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Colorado Fish Species: White Crappie

White Crappie
Photo: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
Laterally compressed, with a similar appearance to black crappie, White crappies have vertical bars rather than scattered spots.  These silvery fish usually have 5 or 6 spines in dorsal fin, whereas black have seven or more. Spawning males become dark and anglers frequently confuse them with black crappie.

White crappies are commonly found in warm, turbid lakes, reservoirs, and river backwaters. They are frequently seen schooling around submerged logs or submerged boulders. In the evening and early morning they tend to move out into open water to feed.  Their temperature preference is the low 80’s. They have greater tolerance for increased alkalinity, and turbidity compared to other sunfish. But require good oxygen levels.
 
Spawning begins when temperatures reach the low 60’s Fahrenheit.  Sexually maturing by the second or third year, crappies build nests in colonies around/in bushes or close to banks, in shallow water. Nests are shallow depression on hard clay bottoms or aquatic vegetation. Males guard the nests until the eggs hatch.
 
Young crappie feed on zooplankton and insect larvae during their first year of life. As they grow, small fish and aquatic insects are added to their diet. Crappie are especially active at sunrise, sunset and at night during the summer.
 

Lakes & Rivers with White Crappie on FishExplorer:

There are 17 lakes and/or rivers listed on FishExplorer with White Crappie in Colorado. Log in to view many of these, and join FxR+ to gain full access to all lakes and rivers in the FishExplorer database.
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Colorado White Crappie Photos
by oldblue156 -
by Wreckstar - Slab
by Ziggity321 -
by TubeFisher -
by Chig -
by papabatman -
by The Doc -
by Rapty -
by Flyrodn - Nice North Sterling white crappie
by chrism2505 -
by led2zep -
by Steelhead -
by The Doc -
by JKaboom - 06.08.2014 - Fished from about 6:45 AM to 9:15 with Bud (IceFishingFool) tried jigging for first half hour then trolled for about 1 1/2 hours then jigging again for the last half hour or so.  Weather was overcast with breeze initially then picked up created about 2 ft` chop then calmed a little and sun poked out.  Water visibility was about 2`.  I got one MA 14" crappie, Bud got 3 short walleye and one other keeper crappie.  Beached Bud`s boat just before 10 AM to get ready for the fish fry which was great!
by The Doc -
by Flyrodn -
There are 22 member photos of Colorado White Crappie in our gallery. Join FxR+ to filter by species...
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