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Black or White?


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What are the differences between black and white crappies? Is there a distinct way to tell for sure other than black are darker and whites are whiter?

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Black crappie has 7 or 8 dorsal spines and white crappie has 5 or 6. The pattern on a white crappies black spots is more vertical bars and the black is more scattered.

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My avatar is a 12 in white crappie. I have caught them as big as 14 inches on pool 2, and my dad has a 15.5 on the wall from pool 2. They dont get nearly as wide as black crappies and they definetly dont weigh as much.

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 Originally Posted By: OLY
My avatar is a 12 in white crappie. I have caught them as big as 14 inches on pool 2, and my dad has a 15.5 on the wall from pool 2. They dont get nearly as wide as black crappies and they definetly dont weigh as much.

Hmmm... that fish can pretty much past as a Black or White Crappie to me. Im not locked in on the dorsal fin number thingy until I actually get into a few or a school to really tell. The markings and coloring on that fish matches many Black Crappies i've caught in lakes where no White Crappies are present. I guess markings and color can vary but most White Crappies i've caught are very light in color, almost pale. And they don't always have the lined up vertical markings.

But not to say that your fish isn't a White Crappie I just find it strange due to the coloring & blotches, it does have 6 dorsal fins but it just doesn't look like a White Crappie to me even though it is. The vertical markings should be the give away anyhow. Funny thing is i've caught probably so many Crappies by now in my life time and outta be able to tell but stuff like this still gets me stumped? Is it a White? Or is it a Black? Hybrid maybe?

crappiefz2.jpg

All below are White Crappies (note: Color variation & blotch markings can be lighter or darker than the ones shown here)

wc1kr4.jpg

wc2gp8.jpg

wc3gy4.jpg

wc4ok3.jpg

wc5gy2.jpg

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believe me its a white crappie, it looks nothing like the black crappies in the lake I caught it from. Here is another picture of the same fish 399951158_61af50a9d0.jpg

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That is a 100% no doubt White Crappie!! the verticle stripes and light overall tone of skin is dead give away. Granted you may catch light color black crappies but the stripes are not there. More of a disorganized pattern on Blacks....

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Wow 16+ is huge for a White Crappie. Fix that picture and put it up again Tunrevir.

 Originally Posted By: OLY
believe me its a white crappie, it looks nothing like the black crappies in the lake I caught it from. Here is another picture of the same fish 399951158_61af50a9d0.jpg

Not doubting you, I just said it could pass as a Black Crappie unknowingly to some. There is just too many variations of coloring & marking.

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I can't seem to get the picture to come up but I may just e-mail it to Deitz as a j-peg and see if he can post it for me. This one bested my last big white by 1.25". Hopefully we can get it up in the next day or so.

Tunrevir~

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Great fish tunrevier.

I helped out on a genetics program that examined the fish caught in the annual spring Minnetonka crappie contest and like 4 or 5 of the top 10 back like circa 2004 or 2005 were hybrids. We used microsatellite markers for those that are interested. You can see that hybrid vigor, or heterosis at its best in those big fish. Great size at age, great growth.

Good information in this post. You'll be counting dorsal spines on all your crappies now!

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Thanks Fishin Chad! I can write and read but evidently I'm not tech enough to post a picture!

Tunrevir~

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  • 2 weeks later...

hay oly u and your dad do pretty good on pool 2# when we going fishin buddy

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