White Crappie

Characteristics

A silvery, deep-bodied, slab-sided fish with a mouth that is proportional to body size. The upper jaw reaches well past the middle of the eye when the mouth is closed. The silvery-colored body shades to green or brown on the back. There are several, usually 7 to 9, vertical dark bars on the sides, and the belly is bright silver or white. The spiny dorsal and soft dorsal fins are broadly connected without a notch between. The anal fin is usually as long and as large as the dorsal fin and has 6 spines. The dorsal fin has 6 spines and the length of its base is much less than the distance from the eye to the front of the dorsal fin. Breeding males become much darker and vividly marked during spawning; females retain their usual coloration and markings. White Crappie have a ski-slope shaped nasal structure, and the forward part of the back is strongly concave.

Distribution

statewide in lakes and large rivers

Foods

small fish, aquatic insects

State Record

record 4 pounds, 9 ounces - Green Castle Lake, Marshall County, May 1981 - Ted Trowbridge, Marshalltown, Iowa

Expert Tip

crappie have delicate mouths, don't get carried away when you set the hook, a firm tug is plenty to set the hook

Details

White Crappie tolerate turbid waters better than Black Crappie and are more abundant in waters that have lots of silt. It is abundant in all reaches of the Mississippi River. Some of the large interior streams have dense populations of White Crappie. Many farm ponds have been stocked with White Crappie, but their well-being in these small water bodies is seldom satisfactory.

White Crappie young feed mostly on copepods, cladocerans and other zooplankton during the first year of life. During late summer of their first year, young crappie start to eat aquatic insects, which remain an important food item for the rest of their life. Crappie start to eat small fish in the second year, which become the staple food in adulthood.

White Crappie spawn in late April or early May when the water temperature reaches 56 degrees. The male crappie fans out a depression in the bottom, usually in a cove or small embayment that is protected from wave action. Many nests may be found in a cove at depths from 1 to 20 feet, but usually 3 to 10 feet. Female White Crappie enter the spawning area and deposit their eggs in one or more of the nests, which are immediately fertilized by the male fish. The number of eggs in a crappie nest varies, but a nest can hold up to 20,000.

The eggs hatch in about 3 days and the sac-fry remain attached to the substrate for several more days. After the yolk sac is absorbed, the young fish free themselves from the bottom by swimming vigorously. The fry leave the nest only at night and do not gather in schools.

Growth of White Crappie in Iowa averages about 2- to 3-inches in the first year, reaching 10- to 12-inches by the fourth year. Crappie seldom exceed 2-pounds in Iowa.

Recent stream sampling information is available from Iowa DNR's biological monitoring and assessment program.