Some Thoughts on Crappie as Forage

[LrgmouthShad]

Hey ya'll,

 

This topic is inspired by a recent post by @WRB where he says that crappie can be preferred as forage over bluegill. Let me tell ya'll a little about the lake that I first started bass fishing on and continued to for the next few years. I didn't really realize it for most of the time, because I figured that I just sucked at catching big fish, but this lake is overpopulated, with the sunfish population struggling. There are, however, amazing crappie in this lake, with a very healthy population and some giants (one fellow fisherman on the lake once claimed to me that he nearly caught the state record, maybe I should have crappie fished more.... lol). Basically, you can fish this lake and expect to catch a bass every time you go out, and often many fish in a day. Most every bass you catch will be stunted and pretty small. In years past this lake had a really good grass habitat covering the entirety of the lake. So, you'd hear stories of these giant bass being caught on the lake in the past, and wonder where on earth they are. However, in the winter of 2020, I heard a fisherman who lives on the lake and fishes it often say he caught a 10lber in the fall. That winter, I got my ~9lb and change. The following summer I discovered that the same fisherman had caught another 9lb. There are some commonalities in how these fish (this guy's two and my one) were caught. All were on light line and using white/silver patterned lures. I call this lake a lake but it really more of a pond, so there's no shad in this lake. I specifically got the spinnerbait that caught my 9lber to imitate crappie, because I had a hunch that the bigger bass in this lake at times fed on the bigger forage of crappie. Maybe it worked, or maybe it was just a fluke. But the commonalities between these three fish caught make me wonder.

 

How much is crappie an overlooked forage for bass? If it is a significant source of food for some bass, what behaviors do bass that feed regularly on crappie exhibit? Crappie are pretty migratory(?) I believe. How would this affect fishing for these bass? 

 

Hopefully ya'll find this topic interesting and some good discussion is generated.

[Skunkmaster-k]

At my home lake we call crappie “ Charlie perch “. He’s passed on now but while he was alive, ol Charlie caught some bigguns regularly. Usually his really big fish were caught in the deepest part of winter. 

[jimmyjoe]

1) Crappie lures catch bass in every lake I've fished. Bluegill lures? Not so much.

2) In farm ponds that have no bass, I regularly see crappie in the margins. I never see crappie in farm ponds that have bass. They hide. Bluegill are always visible in the margins.

3) Gutted bass from impounded waters sometimes have both crappie and sunfish in their stomachs.

4) Bass from rivers, where shad exist in large numbers, either don't seem to eat crappie, or at least don't eat them very much.

 

Based on this admittedly weak evidence , I'd say flowage bass eat crappie far less than impounded bass. I would say that the reason is that where both exist, shad are the preferred forage, not crappie and not bluegill.

 

But I could be wrong.  ?        jj

[Buzzbaiter]

It might also help that crappie will eat juvenile bass. That probably reduced intraspecific competition among the bass, allowing each surviving bass to grow larger. It could also be that big bass are indeed targeting crappie as a primary forage fish. Realistically, it’s probably a combination of the two

[LrgmouthShad]

7 minutes ago, jimmyjoe said:

Bass from rivers, where shad exist in large numbers, either don't seem to eat crappie, or at least don't eat them very much

I definitely think this is true. Weren't shad somewhere described as the "perfect" forage fish for bass? Given a choice, I really think bass will go for shad. But, hey, they're also opportunistic. 

 

In ponds though, this could be a dynamic that I have been missing out on. I throw some blue glimmer spinners pretty often. But I don't think they outproduce another color of spinner I have, called silver flash, which is a much closer color to crappie I think. 

[JustJames]

[LrgmouthShad]

Update: Looking a more photos of crappie, something silver, with black flakes, and maybe a greenish-yellow tint would be a more accurate imitation of crappie. 

 

And @Bass_Fishing_Socal's photo too. Wow, thanks for those photos man.

[MN Fisher]

Just now, LrgmouthShad said:

Update: Looking a more photos of crappie, something silver, with black flakes, and maybe a greenish-yellow tint would be an accurate imitation of crappie. 

Something like this?

Mike Bucca's Baby Bull Gill in Crappie - 3.75" 3/4oz - I cast this on my Dobyns FR-704C/Patriarch with 40# 832

[LrgmouthShad]

I had no idea there were such close imitations of crappie in lures. Wow. Okay, but what about the behaviors of these bass chasing crappie? I think I need to do some reading on crappie. Study the mouse, not the cat.

[JustJames]

Bass would eat anything that move. I’ve seen plenty of time, bass in my lake boiling over bluegill and Shad but not crappie. I bet you if I throw live bluegill VS live crappie, the bluegill would get eaten twice or three time as fast but both would end up is Bass stomach after all.

[CrashVector]

Yesterday at my local bank fishing bass spot, I noticed the water was super clear, but I still couldn't see the bottom features.  I threw out a Ned rig anyhow, then realized that I couldn't see the bottom because there were millions of shad swimming around.

 

Pulled out the cast net and made three throws, and caught over 5 gallons of shad.

 

This is pertinent because for the first time this entire year, not a single bass took my lure.

 

My theory is that there were literally so many shad around that they were easily able to feed until they were completely full.

 

Bluegill and crappie have sharp spines, shad do not, and I would assume that bass "know" this.

[MN Fisher]

3 minutes ago, CrashVector said:

Bluegill and crappie have sharp spines, shad do not, and I would assume that bass "know" this.

Not really - fish aren't that smart.

