Freshwater
Black Crappie
Where to find them, how to catch them and the tackle to use.
01Introduction
The black crappie, also called calico bass, is a speckled, deep-bodied panfish of the sunfish family. It travels in schools, bites through much of the year including under the ice, and is excellent to eat. Native to eastern and central North America, it has been stocked so widely that it now lives in all 48 contiguous states. Once you find one crappie, you've usually found a school.
02Where to Catch
Range: its original range is hard to pin down because of widespread stocking, but it's presumed native from Virginia to Florida, west along the Gulf to Texas, and north through the Mississippi, Great Lakes and St. Lawrence basins. It prefers clearer water than the white crappie.
Habitat: lakes, reservoirs and slow rivers with structure. Crappie love cover: stumps, standing and fallen timber, brush piles, docks and weeds. They often school in open water near that cover, suspended above the bottom.
Crappie move with the seasons but often stay in the same general neighborhood all year:
- Spring: shallow, warming areas such as creek arms, back coves, brush, fallen trees, sun-warmed walls and flats with last year's weeds.
- Summer: a little deeper, first in 10- to 15-foot vegetation near their spring haunts, then along mid-depth drop-offs, often 20 to 26 feet deep, where they graze on invertebrates.
- Fall: feeding heavily in October; as the water drops below about 50°F they move toward deeper basins, stopping on points and drop-off edges and coming shallower in low light.
- Winter: deep basins, then mid-depth flats, cribs and brush at late ice as they head for spawning bays.
03How to Catch
Spring
Prespawn and spawn are the easiest times to catch crappie. Males move shallow as the water reaches the upper 50s°F, and spawning follows around 60°F; that's December to March in Florida and late spring in the North. Hang a small jig or minnow under a float around brush and wood, vertically jig stumps and brush in shallow creek arms, or add a small spinner ahead of a jig for aggressive prespawn fish. In the South, spider-rigging (slowly pushing a spread of rods with minnows or jigs) is a common method.
Summer
Look deeper. Work the weed edges near spring spots, then mid-depth drop-offs where crappie school over soft bottom. Small jigs, spinner rigs and small crankbaits work, as does vertically jigging schools you find on sonar.
Fall and winter
Crappie are one of the few warmwater fish often caught in greater numbers in the cold months. In fall, downsize and slow down: work tiny jigs vertically and let them fall slowly, since most bites come on the drop. Small blade baits and lipless crankbaits also work. Through the ice, late ice is often the best: crappie cruise high, even just under the ice, and hit small tungsten jigs with micro-plastics or larger rattlebaits.
Tips
Crappie feed upward, so keep your bait at or above the school. Change depth in small steps and experiment with jig color. A live minnow under a float is the classic bait everywhere.
04Tackle
A light or ultralight spinning rod with light line, a few small floats, and a box of small plastic and hair jigs, tubes, grubs and small spinners covers most crappie fishing. A long rod helps from shore and for lifting fish over brush. For ice fishing, a light ice rod with small tungsten jigs. Check your state's regulations for crappie size and bag limits.
05Questions anglers ask
How do I tell a black crappie from a white crappie?
Black crappie have irregular black blotches instead of bars, a deeper body and seven or eight dorsal spines. White crappie have several vertical bars and no more than six dorsal spines.
When do crappie spawn?
In spring, generally around 60°F for black crappie. The timing shifts with latitude, from December and February in Florida to late spring in the North.
Why do I keep missing the crappie school?
Crappie often suspend above cover and feed upward. Adjust your depth in small steps, fish just above them, and use a float to hold your bait at that depth.