Black Crappie vs White Crappie Behavior

[Slab Apprentice]

Friends,
hope your new year is off to a good start with tight lines and slabs in the bucket.

I noticed on my lake I’ve only caught one black crappie so far. I haven’t caught too many so could just be luck of the draw, but it Got me to thinking...Do these fish have slightly different behaviors and do they ever school together?

Best,
Slab Apprentice


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[CrappiePappy]

In my experience, they do have different "preferences" (temps, habitat, food), but in the absence of any of those things they will adapt to their available resources. Like for instance Black Crappie prefer water weeds, but in their absence will utilize wood cover ... just like White Crappie.
As far as "schooling together" .... probably not to any great degree, but they do occupy the same cover at times, so you are likely to catch both species in the same spot on occasion.

[Damion Kidd]

I had something happen this past fall I’d never saw. I was fishing a big lay down. I start on the upstream side and caught 7-8 nice blacks. Stopped catching and moved over to the downstream side and caught 10 big whites. Another interesting thing 4 of the blacks were black nose. I had only caught one before that.


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[CrappiePappy]

I had something happen this past fall I’d never saw. I was fishing a big lay down. I start on the upstream side and caught 7-8 nice blacks. Stopped catching and moved over to the downstream side and caught 10 big whites. Another interesting thing 4 of the blacks were black nose. I had only caught one before that.


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Did something similar one Fall trip down to Watts Bar Lake (Tenn) ... fished a laydown and caught a few small White Crappie in the shallower mid trunk area, and then larger Black Crappie down at the deeper top branches of the laydown.

[shadow]

From what I have been told and what I have experienced, the black crappie prefer marshy areas and whites prefer open lake structure. I have caught blacks in open water areas but it is RARE to catch a white in a marshy area! Also I was told that you do NOT stock white crappie in a pond that has had bass stocked in it because they compete for the same food group BUT it is ok to stock black crappie with bass.

[Alphahawk]

I catch a lot of black and black nose crappie. Yes they will relate to wood but more often than not I catch them off of hard rock. Here is a spot I frequent often. All of these are crappie. Wood....and lots of it......is just yards away yet I rarely ever find any crappie on the wood. This spot is on Center Hill Lake.


Regards




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[Rojo]

I'm on board with shadow, North Texas to MS Gulf Coast is a bit spread apart but the Blacks seem to be holding closer to the bank than the Whites. If the tide is running say 1-1.5ft range the Blacks are in front of the wood but usually closer in to the bank or shallower than the Whites. The Whites are using the same structure to block tide generated current and hold right out of the current, behind, but close enough to see a jig or shiner go by. Always deeper too, furthest away from the bank. Now this is creek or river behavior, more winter patterns for me, but holds true above the 43 Bridge on Ross Barnett too. I never catch a White in the Marsh, below US Hwy 90 say, and when I do it's skinny, hungry, lost, or both.

[Ketchn]

as stated the black seem to like rock when its available , this is why so many are found on bridge columns .
there is a small plankton creature that is consumed by them during certain months of the year that are on rocks and concrete .
its only a quarter of an inch long and thus the need for a micro bait .....
i know of a few locations where large boulders are off in deep water and they seem to frequent them often .
one thing for certain ,the spot you are hitting has a ton of black crappie in it ,and some of them are quite large for our neck of the woods , 2lb plus range ....
you might try looking a bit shallower ,8 to 10 foot of water real soon , the blacks will be in a pre spawn pattern sometime in late Feb. i would tend to think in that lake,when your water temp rises 10 degrees from its low ,you best go prowl some shallower rocky water early in the morning after about 2 or 3 days of real hot sunshine .....western rocky shore lines close to the deep water channel bro .....the more sunshine exposure on the them rocks the better .
if you find a good spot watch over your shoulder , the crowd down that way will beat your spot to death if they see you on fish and thats a fact !

[Slab Apprentice]

as stated the black seem to like rock when its available , this is why so many are found on bridge columns .
there is a small plankton creature that is consumed by them during certain months of the year that are on rocks and concrete .
its only a quarter of an inch long and thus the need for a micro bait .....
i know of a few locations where large boulders are off in deep water and they seem to frequent them often .
one thing for certain ,the spot you are hitting has a ton of black crappie in it ,and some of them are quite large for our neck of the woods , 2lb plus range ....
you might try looking a bit shallower ,8 to 10 foot of water real soon , the blacks will be in a pre spawn pattern sometime in late Feb. i would tend to think in that lake,when your water temp rises 10 degrees from its low ,you best go prowl some shallower rocky water early in the morning after about 2 or 3 days of real hot sunshine .....western rocky shore lines close to the deep water channel bro .....the more sunshine exposure on the them rocks the better .
if you find a good spot watch over your shoulder , the crowd down that way will beat your spot to death if they see you on fish and thats a fact !

Thanks Ketchn! I really appreciate the advice. I was starting to wonder what to do next as I am totally new to chasing these fish. When you fish pre spawn are you throwing jigs or vertical jigging? I’ll read on here and see what I can find. You are right about the crowd lol


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[Slab Apprentice]

Also thanks to all the others who have commented. Cheers.


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