June 13, 2014
By Gord Pyzer
The "good old days" for many crappie anglers are right now, especially for those living in the northern portion of the crappies' range, in states like New York, Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Manitoba.
Black crappies in this region have never been more plentiful, have never grown bigger and have never enjoyed such a bright future. This is curious, because crappies are supposed to be "good ole boys," relishing warm southern impoundments and flourishing in places like Arkansas and Mississippi.
Indeed, if you were to draw a line of latitude, from east to west through Kentucky, you're more likely to associate crappies with flooded tree-filled reservoirs, spider rigs, dusty coveralls, and grits, than natural northern lakes with cabbage weeds, slipbobbers, fleece-lined pants, and Red River cereal.
So what in the world is going on? Is there no respect for tradition?
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Northern Expansion
"Black crappies are one of the best indicators of climate change," says Dr. John Casselman, Adjunct Professor of Biology at Ontario's prestigious Queen's University. For almost 40 years, prior to his retirement in 2008, Casselman was the Senior Research Scientist in the OMNR's Lake Ontario Research Unit. The same year he retired, the American Fisheries Society honored him with its Award of Merit for his lifetime of scientific achievements. It was only the 40th time the Society has deemed a member worthy of such lofty recognition.
"Black crappie populations are expanding exponentially," he says. "We're seeing it in our electrofishing surveys. The fish are seemingly coming from nowhere and they are big, beautiful, and abundant."
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Scott Smithers echoes Casselman's observations. Smithers is the OMNR's biologist in the Kemptville District, situated in southeastern Ontario along the north shore of Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. Black crappies are native to this part of the country, but Smithers says new populations have been popping up everywhere over the last two decades.
"Until about 1990," says Smithers, "if you mentioned black crappies to most anglers around here, they'd look at you like you had two heads. But now, crappies are expanding their range, exploiting new ecological niches and anglers are enjoying unbelievable fishing."
Some of the crappie range expansion is natural, with the fish migrating into adjoining lakes and rivers via interconnected creeks and canals. But much of the movement is also surreptitious, not to mention illegal, courtesy of the "bait bucket brigade."
"Anglers have access to the Internet," says Smithers. "When they read about a desirable fish, they start transporting it to new lakes. That's not wise. We're seeing crappie populations springing up, even in lake trout lakes far removed from any natural crappie waters. There is only one way the fish could have found their way in."
Regardless of how black crappies reach new waters, the fish are finding the new northern digs to their liking. They're flourishing, despite a perception that crappies only prosper in warm, lush, southern habitats. So what is occurring?
"What happens," explains Casselman, "is that the first few fish to find their way into a new system grow extremely large and do so quickly. After three or four years, they mature and start contributing additional year-classes. Recruitment explodes and young-of-the-year fish move into connected waterways. And warm El Niño years give them a boost.
"Whenever that first crappie year-class explodes in a new lake, it is gigantic. There are also more nutrients and prey available in the system during these climate events. So, the first fish grow large, reproduce successfully and explode in numbers."
Even more to the point, Casselman notes that having "space" between the strong El Niño year-classes, as opposed to the fish pulling off successively strong hatches, benefits emerging crappie populations. More space means less competition for food and healthier, more robust fish.
Overlooked Populations
Smithers notes that anglers, through their fishing habits, and resource agencies, by their management strategies, have unwittingly aided blossoming crappie populations. "Outside of a few weeks in spring, when the fish are spawning, most northern anglers haven't traditionally fished for crappies. Nearly all of our lakes are natural, heavily structured, contain large areas of cabbage and coontail, and have complex fish communities with walleye, lake trout, muskie, northern pike, yellow perch, and largemouth and smallmouth bass. Unlike in the central and southern U.S., anglers haven't yet discovered how to catch crappies consistently in the summer.
"What is also interesting about crappies," Smithers adds, "is that they're not a species you're likely to catch by accident. You don't luck into many great crappie catches. They're a fish you need to specifically target. So they're basically untouched all summer.