 

Bass are 'opportunistic ambush predators', that's why they hang out behind rocks, in weeds or on weed-bank edges...ambush spots.

 

If they see something that looks edible and it's 'in range', they'll attack. They don't care about spines, they just want to eat if they're hungry.

[CrashVector]

5 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

Not really - fish aren't that smart.

 

Bass are 'opportunistic ambush predators', that's why they hang out behind rocks, in weeds or on weed-bank edges...ambush spots.

 

If they see something that looks edible and it's 'in range', they'll attack. They don't care about spines, they just want to eat if they're hungry.

Agreed that often, fish are given too much credit for their intelligence.

 

 

I will be throwing this today to see how it works on a kind of "reverse" Ned rig.  It's a BPS 4 1/4 stick-o in a color called "bait fish"

 

[TOXIC]

My absolute favorite color of crankbait is the SPRO color “Cell Mate” they make every bait they offer in that color and I have it.  It has worked everywhere I have thrown it, rivers, lakes, ponds from Florida to Wisconsin and everywhere in between. It is a crappie imitator.  

[CrashVector]

I also use these.

[king fisher]

35 minutes ago, MN Fisher said:

Not really - fish aren't that smart.

 

Bass are 'opportunistic ambush predators', that's why they hang out behind rocks, in weeds or on weed-bank edges...ambush spots.

 

If they see something that looks edible and it's 'in range', they'll attack. They don't care about spines, they just want to eat if they're hungry.

They don't have to have a high IQ to know when something gives them pain, is hard to catch, or doesn't taste good.  Fishing for bass with live crawdads taught me that they like the ones I pulled the claws off of.  Does that mean they are smart?  I doubt it only means they are not complete idiots and have instincts that allow them to determine what they can eat, how to catch it, and where it lives in order to survive.

[Mobasser]

Take a chrome or shad bait, and dot the sides with a black waterproof marker. It makes a good crappie imitator. A white bait can also work well. Lipless baits seem to work especially well for this.

[Buzzbaiter]

1 hour ago, MN Fisher said:

If they see something that looks edible and it's 'in range', they'll attack. They don't care about spines, they just want to eat if they're hungry.

Maybe, but I don’t think that they’re quite as opportunistic as you’re giving them credit for. IMO, bluegill and brook trout are true opportunists. They don’t scrutinize what they eat and will readily almost inhale anything they see. Except for water skaters. I’ve never seen a fish eat one. Research tells that this is because even the most opportunistic fish know that water skaters taste bad because of a foul-smelling chemical they excrete. They take note of these things and avoid them. As experience will tell, bass are far more selective about what they eat than either of the aforementioned fish. It stands to reason that bass are very well aware of the different forage options in their waters, and establish a preference for some fish over others (given that they aren’t malnourished).

 

I don’t have any hard data to back this up, so this is just speculation. Take my conjecture with a healthy serving of salt.

[LrgmouthShad]

49 minutes ago, Buzzbaiter said:

Maybe, but I don’t think that they’re quite as opportunistic as you’re giving them credit for. IMO, bluegill and brook trout are true opportunists. They don’t scrutinize what they eat and will readily almost inhale anything they see. Except for water skaters. I’ve never seen a fish eat one. Research tells that this is because even the most opportunistic fish know that water skaters taste bad because of a foul-smelling chemical they excrete. They take note of these things and avoid them. As experience will tell, bass are far more selective about what they eat than either of the aforementioned fish. It stands to reason that bass are very well aware of the different forage options in their waters, and establish a preference for some fish over others (given that they aren’t malnourished).

 

I don’t have any hard data to back this up, so this is just speculation. Take my conjecture with a healthy serving of salt.

You're been writing some of those high school junior essays. Some of your use of language is not bad at all in here. Just an observation ?

[CrashVector]

Just got back from fishing in a little creek from the bank.

 

Three 1/2lb dinks on the missile lure, 1 quarter pounder without cheese on the stik-o

[LrgmouthShad]

2 minutes ago, CrashVector said:

1 quarter pounder without cheese on the stik-o

I'm stealing this ?

[Big Hands]

If a bass is 'in the mood' (whatever that may be), they will strike a rectangular block of wood (or even dung for all I know) with no paint at all if they are in the mood. They will eat birds, rats, lizards, snakes and salamanders too. If it moves or not, if a bass thinks it might be food, they are liable to try to stuff it into their shad-hole to find out if it is or isn't.

[Aaron_H]

I've heard often that crappie in the lake makes for a poor bass fishery, but I've always considered it more of a superstition than anything. Most of my largest bass have come from fisheries with crappie present. I feel that fisheries with smaller or stunted bass has more to do with intraspecies competition than the presence of crappie "hogging" forage. Most of those same areas also have healthy shad populations, but I still get numbers and size on bluegill imitations there.

 

I don't know if shad are preferred because of a lack of spines (maybe! Those pain receptors in their mouths have to be doing something!), but because shad are such a densely schooling fish compared to many other forage species. Easier to blow through a school of shad and get a bellyful with relatively less effort than picking off individual panfish.

[Bankbeater]

Bass aren’t the only fish that will feed on crappie. Last year I had a good size channel cat swim under my boat with a crappie in it’s mouth. 

[Big Hands]

7 hours ago, Aaron_H said:

I've heard often that crappie in the lake makes for a poor bass fishery, but I've always considered it more of a superstition than anything.

Might be other factors or conditions at play. I think Lake Fork probably has more crappie in it than bass, and it seems to be a 'decent' ;~) bass fishery.