What are crappie attracted to?

While Black Crappie (Promoxus nigromaculatus), and White Crappie (Promoxus annularis share many similarities, they also have many differences. But there are a few generalities between them. Both are school fish, and are seldom found out by themselves. Where there is one crappie, there are many others, always. Both are migratory, covering great distances in lakes and rivers. Both are seasonal migratrators, using the same traffic patterns from year to year. Both are predators, and react to similar stimuli. They share similar tolerances for for water conditions, although they have different preferences. Both eat minnows predominately. Both are sight-predators, rather than locating prey mostly by smell or sound. And both are free-swimming, active predators, roaming the lakes purposely in search of prey, as opposed to other fish, like bass, who prefer to hide in cover and ambush passing food. Now for the differences. Black crappies prefer cleaner, more acidic water than do White crappies. Black crappies are more willing to include worms, insects, leeches, and crustaceans to their diet than the White crappie. Black crappie spawn slightly earlier than do white crappie. And, as a rule, Black Crappie can get slightly larger than the White crappie. White crappie congregate in larger schools, and are faster swimmers. They also cover more miles per day than Black crappie. They are less spooky, and more moody in summer. They are less structurally oriented than Black crappie. Both species of crappie rely heavily on sight to find food. Smell and vibration can draw them in, but for the final attack, they prefer to see their prey. So lure visibility is a major concern. Vibrations and sound will attract them from beyond sight range. They also use smell for direction-finding, as well as vibrations. But what really attracts crappie to one location over another are 3 things: The thermocline depth, water temperature, and water PH. Crappie travel through water that has their preferences on these three conditions, and especially when they are suspended in summer. Once you find these ideal conditions, almost any suitable lure or minnow will work, if it is presented in their preferred ‘strike’ zone, which can be very narrow at times. Remember, Black, and White crappie have different preferences on two of these three items. Black crappie prefer a PH of less than 7, usually around 6.5 which is slightly acidic. White crappie prefer a more alkaline PH of around 7.5. Wherever you can find these PH level near the thermocline, chances are you will find crappie. Crappie are less structure-oriented than many other gamefish, and will often ‘suspend’ in open water wherever these conditions are met, without regard to any structure, so don’t ignore open water. Execpt for spawning, both species prefer a water temperature in the mid 70s, and will cruise distances to find water that is the closet to this range, AND that meets the other two conditions. Happy fishing.