"In fall, steelhead runs are underway, bass fishing is hitting high gear and hunting season is opening, so another peak crappie bite is often overlooked and the fish continue expanding since harvest is light."
If you're a crappie angler, all of this good news is enough to make your head spin, but it gets even better. In places like southern Ontario's Kawartha Lakes, the famous string of walleye, bass, and muskie waters east of Toronto, fishing pressure during the open-water season has historically been high enough that winter ice-fishing season has been closed, until new panfish regulations were implemented last year. Combine these factors with a steadily warming climate and it's little wonder that black crappie populations are exploding across the North Country.
Still, it begs the question: If crappie anglers are routinely catching 13-, 14-, 15-, even 16-inch-slabs, and crappie populations are flourishing in parts of the continent where lakes and rivers freeze for much of the winter, have we been wrong all these years, thinking black crappies are "warmwater" fish? The answer is "yes."
Growth To Maximum Size
"When it comes to fish reaching maximum size," says Casselman, "slow and steady wins the race. In conditions that are warm, fertile, and almost too perfect, they grow quickly, almost burn out in a sense and achieve a smaller ultimate size. On the other hand, if the water is too cold and there aren't enough nutrients, they grow too slowly to reach their maximum size. We see this in lake trout populations in the extreme Far North. Fish with a moderate growth rate and moderate food supply tend to reach maximum size. This is true for muskies and it may be true for crappies living in the northern half of their range."
The dynamics of fish growth is a subject Casselman has spent much of his life exploring, studying data gathered by observing under a microscope the cleithrum bones of muskies from across North America. The pioneering research he carried out with his friend, the late Dr. Ed Crossman, is for many in the science community, the definitive word on the subject of fish age, growth, and ultimate size.
In a nutshell, fish are cold-blooded, growing best within a narrow range of optimal water temperatures. When those temperatures remain warm and constant throughout the year, fish like crappies grow quickly, continuously, and mature early. But all of that growth comes at a cost. The fish die of old age — burn out — early.
When cooler optimal temperatures prevail, fish like crappies grow more slowly and mature later in life. Cooler water and slower growth allow the fish to live far longer. But despite a long lifespan, crappies still don't achieve maximum size. Somewhere between these two extremes lies the quintessential moderate growth that Casselman says allows the fish to live to their maximum life expectancy, and thus achieve maximum size.
It's important to note that the two divergent growth strategies don't necessarily involve north-to-south geographical differences. Two lakes can literally lie across the road from one another, if one is a shallow, warm, eutrophic environment, and the other a deep, cold, oligotrophic ecosystem.
The potential for a body of water to produce numbers of fat, platter-size crappies appears to be dependent on water temperatures and fertility that allow them to flourish and grow at a moderate rate.
"It could be," says Casselman, "what we're seeing in New York, Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Ontario is that with climate change, water temperature has increased just enough that crappie growth rates have been stimulated enough that the fish are now reaching, or almost reaching, their maximum age and ultimate size."
What's The Downside?
While crappie anglers living in the northern half of the crappies' range can be excused for pinching themselves to make sure this isn't a dream, they might also reasonably ask, what's the downside? And will phenomenal fishing continue?
"Of all the fish that make up the warmwater community in the Great Lakes basin," says Casselman, "crappies are the most prolific. When conditions are ideal, they can produce huge year-classes. But like any invader, the first year-class tends to explode because there's no competition. Eventually, the fish seem to outdo themselves, subsequent year-classes compete with one another for food and space, and the population eventually stabilizes. That steady-state population is usually considerably lower than when the fish first arrived."
While it's true that anglers can expect to see a leveling off of crappie populations in the future, Casselman is quick to point out that climate change isn't going away soon. Indeed, he refers to the massive bank of data he and his colleagues have collected over the years that shows even a 1°C increase in water temperature can have a dramatic impact on black crappie recruitment and year-class strength. Given the black crappie's status as a recent invader, it's likely we've only scratched the surface in the northern half of the range, in terms of witnessing the fish's eventual full impact.
