Hello Gents

I have a bit of confusion so I need everyones input, I live on caddo lake in louisiana, My Dad has lived here for 80 years (all his life), he says there is a difference, he says the white perch bites a lot less agressive and a crappie has a more agrssive bite, he says a white perch is larger on average, also the dorsal fins are different. I have a friend that lives in texas that says no way, they are the same. I trust my dad, he is very wise man and a great fisherman but I would like a neutral opinion.
Thanks

Sounds like he is saying a white crappie is a white perch and a black crappie isa crappie.

That is exactly what I heard also...

White crappie get bigger, their primary diet consists of small fish at an earlier age in their lives and they can tolerate turbid water better than black crappie.

I know people around acadiana like eunice, laffayette, opelousas ect call white crappie,,, white perch.
welcome to the forum.. I always wanted to go see caddo lake.
the only natural lake in texas, and skirts louisiana as well,
I bet its amazingly beautiful water.

now i'm confused

I'm from Mississippi & I had never heard of a crappie until I came to Texas, we always called them White Perch. I don't think we ever caught any Black crappie, so in a way he is correct in white crappie are different than black crappie. But white perch are definitely still crappie.I'm pretty sure that if we had ever caught a black crappie we still would have called it a white perch cause crappie was not in our vocabulary.

In south Louisiana we grew up calling them "sac-a lait". Took me a long time to get used to calling them crappie. Get the same blank stares when I go into the store and ask for "shiners". You know, the shiny little fish ya catch sac-a-lait wit.

White crappie do not get bigger than black crappie, look at the records. The reason they are usually bigger in Texas is that all our lakes are man made and the white crappie were introduced first.

how bout some cockaho minnows??

caddo lake is not manmade.,

IGFA records are only three ounces apart, the white being bigger. So maybe you are correct! Let's catch some five pounders and compare!!

Thanks for the correction Sangelle.

Maybe this will help:


"The name 'white perch' is sometimes erroneously applied to the white crappie."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_perch

Tim

If you read the history of caddo, it was created by a log jam originally. So technically it is man made also.