Thursday and Friday I fished at a small lake here in Tyler, 100 acres, and caught several nice crappie, the largest one was 2 1/2 lbs. What surprised me was that none of the crappie I caught had eggs in them. Could it be possible that they have already spwaned this early in the year? I know that in past years April has been the best month for large crappie on this lake, and even though I haven't caught a lot of large ones yet, I haven't cleaned one that had eggs in it. What gives??

Would you guess that maybe you're catching male crappie? Females will usually have the remnants of their egg sacks well after they've spawned. Lot of folks think all big fish are females, not so. Keep watchin', if you're getting males now, the ladies won't be far behind!

I just assumed that the big ones were males, but apparently that's not so. I know that these did not have even remnants of egg sacks, so you're probably right - they must have been males.

I was told that the black crappie are all male and that the whites are female? I was fishing for crappie and a older 60`s guy thought he would conversate with me and inform me of this I had deficulty believing this information because I thought that blacks and whites are two different species.---However-- as I clean these black crappie none of them seem to have eggs and this is what the older guy was telling me that I want find eggs in the black crappie because they are all male? Is this information true? Does anybody know?

Jason, this is probably one of the biggest misconceptions with crappie fishing. Because the male fish are usually shallows for a longer period of time than the females, photosynthesis turns the males dark. Out here in West Tx I hear people talk about catching black crappie in the spring, thinking they are the black species. Can't be, only 2 lakes that I know of around here are O.H.Ivie and Alan Henry that actually have the black species. So if you're catching black looking crappie, chances are they are males, but could be the white species. Sometime this spring, you'll probably catch some of the dark fish that are females, but mostly the males are darker. Look at Ernest's post under MONDAY@ CEDAR CREEK, Those are some light colored black crappie. Good luck

Jason, look at this website by TPWD, it explains the differences between white and black crappie.

Cliff Hilbert

This time of year, the males will probably be the majority of what you catch if fishing shallow close to the bank. The males will have a couple of white "milt" sacks that are pure white, and depending on the size of the fish, about the size and shape of a tube jig. Sandwich maker has it 100% correct about the male white crappie being very dark this time of year. You can usually tell the males just by the color alone. Most all the females will have eggs, and if they don't have eggs, they're probably males. From what I can tell, they all taste good when fried up properly!

What about the hispanic crappie population ? :p

Chilbert, were you on Bellwood?

Yes Luther I was. Thursday and Friday I caught some nice crappie including a 17", 2.5 lb crappie. Sunday and today I caught only small ones.

Mexican Steve, those are the Brown Bullhead Catfish, lol.

Wow Chilbert thats great! I don't think I have ever seen a crappie that big, must of been pretty exciting, huh!! I'm originally from West Texas, Midland and have been down here for about three years so I'm getting into the fishin. I might be out there this Saturday, I'll be in a 14' Fisher flat bottom, if you see me say hey.

Saturday should be a good day Luther. The larger crappie should have moved back into the shallows near the shoreline.