Black vs. White Crappie

Most of us are familiar with the differences in habitat, forage, habits & ways of catching Largemouth & Smallmouth Bass. But what about Black Crappie vs. White Crappie? What are their differences? Are there techniques that work for one but not as well for the other?

I have been reading this forum to pick-up tips from everybody about what is working for them and how can I apply this to my crappie fishing here in AZ. We mostly have Black Crappie here but from what I understand, also have one lake that has White Crappies. What works in the east coast/midwest might not work out here in AZ. I have always trolled for crappie so I am trying to expand my horizons and learn more about crappies to better my fishing.

Thanks

Larry

My experience on Kentucky Lake has shown me that blacks prefer clearer water and generally stay shallower than whites (except during the spring run of course). Blacks seem to like a moving presentation where as whites will like the jig in front of them with a slight twitch or very little movement at all. When fishing for whites I try to keep boat movement to a minimum and put all the action on the bait with the pole (vertical jigging). If the whites don't seem to be biting, I will start swinging the front of the boat from side to side with the trolling motor over the stake beds and I seem to pick up any blacks that are in there this way. Something also peculiar is that I catch mostly blacks on hair jigs and curly tails but the whites seem to like the tube jigs. But as usual, there are always exceptions to the rule. Heck, I'm just happy to catch anything! I'll clean'em no matter what color they are! :D

I fish Ky & Barkley Lakes. Ky lake was always touted as a white crappie mecca, but the last several years the blacks have started comin on. I think the blacks were always there.... The tactics in findin them just seems to be a little different. On Ky. Lake I can find blacks spider rigging parallel with the bank in 5-7 ft. in 55 degree water while the whites still seem to be out on the creek ledges.

There was a study by the Ky. Wildlife a few years black using somekind of radio tracking devices on black crappie. They found the blacks coming to the banks earlier than the whites and staying longer than the whites.

Gotta love them blacks, I think they fight harder than the whites. IMHO

Here in central Arkansas on Lake Greeson in the end of it all we catch equal numbers of blacks and whites. Some days one will dominate in numbers over the other and other days equal numbers are caught on the same brushpiles. This is all done using the same techniques. Therefore, I have not determined that one habitat or bait presentation is preferred over the other. However, here are a few periodic observations I've experienced. We do tend to catch more blacks early in the spawning season than whites thus lending to blacks spawning in water that is in the lower 60's whereas the whites move in and spawn mostly in the upper 60's. When the lake stains or muddies up we tend to catch more whites thus supporting blacks liking clearer water and whites tolerating darker water conditions. I also suspect that black perfer wood cover whereas whites tend toward rocky structure because sometime a white crappie just can't be found in our brushpiles or bamboo condos. Those are textbook observations, but there will be days either species will not follow the rules, lol. Another big factor is general population. If there is more of one species than the other in that water there is less competition for real estate and you will naturally catch more than the other. Spawning conditions and G&F stocking programs can tilt the population one way or the other.

I seem to get more of them on gravel. lets say there is 1 brushpile on a clay point and 1 on a gravel point. same part of the lake and everything else equal as far as I can tell. I will catch more blacks on the gravel. I would say the whites spawn more on wood than the blacks too. and in clearer water

The blacks do like clear water the best, however I have caught e'm out of stained water too, We have the blacknose crappie here as well IMO the wildlife fisheries dept. can cross these with whites & I'm a happy camper!!! They hit aggresively and fight hard but dont seem to have the size average of the whites.

Here in Ohio on my home lake sixfin's post nailed it. I fish alot of deeper water and seem to catch more whites. My2cents