Thread: Blacks and whites

brushpile, I've only heard one report about whites being shallow and were the only crappie being caught in that area. Usually they'll use the same waters to spawn as the blacks (after the blacks are finished, which they arent up here on my end of the lake) so keep looking in the stained flats that you caught the blacks in. It aint over by a long shot....yet.

I agree with what Butch said, all of them will spawn in the same places. You didn't say what lake you are fishing, some lakes just doesn't have many white crappie and if they do the white crappie seem to use one part of the lake.

If you are fishing a big body lake the places you need to look for spawning fish is, shallow coves on the main body of the lake, large flats in depths of 15' or less, shallow points, the back ends of coves with stumps fields or woody cover and shallow flats and also look in small stream inlets. These may wide or may not be wide but crappie will spawn in them.

Some of these places you may not be able to longline them so having a short rod to be able throw some jigs may save your day.

All the lakes seems to be producing right now, good luck.

I think your asking where to pursue the white crappie and how they're different from the blacks. There are only three lakes where there are substantial populations of white crappie in South Carolina and they are lakes Marion and Moultrie (Santee) and ClarksHill (Thurmond) The whites are usually around a month behind the blacks as far as spawning goes. Whites thrive in muddy water, the higher and muddier the water, the better the spawning conditions. For this reason, the best waters to find whites is the head waters of the lake near the river channel. Like others said, they will use the same spawning grounds as the blacks, but many will be caught in the open water near structure. Whites prefer deeper water the majority of the time, and are more prone to live bait when catching them on or over brush.

Thanks for the info gentlemen. I am gonna get after them as soon as I can. Stump hunter my home lakes are Murray and greenwood. I went to santee for the first time a couple months ago and caught the best quality fish I have ever caught. My favorite lake is Clark's hill. Quite the drive for me as is santee so I am limited to when I can get over there. I also only keep myself to 2 places to fish there. Never really venture out like I should

Greenwood, I have never caught a white crappie there but know a few that has caught one or two before. Not sure why there isn't a lot of whites caught there because the Saluda River and the Reedy River has some whites in them. Hartwell is another odd lake for white crappie. I have caught a few over the years in the Seneca River leg of the lake but on the clear water Tugaloo leg they always catch good size white crappie, goes against the thought of looking for whites in stained to muddy water. On the Hill there was a member on here that fished the lower end of the lake and only caught blacks and called me a lair when I showed some white crappie I caught on the upper end of the Hill. He didn't know that the Hill had both blacks and whites. Each lake is different so you have to do some homework to find areas that hold the white crappie. If I'm pulling cranks for crappie the Hill is the lake I want to be on.

Heck Ronnie...a few years ago I woulda thunk somebody was a liar that said they caught white crappie on Russell. But I know better now.

Crappie fishing is by no means over. Crappie can be caught 12 months out of the year and all summer long if you can take the heat. A lot of our members fish at night during the summer months and catch a lot of crappie

Its settled science..there are white crappie in Russell. I've caught a bunch over the years (using minnows) in Allen Creek and Bond Creek.