Smithers can hardly believe his eyes every time he lifts a sampling net. "Crappie populations are exploding in southern Ontario," he says. "The number of fish in places like Rice, Sturgeon, and Cameron lakes, and the Scugog River is amazing. And it seems every time we turn around we discover another new fishery."
The same thing is happening across the northern half of the black crappie's range. Existing populations are spreading and colonizing interconnected waters. Traditional fisheries are producing more consistent year-classes, and once-marginal crappie fisheries are now yielding trophies. "These are the days," says Smithers, "we'll be telling our grandkids about."
The Crappie Happening
The interconnected waterbodies making up the Kawartha Lakes in southern Ontario form a major part of the Trent Canal system linking boaters and anglers with Lake Ontario and Lake Huron. The city of Peterborough, about one hour east of Toronto, lies at the center of the chain. Long famous for their walleye, bass, and muskie fisheries, the Kawarthas now have exploding crappie fisheries. Anglers are enjoying spectacular fishing throughout the year, but for the first time ever in 2010, lakes like Rice, Sturgeon, and Cameron were opened to ice fishing. Don't wait to get in on this once-in-a-lifetime action.
Interspecific Competition
Everything in nature comes at a price. In the case of exploding black crappie populations and the colonization of new waters, there is a corresponding drop in the number of some other species. Walleyes are the fish most often negatively affected by crappies. When conditions favor crappies, they can out-compete juvenile and young-of-the-year walleyes for food and space. Crappies also have been shown in some waters to be "heavy consumers" — predators of larval walleye.
While the expansion of a native crappie population into an adjoining water is natural, anglers planting crappies where they do not exist is unwise. If crappies, or any other species for that matter, were meant to be in a natural body of water, they would already be there. Leave stocking decisions to the professionals.
Florida Sunshine State crappie fans have no shortage of choices when it comes to slab-producing fishing holes. The short list of hotspots includes the St. Johns River, Harris Chain, lakes Harney, Kississimmee, Monroe, Rodman, Talquin, Toho, and Orange, but you could spend a lifetime exploring all the options. Contacts: Guide Steve Niemoeller (St. Johns), 386/846-2861,
cflfishing.com ; Guide Mike Baker (Orange Lake) 352/625-1180,
thecrappiefisherman.com ; Florida FWC,
myfwc.com/fishing/freshwater/sites-forecast/crappie .
Illinois The Land of Lincoln is also home to stellar crappie fishing, with lakes such as Kinkaid, Rend, and Shelbyville routinely ranking high among the country's finest fisheries. But what finally pushed it onto our list were two straight 17-inch-plus entries in the Master Angler Awards Program. In fact, the state topped Region 1 and national entries in 2011 and 2012 with 17½- and 17-inch giants. The largest of those fish was from Crystal Lake, the other from a farm pond. Contacts: Guide Clint Taylor (Rend Lake), 618/731-0323,
crappieextreme.com ; Guide Steve Welch (Shelbyville), 217/762-7257,
lakeshelbyvilleguide.com .
Iowa Our selection of the Hawkeye State might surprise a few anglers, but In-Fisherman Master Angler Awards don't lie. Already in 2013, the state broke the 17-inch barrier with a gravel pit slab landed by Austin Hronich of West Des Moines, and since 2010 it has produced at least one award winner topping 16 inches each season, and twice has seen multiple 16-inchers recognized. Almost invariably, these fish are credited to a 'farm pond ' or 'pit, ' highlighting the potential of the state's small waters. However, a number of natural and manmade lakes offer excellent opportunities, as do oxbows and backwaters of the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. Contacts:
Iowa Department of Natural Resources, iowadnr.gov; Guide Kevan Paul (Clear Lake, Storm Lake, Spirit Lake, East and West Okoboji), 641/529-2359,
paulsfishingguide.com .
