Color of black crappie?

[CliffordN]

I keep seeing pics where the black crappie look gold... All we ever catch here are silver... What causes that difference in color?

[CrappiePappy]

There are some Crappie that are completely "gold" in color. A rare occurrence, but it does happen. Biologists are not sure, but consensus is that it's a genetic pigment mishap.

Now, the ones that have a gold shade on their body, where they'd normally be more white in color ... that's usually considered the result of tannic water conditions. Water with a lot of vegetation can create tannic water when the vegetation dies out and the tannins leach out of the vegetation into the water.