recognizable differences in black and white?

[stumpbumpers]

Has any one ever experience a recognizable difference in black v/s white crappie? Somethnig was brought to my attention in a PM I received. It was that white crappie like to spawn in warmer water. What do you think or experienced with this and other behaviors? Thanks for you opinions.

[Wiskers]

On Ky. Lake the Blacks have taken over. The water has cleared up a lot in the past 20 years or so and the blacks seem to like and do better in the clearer water. We Still have good numbers of whites but they do start their run a little later than the blacks around here. The blacks are always the first in the bays.

[stumpbumpers]

Are you fishing for the blacks and whites pretty much the same? The reason I wanted to post this is because I catch mainly white. I didn't know if it was because they are more plentiful or I need to switch tactics for black crappie.

[Jason Piper]

Black crappie have thicker fillets!!

[CrappiePappy]

I have a local lake that I fish for Crappie .... there, Black & White Crappie seem to run together alot. They can even be caught in close proximity to each other, during the spawn.
On the other end of the scale -
I first fished Watts Bar, in E. TN., for Crappie ... way back 8-10yrs ago. Never went there until May. Caught White Crappie in 2-4ft of water, around logs/brush/cedar trees. Air temps sometimes reached into the 90's. Didn't know about the Black Crappie, or dock shooting, back then. Then started fishing the tourneys there ... and most knowledgable locals wanted the dates to be in early April I wondered why, since (in my mind) the spawning times were in May. Over the 5yrs that the tourneys ran ... more Black Crappie were brought to scale, and the majority of them were caught "shooting docks". Trollers, drifters, and minner dunkers were catching some nice White Crappie ... but, rarely had sufficient numbers/weight to place in the top 1/3 of the field. That taught me something.

And, reading the KDFWR Crappie Tagging Study ... showed me the transition of dominance taking place on KY Lake. It's a good read for anyone faced with a similar situation (large reservoir, both species present, clearing waters & re-emergence of grass, etc) whether the Black Crappie are becoming the more numerous or not. Here's the link: http://www.kdfwr.state.ky.us/navigat...7&NavPath=C101

Most notable feature, that puts the "movement/staging" differences between the Black & White Crappie into clear perspective ... is the Spring 2004 Results link. Click on the "View this weeks map" feature, under the date heading of each of the reports -- this shows a map with the different species location, in relation to their influx into the creek, and marks those locations with colored boxes. You can read that weeks report (weather, lake level, fishing pressure/success) and then check out the map and see which species has gone to what section/depth of the creek. Pretty enlightening study.

If your lake has a good population of both, Black & White Crappie, and you're catching mostly/only White Crappie .... you could be waiting a little too long in the season, and not fishing shallow enough (even in those early days of the season), and missing out on the Black Crappie (or just catching the tail end of it). I certainly was (on Watts Bar) for several years .... LOL!!

Just MHO & limited experiences .............. luck2ya ..... cp

[stumpbumpers]

Ain't noth'n crappy 'bout pappy. Thanks

[crap-king]

I will take what I can git