Texas Don't let the world-class bass fishing fool you, the Lone Star State is a stellar destination for oversize crappies as well. Phenomenal Lake Fork is a prime example. Numbers of slabs topping 2 pounds are possible in a variety of seasons and settings, from the early summer brushpile bite to the late-season deep-water blitz near the dam. Other top options include Cedar Creek, Choke Canyon, the Concho River, Falcon, Lake O' the Pines, O.H. Ivie, Richland Chambers, and the border waters of Toledo Bend — just to name a few. Contacts: Guide Ivan Martin (Lake Fork), 918/260-7743; Guide Terri Moon (Lake Fork), 903/383-7773; Texas Parks and Wildlife, 800/792-1112,
tpwd.state.tx.us .
Mississippi Home to the unrivaled 'Arc of Slabs, ' which includes the hallowed waters of Arkabutla, Enid, Grenada, and Sardis, the Magnolia State could easily argue for top honors on the list. Perhaps nowhere else on the planet do anglers have a better shot at catching big white crappies, including giants topping 3 pounds. In-Fisherman Editor In Chief Doug Stange notes the fishing is good year-round, but peak fishing starts in mid- to late March for prespawn giants. Contacts: Guide John Woods, 731/334-9669; Guide John Harrison, 662/983-5999.
Minnesota Upper Red Lake's fishery may be a shadow of its former self, but other big waters including Mille Lacs and Rainy lakes, along with the St. Louis and Mississippi rivers, to name a few, more than take up the slack. Plus, countless smaller natural lakes across the state offer solid chances for 1½- to 2-pound-plus fish for anglers willing to tap systems with healthy numbers of older year classes, and avoid the crowds when possible. Need proof? Troy Smutka's Lake Waconia 16½-incher (pictured) was the second-largest crappie entry among all 2012 Master Angler entries. Contacts: Guide Dick 'The Griz ' Grzywinski, 651/771-6231,
fishwiththegriz.com ; Guide Jeff Sundin, 218/246-2375,
jeffsundin.com .
Oklahoma In-Fisherman friend and crappie guru Todd Huckabee's home lake — Eufaula — is among the best on the planet for slabs topping 2 and even 3 pounds. But the lake's shallow, muddy, fertile waters are only part of the reason the Sooner State claimed a spot on our list. Fort Gibson is another, given its ability to kick out 2-pound-plus white crappies, especially when riding a year-class boom. Grand, Kaw, and Oologah are standouts, too. Contacts: (Eufaula) Guide Todd Huckabee, toddhuckabee.net; Guide Barry Morrow, barrymro.com; Blue Heron Bait and Tackle, 918/334-5528; Larry's Bait and Tackle (Fort Gibson), 918/478-3225; Guide Rocky Thomas, Jr. (Grand, Oologah) 918/837-0490,
thomasguideservice.com .
Kentucky/Tennessee As a bonus to readers and in hopes of preventing a border battle over the fabled 'Crappie Capital ' of Kentucky Lake, I lumped these two states together for this entry. Both are worthy of top 10 status in their own rights, but together the options are nothing short of phenomenal. Besides Kentucky Lake, which is primed to produce big catches of quality-sized fish, including slabs topping 2 pounds, Tennessee offers the stump-laden fishery of legendary Reelfoot Lake, plus Pickwick, Chickamauga, Douglas, and numerous other gems. Kentucky's assets include Cumberland and Green River Lake. Did I mention that the states also share Barkley? Crappie fans could do far worse than plan a trip tag-teaming these two states' fine fisheries. Contacts: (Kentucky Lake) Guide Randy Kuhens, 270/703-6133, kicknbass.net; Guide Steve McCadams,
stevemccadams.com .
Virginia/North Carolina Like Kentucky and Tennessee, these two states share one of the world's top crappie lakes. In this case, it's Kerr Lake, also affectionately known as Buggs Island. This border treasure offers amazing numbers of fish to 1¾ pounds, along with an honest shot at 2- and 3-pound trophies. Other Virginia standouts include Anna and Briery Creek, while North Carolina highlights include Falls of Neuse, High Rock, and Jordan, among other fine waters. Contacts: (Kerr Lake) Guide Bud Haynes, 434/374-0308; Guide Keith Wray, 434/635-0207; Bobcats Bait and Tackle, 434/374-8381; Guide Jerry Neely (High Rock), 704/678-1043.