Recruitment is the process whereby fish are added to a catchable population. The number of eggs produced doesn’t determine how many crappies will be available to fishermen in the next generation.

After leaving the nest, crappie fry live in open water. Abundant food (appropriate-sized zooplankton) is essential for survival.

Predation by larger fish and competition for food with other small fish are important. Temperature, wind, and water level also have direct and indirect effects on survival of small crappies.

Size of a year-class (fish hatched in a particular year) is determined during the first year. Naturally, crappies can die between their first birthday and the time they reach catchable size, but the relationship between the number of one-year-old fish and three-year-old fish is much more predictable. Future studies of crappie biology can define the crucial factors for survival of young crappies. Catch-and-release, either voluntary or by regulation, can increase the number and size of fish in the catchable population, but probably doesn’t affect future generations unless the population is very low.