Thread: Color of black crappie?

I keep seeing pics where the black crappie look gold... All we ever catch here are silver... What causes that difference in color?

There are some Crappie that are completely "gold" in color. A rare occurrence, but it does happen. Biologists are not sure, but consensus is that it's a genetic pigment mishap.

Now, the ones that have a gold shade on their body, where they'd normally be more white in color ... that's usually considered the result of tannic water conditions. Water with a lot of vegetation can create tannic water when the vegetation dies out and the tannins leach out of the vegetation into the water.