Muddy Water

[DitchFisher]

During a brief discussion at the boat ramp a fellow fisherman stated and was adamant about "All Crappies" prefer muddy water and "Never" travel over 600 yards from their "place of birth". My experience tells me something totally different. All input and replies here will be greatly appreciated.

[TrevorW]

I've caught plenty of crappies in clear water and I have no idea where exactly they were born so far none of them have told me...

[Countryboy N.C.]

I catch them in both, clear and muddy, and I dont thing they travel that far either.

[Cmj]

I borrowed this from a biologist report done on a local lake here in Arkansas. The study was done using Crappie that were caught and tagged during a Crappiemasters tourney a couple of years ago. This is only a small excerpt from the report.


"The majority (27%) of the tagged crappie released in Pierce Creek in the spring were caught in Gold Creek. However none of these harvested individuals were caught until October, five months after they were tagged and released. Crappie were only caught in Pierce Creek for two months before dispersing and returning nine months later. One crappie that was tagged in Pierce Creek traveled 5.5 miles in 7 days and was caught in Palarm Creek."

[dko]

Look on the Arkansas forum page 4 "hey D10 dardanelle guestion" a biologist telling about taged crappie being caught 5 miles away. We have several clear lakes in Arkansas and they catch crappie on them.

[CrappiePappy]

During a brief discussion at the boat ramp a fellow fisherman stated and was adamant about "All Crappies" prefer muddy water and "Never" travel over 600 yards from their "place of birth". My experience tells me something totally different. All input and replies here will be greatly appreciated.

It is well documented that White Crappie "prefer" murky water, whereas Black Crappie "prefer" clear water. They both can "tolerate" murky to muddy water, but really muddy water stresses them if they have to remain in it for extended periods of time.
The KDFWR did a telemetry tag study on the movements of White & Black Crappie, at Ky Lake ... which clearly showed the fish traveling greater distances than a mere 600yds.

"All" & "Never" paint with too broad a brush ...

... cp

[feelay]

I helped a biologist from the University of Ms catch and tag some crappie last year at Sardis. He put radio transmitters in them and located some the next day 5 miles down the lake from where they were released.