Do males of both species - Black Crappie and White Crappie, develop the dark color phase during the spring spawning time?
I know that White Crappie males can get to looking like they were covered with black shoe polish, but do male Black Crappie do the same?

Also, do both species spawn in the same general time frame, or does one start things earlier?
I DO NOT want to start up the Water Temp Vs. Daylight hours thing so please don't derail my question off into that.

Regardless of what gets things going, do White Crappie start/move shallow earlier than Black Crappie or vice versa?

Thanks!!...Jon

Yes

I've always heard black crappie spawn first and whites come just a little later.

Here's a general discussion on both species.

http://texasfishingforum.com/forums/ubbthreads.php/topics/9943964/Re:_Crappie_101_and_Water_Temp#Post9943964

Black crappie move shallow in colder temps than white crappie. The black crappie on Cedar Creek have moved shallow sometimes in 53 degree water to spawn. For clarification; spawning means females depositing eggs and males depositing milt. Fish roaming shallow water looking for the right conditions doesn't necessarily equate to spawning fish. If they find the right conditions to spawn during the night, they usually will be there when the morning comes. Especially the males guarding the eggs.

Here is a spawning white male

Thanks Guys!

Jacob, nice pics. Do the black males get darker than the white males?
Your pics make it look that way but I don't know if that is typical or just how those two happened to look when they smiled for the camera.

Ken, that link is a wealth of info - thanks for referring that one!
I haven't read all of it yet but will and will log that one in so I can find it again.
I'm pretty sure I read it when first posted last year, but CRS is so bad I can't really say for sure.
Either way, i couldn't remember the info so it's like getting it fresh and new .

In my experience the blacks get much darker. Some other guys may have a different experience though.

Maybe the shoe polish jobs I'm thinking of were black crappie instead of white ones.

White Crappie Male


Brim will also put on the war paint

That's a nice coppernose bluegill!
I love catching those guys - just wish we had more places in north texas to get into them. Tasty Too!!

I've caught some white crappies during the spawn that were so dark that it made you take a double take to see if they were really white crappies and not black crappies. Not all, but some.

Black male

Beautiful

Ahhhh.....and once again the question!!!! Do the scales change color or the skin??????

yes male black crappie get rather dark as well
here are 2 male black crappie from the middle of the spawn last year