crappie question

[dilleyo]

I was fishing with a buddy the other night on a local pond and got into some nice crappies (10"-12"). We kept about 7 in this range for a fantastic meal. I actually have 2 questions about them. The color of the larger ones was very gold in color. Is this because of the pond water??? I next wanted to ask if anyone else has seen tiny sunfish in crappie bellies when cleaning them. I thought they were just small crappie minnows, but when I looked at them closer they were tiny sunfish, about 1-2 inch range. Has anyone else seen this when cleaning their crappies? And yes they were crappies and not another fish.

[Mr Special]

I think water color has a big role in the color of fish. Those goldish ones are pretty cool looking.

But yes any smaller fishes are food for bigger fish in general. I've even seen tiny sunnies, in stomachs of bigger sunnies.

[dilleyo]

That would be interesting to see. I was just curious because I haven't seen sunnies in any fish except for pike. The color of those crappies is pretty cool also.

[Deitz Dittrich]

baby sunfish become a meal for many larger fish.. and yes the color of your fish has most everything to do with light penitration and water clarity/color.

[BOCEFISH]

Small sunfish can be a major food source for walleyes also. Many times they've been spit up or found in the stomachs of walleye in my experiences.

[anchor man]

I even had about a 5inch perch cough up about a 3/4 inch sunfish this winter. Haven't seen anything like before

[JBMasterAngler]

I've heard that muskies eat alot of crappies, and that introduction of them can cause a major downfall in the crappie population. I believe that's one of the major disputes in the debate on gull lake about the planned muskie stocking.

[MSchmillen]

why would you even bring that up.

[JBMasterAngler]

Don't worry, I'm against it. Nobody wants them in the lake so the DNR shouldn't waste the money putting them in there. I don't fish for muskies, so I won't lose any sleep over it.