A crappie belt roughly includes a region from West Texas and Colorado on the western edge, south of a line running from Nebraska through northcentral Minnesota, eastward through Ohio and veering southeast to Virginia, then along the eastern coastline through southern Florida, and west along the Gulf Coast back to Texas.

Anglers in this area rank crappies among the top three preferred species. Here, crappie clubs and associations commonly sponsor tournaments on productive lakes, and sales of crappie tackle overshadow all other purchases except for bass gear. Meanwhile, resource agencies are at work balancing the concerns of anglers interested in trophy crappies with those who would rather harvest large numbers of fish.

As one might expect, crappie anglers are a diverse group that varies regionally and covers all ages. Most times, you don’t need fancy tackle or a lot of patience to catch crappies. Top anglers have, however, proven that crappie fish can be taken to a higher level, catching fish in the most difficult conditions. In-Fisherman staff members have traveled the country, doing TV shows and writing books and articles about advanced crappie-fishing techniques. No surprise, the books in our Critical Concepts series on crappie fishing are among our most popular.

We’re going to take you on a quick trip around the country, reviewing the state of the crappie union as we see it.

Southeast and Midwest: In the Southeast and parts of the Midwest like Kansas, Ohio, and Illinois, full-time crappie guides work on large reservoirs. When the bite’s hot, guides who specialize in catfish or bass may also switch to crappies. Crappie guides are mobile these days, as well, bouncing among two, three, or more states, following the best bites.

Today, many anglers in this region fish primarily for crappies. They fish for fun and for food and might be on the water several times a week. They’re often knowledgeable about movement patterns in their local waters and about effective presentations. Indeed, in parts of Alabama, Kentucky, Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, Tennessee, and Arkansas, crappie fishing probably is the top game around. In the large and famous bass fisheries of Missouri, Texas, Florida, and Oklahoma, crappies may take second seat to bass, but they remain a vital recreational resource.

In Florida all the famous bass waters and many small ones that aren’t widely recognized have excellent populations of big black crappies—to the point that the species is often taken for granted. Few guides regularly target crappies, but many knowledgeable anglers pursue “specks” in earnest.

Canada: According to ­In-Fisherman Field Editor Gord Pyzer, if you mentioned crappies in Canada 25 years ago, most anglers would have looked at you as if you were crazy. Today, interest in crappie fishing has expanded; not coincidentally, so has their range. “Increasing eutrophication and associated underwater vegetation, plus clearer water because of zebra mussels, have favored crappies over some previously dominant species like walleye and lake trout,” Pyzer notes.

“In Rice Lake, Ontario, a famous largemouth lake, no crappies existed 25 years ago. Today, they’re a primary species—abundant and growing large. In Lake Simcoe, otherwise a smallmouth hotbed, crappies have also boomed over the last decade and have become the most abundant gamefish in the lake.”

On the other hand, crappies have long been popular in Georgian Bay  on Lake Huron and other parts of the Great Lakes such as Rondeau Bay on Lake Erie. Northwest Ontario also is traditional crappie territory. On Sabaskong Bay in Lake of the Woods, the ice-fishing catch alone can approach a quarter of a million fish. A couple of lakes in Manitoba also have crappies, and they are noted for producing fish averaging from 13 to 15 inches.

West: Crappies were introduced to the West, initially to lakes around Spokane, Washington, in 1890, and to California in 1908. Black crappies have had a following in the Northwest since the 1960s. Many California waters offer outstanding fishing. Photos from Diamond Valley Lake, Irvine Lake, Lake Casitas, Clear Lake, and several San Diego impoundments frequently feature catches of 2-pound fish.

Water levels typically dictate fishing fortunes in the West and Southwest. When reservoirs are high from rain, crappies occur in the small, shallow waters of southeastern Colorado, such as John Martin, Pueblo, Nee Noshe, and Neegronda, as well as the steep-sided canyon impoundments of Arizona. Fisheries tend to be cyclic, but fast growth quickly produces slabs. Larger waters like Roosevelt Lake have more stable water levels and consistently good crappie fishing, with many large fish.

North: Walleyes are king here and bass fishing is booming, but crappie fishing has a strong tradition, with millions of avid followers, especially within the natural-lake belt from Michigan through northcentral Minnesota. The long ice-fishing season provides expanded opportunity, as the fish group up and often bite well. After ice-out, fishing pressure in some areas intensifies further, as seasonal closures ban fishing for bass, pike, and walleye.

As crappies stream into shallow bays in early spring, the fish are vulnerable and harvest is high. Once other species become legal targets and crappies spread into open waters, fishing pressure declines drastically.

Northern crappies grow relatively fast on abundant minnows and zooplankton. Minnesota boasts a larger state-record black crappie (5 pounds) than all states but Louisiana and is tied with South Carolina and Missouri. Though 2-pounders are undeniably more common in top southern waters, maximum size of the fish does not follow a north-south gradient. Indeed, most records in the North, South, East, and West are in the 4-pound range.

Great Lakes: A crappie boom is on at Lake Erie’s southern harbors, from Sandusky, Ohio, to Erie, Pennsylvania, to Buffalo, New York. Craig Lewis, owner of Erie Outfitters in Sheffield, Ohio, finds himself in the midst of the action, at least during the spring and fall runs.

He says that during spring, all the harbors attract lots of fish, both black and white crappies. Still, these fish don’t get the attention the fish receive in Ohio’s inland reservoirs. After they spawn, crappies disappear into Erie’s open waters.

According to Lewis, the fall run starts when water temperatures fall to about 60°F, usually in mid-October. The shiners move inshore then, and both species of crappies enter harbors and also swim up most of the tributary streams, mixing with steelhead in the early part of the fall run.

