It amazes me how many long time crappie fishermen have no idea how to tell the difference. Last year one told me he'd caught a big mess of white crappie and 2 black crappie. I saw the bucket of fish spread out and there was only one white crappie in the bucket. He calls every pale colored crappie white crappie and every dark fish a black crappie. Until I got serious about crappie fishing I didn't know the difference but they're very easy to tell apart.