y 
White Crappie 
Os 
The white crappie, fig. 8, dominated the 
2 nglers’ catches of crappies at Lake Chautauqua 
11950 and1951. This species is easily caught by 
anglers when it is present in large numbers, as 
yas the case during the 2 years of the study. White 
"eas ers 
ooo 
= ° ar anae 2A fae ee ee ee ee 
ctappies tended to congregate in fall and winter 
months in man-made brush piles that had been 
constructed 50 to 100 yards off shore. At one 
brush pile in 1951, anglers caught over 20,000 
white crappies. This brush pile was about 10 feet 
wide and 100 feet long. 
No special refinement of technique is required 
Fig. 8. -- White crappie, above, and black crappie, below, both of which occur in Lake Chautauqua. 
The two species may be separated on the basis of several characters. The white crappie usually has 
six dorsal spines, whereas the black has seven or eight. 
The base of the dorsal fin, BC, of the white 
Ctappie is much shorter than the distance AB. In the black crappie, the length BC is approximately 
qual to AB. 
13 
