year for crappie. Crappies |
| fighting ability. They are fairly easy to haul in once | | | | spawn in the spring when the water temperature |
| they are hooked but are fun to catch because of | | | | gets to 52 - 60 degrees. Prior to spawning crappie |
| the feisty fight they put out. They jump around | | | | move into shallower water amidst shoreline cover |
| and swim really fast from side to side trying to | | | | and feed aggressively. This is the pre-spawn |
| dislodge the hook. | | | | period. The females lay their eggs and then move |
| Crappie isn't as popular a sport fish as bass but | | | | out to deeper water while the males stay and |
| what they do provide is the opportunity to catch | | | | guard the nest. If you are fishing along the |
| a lot of them at one time. Crappie school | | | | shoreline in shallow water and catch smaller fish |
| together in large numbers so once a school is | | | | move out a bit into deeper water and you may |
| found that is biting on the bait they are easy to | | | | find the larger females feeding. |
| catch. | | | | There are two different varieties of crappie, |
| Crappie is one of the best tasting freshwater | | | | white and black, and there is little difference |
| fishes largely due to the fact that they have a | | | | between the two varieties. The sides on both are |
| diverse diet. They eat insects, worms, and small | | | | silvery and have darker areas on the back of the |
| crayfish and minnows. Their favorite meal is | | | | fish running front to back and both have spots. |
| minnows. Many different kinds of lures can be | | | | One difference is that they both have black spots |
| used to catch crappie because of their diverse | | | | but the spots on the white crappie are more |
| diet. | | | | organized. The other difference between the two |
| Crappies like fish cover of any kind where they | | | | is the dorsal spines. White crappie have six dorsal |
| congregate hoping to ambush their prey. Shallow | | | | spines and black crappie have seven to eight. |