It might be stating the obvious, but there are two primary species of crappie. With crappie season in full swing, all crappie tend to get lumped together into one species and most anglers don’t fish any differently, or even care what the differences are.
Ignoring the differences between white and black (aka specks) crappie can be a big mistake, and cost you fish at the end of the day.
Of all the sometimes subtle and sometimes not-so-subtle differences between the two species, Pickwick crappie guide Brad Whitehead said that when shooting docks for crappie, a very popular and productive pattern in April, he has found certain docks are more conducive to white crappie and others to black crappie.
“For me, I found out something really unusual by shooting docks at Pickwick Lake,” he said. “I’d catch 10 to 15 specks out from under one dock and not a white crappie in the bunch. Then I’d move down a couple of docks and catch half a dozen slab white crappie and not a speck mixed in.
“I guess it’s not all that unusual that they don’t hold under the same dock. I rarely catch both species from the same location anywhere. What I find amazing is that certain docks will hold black crappie and other docks will hold white crappie and that’s consistent from year to year.”
Whitehead also said another thing about fishing for white crappie is that the species prefers a bigger bait and shows more of an affinity for louder colors from its black cousins.
“I’m going to use a big tube jig in bright neon orange, pink or chartreuse when I’m out to catch white crappie. For a black crappie you need to use something smaller in a natural color and you’ll probably have to finesse him out of any heavy cover under the dock.”
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