Lewis: “We don’t understand the dynamics of this fall movement. Sometimes you catch all white crappies, sometimes all black crappies, and sometimes a mixed bag. The size of the fall run varies from year to year. Small fish always start the run. The slabs follow, with good numbers of 15- and 16-inch fish. In fact, the Ohio record crappie was caught in the Vermilion River. Other top spots are Lorain Harbor, Edgewater Harbor, Sandusky Bay, and Marblehead.

We also know of excellent spring and fall crappie fishing on Lake St. Clair. There are reports that some bays and ports on lakes Michigan and Ontario offer good opportunities, too, and it’s likely that enterprising anglers can discover unfished populations in areas where other fish have traditionally been sought—from Duluth Harbor at the west end of Lake Superior to the St. Lawrence River at the downstream end of the Great Lakes.

Northeast: Across New England and the Mid-Atlantic states north of Virginia, crappies aren’t a traditional target for anglers or a priority for fishery managers. Most panfish anglers target yellow perch, sunfish, and bullheads.

Perhaps as a result, fishing can be super in many of the small, weedy lakes of Connecticut, Massachusetts, and central New York. Large black crappies are primarily sought by ice fishermen during a short winter season.

Crappie

Tournaments

Organized crappie events began around 1983, when Johnson Outdoors began holding Crappiethon competitions on popular waters across the eastern U.S. They ran through 1995, when the American Crappie Association, also known as Crappie USA, purchased Crappiethon. Crappie USA is the largest crappie organization today, with over 6,000 members in all states of the U.S. except Hawaii, according to the President, Darrell VanVactor. Membership is $25 per year, which includes a subscription to Outdoor Journal, the association’s publication, with tournament coverage as well as features on fishing techniques.

“Our crappie tournaments are family oriented and less intense than bass competitions,” VanVactor notes. “We have divisions for husband-and-wife teams and anglers 16 and under, plus an Amateur Division and Semi-Pro Division. At each tournament, we sponsor a Crappie USA Kids Rodeo and encourage single parents to bring kids to learn about fishing. We also provide scholarships for kids, totaling around $275,000 since 1996.

“For competition, our Cabela’s Crappie USA Classic, scheduled for fall 2009 on the Tombigbee Waterway near Columbus, Mississippi, has a field of 204 teams and pays $175,000 in prize money. We impose a 7-fish limit for 2-person teams and fish must be alive to count. We release all fish after weigh-in. Many of the anglers have been using the big, round, KeepAlive livewell with the oxygen infusor system, made by LiveBait Technologies in Tennessee.”

Crappie USA events are regularly held in at least 15 states, from Chautauqua Lake in New York to Toho in Florida, through Perry Lake in Kansas and Eufaula in Oklahoma. Other regional crappie associations hold tournaments, as well, including Midwest Crappie, Buckeye Crappie Challenge, and Crappie Unlimited, based in Alabama; Crappie Busters of Kansas; Crappie Anglers in Atlanta; and more. Teams often comprise brothers, husbands and wives, or father-son combos, supporting the family orientation of crappie tournament competition.

Regulations

While the total number of crappie anglers hasn’t increased, the avidity of anglers has. Most anglers today fish more frequently and spend far more money on tackle than in previous periods. Today, many more anglers have boats equipped with sonar. These anglers read up on all the new techniques in In-Fisherman. Crappie tournaments have shown the effectiveness of precision trolling and a variety of other techniques.

In Kansas, for example, In­-Fisherman Field Editor Ned Kehde notes the adaptation of trolling tactics by Kansas crappie anglers. When crappies spread across a large expanse of a reservoir’s topography, or when the wind howls, trolling is more effective than the drifting or casting methods traditionally favored in these parts.

In response to fishing pressure, the daily bag limit was reduced from 50 to 20 in 2004 at Perry, Clinton, Melvern, and Council Grove reservoirs. Leonard Jirak, biologist with Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, encouraged the reduction and reports some positive benefits. Fewer fish are harvested at any one time, he says, which has spread the crappie catch across the calendar year. At Coffey County Fishing Lake, for instance, the limit is just 2 crappies per day, and they must be over 14 inches long.

Over the last decade, many diehard anglers voiced concern about the overall reduction in numbers of large crappies. In some areas crappie regulations have evolved to address increasing harvest pressure in response to these concerns. Wherever crappies are popular, the trend in management has been toward reducing daily creel limits. More states also are experimenting with length limits.

Minimum length limits of 9, 10, and 11 inches have been applied from Ohio to Oklahoma. In Minnesota, 9-, 10-, and 11-inch minimum length limits have recently been used on selected lakes, along with 5-fish creel limits. Grenada Lake in Mississippi, one of the best trophy crappie waters, has a 12-inch minimum length limit.

In Canada, increasing interest in crappie fishing has meant a reduction in creel limit from 30 to 15. Yet, in New England and Mid-Atlantic states from Maine to Delaware, where crappies remain overlooked by regulators, no harvest regulations are in effect.

Regulations are great but enforcement is essential. “Tripping” is a problem in many areas. Anglers who “trip” catch a limit and then, after stashing that limit, return for another, sometimes multiple times. The budgets of some game and fish departments have been pared in recent years, but we still need to continue to make conservation enforcement a priority.

We’ve long taught the principle of Selective Harvest, suggesting anglers adopt their own sensible approach to crappie conservation, keeping some average-sized fish for a fresh meal, while releasing big fish to spawn and continue to grow in order to sustain good fishing and species viability. We can continue to have fine sportfishing for crappies, including good fishing for big fish in some waters, while we carry on a tradition of harvesting some fish for the fine meals they provide.