Recently caught some crappie at LOP. Most fillets looked like that typical white, fresh crappie meat. However occasionally I came across some fillets that looked yellowish and seemed to have softer meat. All fish were out on ice immediately after catching. I’m curious if anyone else has seen this, what might cause this to show up in the occasional fish, and if this meat is still good to eat. I threw it out when encountered but sure hate to waste crappie meat. Just felt like something was wrong with it. Thanks

I've never seen yellow meat except on a channel cat.

I'm interested in hearing if someone else has seen this.....I personally haven't.....

I see it from time to time. But only on 2 of the 4 lakes I fish. Looks off colored and faint yellow like a fillet off of a big bream rather than solid white like a normal crappie. More times than not i see it in either spring or early summer. Always wondered if it was because of hormones or the diet if that particular fish was drastically different.

I think it has a lot to do with the water color they come from. I have seen this from lake Athens but all the fish there have a yellow tint to them at times. Never fished pines but did the fish have a yellow tint?

Externally these fish looked exactly like the others. Healthy LOP fish. No yellow tint externally at all. Fortunately only about 10% had fillets that looked and felt like this. Never experienced this before at LOP or anywhere else for that matter.

My last trip, about a eek ago, to LOP I also had a fish that was exactly as you described, yellowish with softer meat. I do run across one or two occasionally at LOP usually they are larger fish. I also seemed to catch a several with that skin ulcer. Don't have any answers just observations.

I’m glad you asked this. I had this happen at Whitney about 2 weeks ago. The yellow was very obvious and on the skin side of the fillet. I was very uncomfortable with the idea of eating them, so the coons had a feast instead. I’ve been kicking myself for not taking pictures or calling tpwd biologists with a sample. I’ve asked all the folks I figured would have seen this and everyone thinks I’m crazy. I had 13 fish and quit after cleaning 7 like that in a row. I bleed my fish while still alive and then put on ice immediately until ready to clean. Most were on ice for 3 hours or less. As additional info they came from three very different locations up to six miles apart If this ever happens again I’m gonna keep a sample for testing. I unfortunately wrecked my lower unit running rapids on the next trip out, so I haven’t had any samples to check since then.

I found the same thing on Pines about 2 out of every 20 I cleaned.

I have fished Lake Palestine for 20+ years , sometimes one of the crappie have a different tint to the meat. It happens most often
with black crappie. I have been told if they have been feeding heavily on insects instead of shad and other minnows , the
flesh will have a different color. I see this maybe once in a hundred fish, and usually a smaller fish.
I understand they are fine to eat,

Mo

I haven’t seen that personally but have caught a ton of fish with “that pink skin fungus” lately at LOP. More had it than not last time I was there (a week or so ago). Some were outright gross looking. I saw that a bunch on Murvaul a few years ago but haven’t ever seen it this bad. Usually yellow meat in fish is just fat. That’s pretty rare in Crappie though. You see it a lot in catfish. I’d get a pic next time and reach out to TPWD. They’re usually super good about getting back to you with an answer to a question.

It blows my mind that with over 1100 views of this thread there is only a few of us that have seen this. At this point I’m glad I didn’t eat them.

I have seen this in certain lakes. Always cleaned them and fried them up. Still kicking!

Given that this happened shortly after the spawning cycle, I'm wondering if this has something to do with where those fish where spawning. Perhaps these particular fish were spawning in extremely muddy conditions. Just a thought given the discoloration of the fillets.

I was told it comes from the tanins in the water from the pine trees and the oak trees. I have eaten every one that I caught. Palestine will have that also!