Mississippi / magnolia crappie

DID ANY OF YOU THAT FISHED ENID THIS YR . CATCH ANY ? THESE HAVE THE SMALL BLACK PINSTRIPE FROM MOUTH- TAIL . THEY WERE STOCKED TO REDUCE THE PRESSURE ON THE WHITE CRAPPIE . I FISH THERE QUITE OFTEN AND HAVE NOT SEEN ONE .:dono

I caught a nice one on Sardis last fall--bad pick but it was neat--the black line ran from the top of the head to the bottom of the chin

I have caught several of the crappie you mentioned. Caught my first one at Grenada over 20 years ago. I have asked a couple of fisheries pros and some crappie fishermen that have a lot more time on the water than myself and they all have pretty much the same answer. It is a genetic trait that only occurs in black crappie. I have heard them called river-line & river-nose crappie & while they are rare they are not all that uncommon. I have caught them in Sardis, Enid & Grenada with them being more common in Sardis. Pretty cool to look at but still just a black crappie.

These are the hybrids he is talking about

I know they developed a triploid crappie that have a very low reproduction rate. I was told that they were developing this crappie for stocking in smaller lakes to avoid over population. I tried to get some myself but they are not available to the general public. I am assuming that is the crappie you are talking about, but I didn't know they had stocked any in the COE lakes. I can't see any true advantage to stocking this fish in a big lake. I do know for a fact that the crappie that occurs naturally. like the one kdavid caught, is not a hybrid and occurs naturally. When the MDWFP biologist created this hybrid they crossed a river-line black crappie and a white crappie. The reason they did that is the offspring would carry the dominant trait of the black line and they could distinguish them form the non-hybrid crappie at the fish hatchery.

I caught one last week. But can't remember if I was on Sardis or Enid.

Caught hundreds of them cork and minnow fishing over the last 7-8 yrs... Fiesty lil suckers.. Hard to find one over 12" but thicker than the whites.. Was pretty sure they were black's... Can catch a boatload at Enid or Sardis right now on structure in 9-18'.. Caught some this weekend

It is not a hybrid. It is a black crappie with a genetic trait that gives it a stripe. The hatchery has developed a triploid hybrid for stocking in small ponds and lakes. They used a black with the genetic trait to create the hybrid so it would be more readily identifiable. The ones you catch in the COE's are just plain old black crappie with a stripe. They do not stock COE reservoirs.

Worked as a ranger 10 yrs. At enid and the biologist told us that enid was stocked with a hybrid ( at that time was the only coe lake to have them ) told us of the markings . Never knew what they crossed to develop them . He told us that they released a huge number in enid to lower pressure on white crappie during low water yrs . May have caught one and not noticed but 20,000 was the first batch if memory serves me right .

Here is a good article on the subject...Sterile crappie much better for ponds - Mississippi Sportsman