Off work, let's go fish.

[Robert Haynes]

Yep, a pretty black white crappie. I painted hundreds when I was a full time taxidermist. That fish has the good looks of a black and the lines of a white. The black crappie arn't much good to eat, just call me and I will take them off your hands.

[J-Doc]

Thanks Lance. Glad I'm not the only one barely feeling bites. Could be my rods are not as sensitive as I am thinking. I've got a St Croix spinning rod that can feel a mosquito fart. But it's way too much for crappie. Too much backbone.

I'm thinking 6lb braid might do me right. I'll give that a try if I can find some.

[Lance34]

Here's a different kind of black crappie that I think are neat looking too. I have caught several of these "black noses" in Beaver in the past. Correct me if I'm wrong but, what i have read is it has some kind of extra pigment to make them look that way. I think in Mississippi they produce what they call a "Magnolia Crappie." It's a cross between a white and a black crappie that doesn't spawn. I think they put them in ponds and small lakes to avoid over population.

[YAKFM]

Here's a different kind of black crappie that I think are neat looking too. I have caught several of these "black noses" in Beaver in the past. Correct me if I'm wrong but, what i have read is it has some kind of extra pigment to make them look that way. I think in Mississippi they produce what they call a "Magnolia Crappie." It's a cross between a white and a black crappie that doesn't spawn. I think they put them in ponds and small lakes to avoid over population.

I've caught some crappie with this black coloration in the Bella Vista lakes. Never caught one like this in Beaver though.

[Kyle R]

I was told once that some fisheries biologists are trying to isolate the gene that gives crappie that line and breed them so they can tell if fish that has been caught were stocked or wild born. I'm not sure if it's true though...

[J-Doc]

I was told once that some fisheries biologists are trying to isolate the gene that gives crappie that line and breed them so they can tell if fish that has been caught were stocked or wild born. I'm not sure if it's true though...

Sure would be hard for those fish growing up. You know how clickish kids can be in schools. "I'm not hanging out with you. Stock pond bread! Eewww!"

[Notropis]

A lot of the black nose crappie were stocked out of the Centerton Hatchery especially in the small lakes in the area (Bob Kidd, Elmdale etc.) and a few in Beaver. They are genetically the same as other black crappie but have the distinguishing pigment mark on their head and nose which was useful for evaluation of crappie fingerling stocking.