OCR Text |
Show Crappie Lore If numbers mean anything, one of the more important game fishes in the midwest is the crappie. This is no bait-smashing, rod-bending battler. Old "Spots" is almost gentle. gen-tle. But, make no mistake about it, he is a crowd pleaser. There's something intriguing about crappie fishing. The crappies are members of that ever-popular family, the sun-fishes. sun-fishes. And, if they can be compared, com-pared, they may be easily identified. identi-fied. The white crappie has the shorter dorsal fin, is the longer of the two fish, and has a "dished" forehead. Both fish have deep-bodied, deep-bodied, much flattened profiles so typical of the panfish. Both are sprinkled with black on a silver background. There is a difference in color pattern's, however. The white crappie has its black spots carelessly spaced in loose, vertical bars, while the black crappie is as liberally and aimlessly sprinkled as a piece of Grandma's calico; whence it gets one of its common names calico bass. As one might expect, color is the weakest of characters, for the young black crappie are barred as are white crappie. Positive identification identifi-cation requires closer observation. Fishermen commonly separate the two fish by counting the spines of the dorsal tip. Usually the black crappie has seven or, perhaps, eight spines; whereas, the white crappie commonly has six. A combination com-bination of color pattern and spine count almost always establishes the identity of one's fish. Crappies normally spawn In May in most midwest waters. Neither species is a colonial nest builder as are many sunfish. Fifteen or twenty feet usually separate individual in-dividual nests. Root wads and weed clumps are preferred sites, although al-though depth of water is apparently apparent-ly immaterial. Nesting areas may be found in ten inches or ten feet of water. Throughout the range of these fishes, the black is found in cooler, clearer waters and seems to prefer a hard bottom; the white is well pleased in warmer, more turbid waters and is not averse to mud bottoms. The same preferences are exhibited in choosing nesting sites. Count of eggs taken from ripe females show one-half pound fish producing twenty thousand to sixty thousand eggs. Fish weighing one and one-half, pounds may produce as many as one hundred and forty thousand eggs. Such a reproductive capacity is a veritable dynamo of productivity. White crappie build up populations popula-tions faster than do black crappie. Since both species readily become overpopulated in small bodies of water, the black crappie is logically logical-ly the more desirable fish for lake stocking. Neither is suitable in restricted re-stricted pond waters. There are occasional reports of two- and three-pound crappies, and larger fish have been caught. None the less, the average good crappie weighs about ten ounces. Although crappie have been kept in aquaria for ten years, a seven-or seven-or eight-year veteran is an old warrior. Crappie are school fish and are well traveled. A quarter-mile journey jour-ney is not unusual during the daily reconnaissance for food. Both species are weed-loving fish and it is not. surprising that they take a large variety of aquatic insects. Although a bucket of small minnows min-nows is standard equipment for crappie fishermen, food studies reveal re-veal that these fish take about ten times as much other food as they do minnows but nevertheless a properly proper-ly placed minnow approaches the irresistible where crappie are concerned. con-cerned. Fly and bait casting equipment take a respectable number of fish. Small plugs, spoons, or fly and spinner combinations are quite successful suc-cessful when properly used. To insure a full stringer, crappie crap-pie fishermen should first select a promising location. A submerged brush pile, a fallen tree, a weed bed these are the reserved sections in the tournament of the spotted sun-fish. sun-fish. Once a school has been located, strikes are numerous. But the angler ang-ler must take advantage of his good fortune; these foraging feeders come and go as quietly as a summer sum-mer breeze. AAA The long slender filaments of leathers are indifferent conductors of heat, but retain a considerable amount of air which resists the egress or ingress in-gress of internal or external beat, thus keeping birds comfortable in hot or cold weather, AAA Large Spinners The important fact to remember when using large casting spinners is to keep them moving fast enough to make the blades spin freely, whether casting or trolling. It is a good idea to reel the lure through the water close to you a few times to get an idea of how fast it must be worked for best results. These lures, as a rule, must be moved much faster than the smaller spinners spin-ners to get effective flash and action. |