How to tell the difference between males and female crappie after the spawn?

[johndeere5045]

I've never understood how people know the difference after they spawn out. Just curious about this.

[CrappiePappy]

I've never understood how people know the difference after they spawn out. Just curious about this.

After the males lose their darker pigmentation & the females have dropped their eggs, there's really no way to tell them apart .... and by that time, there's really no particular need to distinguish one from the other. IMHO

[Lonnie84]

I was just thinking of putting this question out there, thanks johndeere5045 for getting the thread started. I think pappy may be right on with this one.

[johndeere5045]

Thats what I was thinking also.

[vic n]

Are you wanting to identify gender while the fish is alive, or while you are filleting it?

[johndeere5045]

mostly just a old mind being inquisitive.
I been mainly fishing for crappie for 20+ years and never could tell the difference

[CrappiePappy]

Are you wanting to identify gender while the fish is alive, or while you are filleting it?

Pretty sure most want to know while the fish is still alive. Why ?? ...

I think there's a way to tell male from female, from the shape of the anal opening ... but, not sure if that's also during the spawning period or year around, or which shape denotes which gender, or even if your average Joe angler could accurately determine the difference.

Again ... why would you want to know ?? I can understand simple curiosity, but if it were to be used to decide which fish to keep and which to release (outside of the spawning period), I think it's a useless venture in most cases. Just my opinion, though.

[chaunc]

The female crappies take longer to float to the top when you fry them.

[Ketchn]

thats an interesting question and sometimes with the white crappie in these parts shortly after they spawn one would tend to think most certainly its a this or that and then you keep it in the livewell or basket or whatever and it darkens up and proves you wrong .
and some fish i took out of lake fork a couple of years ago looked to be for sure darkened male fish with torn up tails healing up late in may and when i filleted them they were all wore out girls with small amounts of eggs still in them .
i do know one interesting thing about the crappie to me is that male fish grow as large as female fish according to the fisheries people here in texas . he explained crappie are different than some fish in this respect .
and it seems to me there are very few months a year a female fish in these parts isnt bearing some form of eggs so if you are cleaning them its pretty easy to tell
as far as a live fish i think there is probably a difference like mentioned in the vent area thats the give away but i never really paid much attention to that part of the fish .....

[vic n]

There is an easy way to tell, but most people don't get a chance to check because of the way they land the fish.....DO NOT LIP THE FISH!! Male crappies have one to three chin whiskers. They are very fine hairs and lipping the fish almost always tears them out, or presses them into the 'slime' so they can't be seen. As I said, the hairs are very fine so you will have to grip the fish around the body and hold the chin up close to see the hairs.