Black crappie, called calico bass across much of New England, are a schooling panfish with a devoted following. They stack up around cover, feed in predictable spring windows, and take light jigs and small minnows with a subtle tap. On the table they rival the yellow perch, which is high praise. Find a school of slabs and it is easy to see the appeal.
How to identify them
Crappie are deep-bodied and silvery with a speckled, mottled black-and-silver pattern (no neat bars or rows), a large mouth, and tall dorsal and anal fins. The mouth is notably papery and soft, which is why anglers talk about not horsing them, hooks tear out easily.
Where they live
Crappie relate hard to cover and structure: submerged brush, fallen trees, dock pilings, weed edges and drop-offs. They suspend in schools, sometimes well off the bottom, and move shallow in spring to spawn, which is the classic time to load up. Locating the school and the depth is most of the battle.
Tip Crappie suspend. Do not just fish the bottom, count your jig down and vary the depth until you find the level the school is holding at, then keep hitting that exact count.
How to catch them
Finesse and small profiles win:
- Small marabou and soft-plastic jigs (an eighth to a sixteenth ounce) fished slow around cover, the number-one crappie technique.
- Small live minnows under a float set to the right depth.
- Tiny hair jigs and tube baits for pressured or winter fish.
Fish light line and set gently; a soft rod tip helps protect that papery mouth.
Eating
Crappie fillets are white, flaky and sweet, right up there with perch as the best freshwater panfish eating. A limit of calicos makes a fine fry.