Thread: A Golden Crappie Discussion

When I catch crappie they tend to turn golden.

Chris

Fish is missing most of the markings and has a weird eye. I am thinking genetic mutation...or as we use to say back in the day...freak of nature. Me I like my fish to look normal..don't know why just do. You all can catch them things just look weird to me.They told you all that radioactive waste leaking into the environment was gonna cause problems LOL.

If I remember correctly one of my old crappie angler magazines has an article on color variations in crappie. It spoke about the black nose and also the golden. They are rare but do occur naturally.

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waiting on new father again d ten to solve the golden crappie pic russ uncovered. Listening to d ten talk is the only chance i have of an education.

Looks hokey to me. I am thinking that fish got dyed. Don't doubt there are color variations in some lakes, but that one looks like a dang goldfish.

I have seen a similar looking crappie on the net before. If memory serves me corretly, the angler was hypothesizing that it was a crappie crossed with another species. I doubt this to be true. Fish, like other animals, can sometimes have genetic defects, some of which can effect color. My best guess is that there is some kind of recessive genetic marker that occasionally gets "turned on" resulting in the abnormal and distinct color. This is most definitely not a distinct species. Another interesting thing to think about is how this bright gold color would make this fish, or any fish, more susceptible to being eaten by a bigger fish. I bet that this genetic anamoly is very rare and that most of the crappie with this condition get eaten when they are fingerlings. So Russ, if you catch a 3 pounder, you my friend have an extremely rare fish!

here are a few others that have been caught so they must be ligit, very cool looking fish for sure

I was hanging out at a friend's taxidermy shop one time when a guy brought in a bass that was this same color. It wasn't very big, maybe 1 1/2 lbs or so.