A lot of folks may not realize that there are two different species of crappie in our lakes - white and black. When out doing creel surveys I find that when I ask crappie fishermen if they had caught white or black crappie most folks will say white if they’re guessing. I figure fishermen tell me they have caught white crappie because they have grown up calling crappie “white perch”.>

 

White and black crappie have similar life histories. Both species attain similar sizes through comparable growth rates with crappie in our area reaching legal size (10’’) in about 2 years. Crappie spawn in the spring when water temperatures begin approaching about 65o which is usually sometime in late March for us here. Crappie spawning technique is similar to that of bass, with spawning nests built in shallow protected areas such as coves and  defended by the male. Females will spawn several times over the course of the spawning season laying anywhere from 10,000 to about 150,000 eggs depending on their age and size. Crappie will live to be about 10 years old if all goes well for them. Crappie were originally found from central North America east of the Rocky Mountains, but have since been stocked extensively throughout the country.   

White crappie are most often found in lakes that are muddy or turbid. Some white crappie from very muddy lakes may be quite white in color, but most have blotchy vertical bars along their sides. During the spawn these blotchy bars will usually become darker as most fish will exhibit pronounced coloration when spawning. /strong>Black crappie are found in lakes that have clearer water. Black crappie are blotchy all over its body without the distinct vertical bars that white crappie have. In lakes like Sam Rayburn that has both muddy and clearer water on opposite ends of the lake you can observe a separation of the species. In Sam Rayburn usually I observe more white crappie above the Highway 147 Bridge and more black crappie below it in the clearer water of the lake. /strong>

Many crappie fishermen have seen black crappie with a black stripe on its back. These fish are sometimes called black nose or Mohawk crappie. I remember even reading an article awhile back that referred to these fish as entirely different species. These fish are black crappie that simply have a genetic trait that produces this black stripe. Interestingly biologists originally believed this trait was recessive but it is now known that it is in fact a dominant genetic trait. I’ve heard a lot of fishermen say that fish with the black stripe are males, but this trait is expressed evenly in both males and females in a population and will be exhibited in about 30% of all the fish.

To further confuse things crappie will hybridize, or in other words white and black crappie will sometimes spawn with one another. Reasons for fish hybridizing are often due to similar species unable to identify a mate in turbid water having similar overlapping spawning times and patterns. Usually first generation hybrids exhibit superior growth and this has been the observed case for hybrid crappie. People smarter than myself have determined that for first generation hybrid crappie there is no rhyme or reason as to which species (white or black crappie) is the mother or father. However, for subsequent generations of hybrid crappie they have been found to more often than not mate with black crappie. /strong> Crappie is the second most sought after fish only with black bass being more popular on Sam Rayburn. Of all the fishing effort on Sam Rayburn fishermen spend between 15-20% of the total fishing time or about 125,000 hours fishing for crappie. Last year through our creel surveys we estimate that about 250,000 crappie (both black and white) were caught and harvested on Sam Rayburn.  As always, if you should have any questions concerning this article or have any other fishery questions please don’t hesitate to contact me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or call me at 409-384-9572. Good Luck and Good Fishing!

 

Dan Ashe is a fisheries biologist with Texas Parks and Wildlife Department. He has worked out of the Jasper, Texas field office since 2005 helping to manage east Texas reservoirs including Sam Rayburn and Toledo Bend. Dan has also worked as fisheries biologist in Puerto Rico, California, and Alaska but now calls Texas home.