Thread: Difference between black and white crappie

The bars always give the whites away. Oh, and they fight completely different.

In college I was taught that 5-6 dorsal spines was a white crappie and 7-8 dorsal spines was a black crappie and that it was not reliable to judge off of color alone, especially during the spawning season. With that said, those may very well be white and black crappie. Can't tell by the picture.

The spines are foolproof, but since learning of that, I've checked the ones I've caught. Bars vs. spots are foolproof also and align with the spine #s 100%. Those are clearly a white and a black.

The whites don't put up much of a fight, the blacks are like a bull bream:p Hard to get em out of those treetops

Originally Posted by Duck Butter

The whites don't put up much of a fight, the blacks are like a bull bream:p Hard to get em out of those treetops

Yup. The whites are like a wet rag. The blacks at Spring bayou make a run as fast as any bass or bull bluegill.

The most obvious difference is the shape of the nose. One long, the other much more blunt. If someone can't tell the difference on the nose shape or the color, you haven't caught enough crappie.

Well said tiger

Originally Posted by buckincrazy

In college I was taught that 5-6 dorsal spines was a white crappie and 7-8 dorsal spines was a black crappie and that it was not reliable to judge off of color alone, especially during the spawning season. With that said, those may very well be white and black crappie. Can't tell by the picture.

That source must have been somebody who doesn't white perch fish very much j/k