Help me identify this

[bendings1]

I was out fishing today and I caught this little guy. At first I thought it was a bluegill and then I google searched it and now I don't know. I do not see any with this kind of color or spots. Can ya'll please help me with what species of fish this is? I'm still fairly new to freshwater fishing so my knowledge is still minimal. Thanks!

[Way north bass guy]

Black crappie. 

[shovelmouth83]

that their is a black crappie.

[SDoolittle]

It's a black crappie. Some people call them sac-a-lait or slabs. I call them delicious!

[soflabasser]

The fish you showed in this picture is a black crappie. 

[Last_Cast]

What they said^^

[The Short Fisherman]

black crappie

[All about da bass]

What he said that they sad^^^

[Darren.]

What everyone said, black crappie!!  

[frosty]

It’s a crappie, I refuse to label living things by their appearance 

[Ratherbfishing]

That there is a little yellow paddle tail jig. Oh!  You mean the OTHER one!  That's a black crappie.

[TOXIC]

Just for future reference.....I always get them mixed up because a White Crappie in Dominant or spawning mode turns almost black....but they both taste great.  

 

Ways the White Crappie Differs from the Black:

• The dorsal fin is set back further on this species
• The coloration is generally much lighter, especially the back
• The dorsal fin has only 5-6 spines, compared to the black crappie which has 7-8 visible
• White crappies tend to have a bit more of an elongated body
• This species is more tolerant of murky water

It is common to have these 2 species of crappie actually breed with each other creating hybrids, so in this case you could end up with mixed signals about what species you are looking at. Using these tips above you should have no trouble determining the difference between the black vs white crappie.

 

 

[12poundbass]

That is a Speck. ?

[J Francho]

3 minutes ago, 12poundbass said:

That is a Speck. ?

Careful!  All along the east coast, we fish for specks.  This is a speck:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynoscion_nebulosus

 

What the OP posted is what we locally call a "strawberry bass."  It is more widely known, as many posted, a black crappie.

 

So is that really what you guys up there call them?  I never heard that one.  Colloquial/common names fascinate me.

[12poundbass]

5 minutes ago, J Francho said:

Careful!  All along the east coast, we fish for specks.  This is a speck:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cynoscion_nebulosus

 

What the OP posted is what we locally call a "strawberry bass."  It is more widely known, as many posted, a black crappie.

 

So is that really what you guys up there call them?  I never heard that one.  Colloquial/common names fascinate me.

It's a Michigan thing. I honestly didn't know they were commonly called Crappie until I was in High School.

 

A guy down the road from me was born and raised here in Michigan but lived in Oklahoma after he got out of the Marines and he said he used to catch a lot of flak from Oklahoma people when he said he caught specks. 

[J Francho]

Up here, the debate is (if it's not a strawberry bass, lol) whether it's "crappy" or "croppy"

[ratherbfishin1]

That there could have been dinner

[12poundbass]

After doing a little looking it looks like it's a Michigan and Florida thing to call them Specks. I'm guessing Florida because of the Michigan snow birds brought the name down maybe? 

[TOXIC]

Other names for crappie are papermouths, strawberry bass, speckled bass or specks (especially in Michigan), speckled perch, crappie bass, calico bass, (throughout the Middle Atlantic states, and New England), sac-a-lait (in southern Louisiana, lit.

[frosty]

7 hours ago, TOXIC said:

papermouths

I’ve heard of that before, otherwise in Indiana, we just call them crappie