The Most Popular Panfish Of This Or Any Other Time

West: Scan the pages of the popular publication Western Outdoor News, and amidst photos of 12-pound largemouth bass and 200-pound yellowfin tuna, you now find features on crappie fishing. Indeed, many California waters offer outstanding fishing. Photos from Diamond Valley Lake, Irvine Lake, Lake Casitas, Clear Lake, and several San Diego impoundments frequently feature catches of multiple 2-pounders, stuff that would raise eyebrows even at Kentucky Lake.

Since crappies were introduced to the West, initially to lakes around Spokane, Washington, in 1890, and to California in 1908, populations have expanded. Black crappie have had a following in the Northwest since the 1960s (note Washingtonian Stan Fagerstrom's crappie fishing classic, "Catch More Crappie," published in 1977). Even then, Fagerstrom rued the fish hogs on waters like Silver Lake who carried fish out by the tubful, given the unrestricted fishing back then.

Water levels typically dictate fishing fortunes in the Southwest. When they're favorable (high from rain), blooms of crappie occur in the small, shallow reservoirs of southeastern Colorado, such as John Martin, Pueblo, Nee Noshe, and Neegronda, as well as the steep-sided canyon impoundments of Arizona. Fisheries tend to be cyclic, but fast growth soon produces slabs. Larger waters like Roosevelt Lake have more stable water levels and consistently good crappie fishing, with many large fish.

North: Walleye are still king across the Northcentral region, and bass fishing is booming. But crappie fishing has a strong tradition too, with millions of avid followers, especially within the natural-lake belt from Michigan through central Minnesota. The long ice-fishing season provides plenty of opportunity for crappie fishing, as the fish group up and often bite well. After ice-out, fishing pressure in some areas intensifies further, as seasonal closures ban fishing for bass, pike, walleye, sauger, or muskie.

As crappies stream into shallow bays in early spring, anglers stream into accesses to take home a limit. The fish are vulnerable and harvest is high. Once other species become legal targets and crappies spread into open waters, fishing pressure declines drastically.

Northern crappies grow fast on abundant minnows and zooplankton. Minnesota boasts a larger black crappie state record (5 pounds) than all states but Louisiana and is tied with South Carolina and Missouri. Though 2-pounders are undeniably more common in top southern waters, maximum size of the fish does not follow a north-south gradient, with records north, south, east, and west in the 4-pound range.

CRAPPIES UNCOVERED

Great Lakes: We all know about booming populations of Great Lakes smallmouths, walleye, muskie, perch, steelhead, and more. Guess what -- crappies seem to be on the rise as well. The crappie boom is on at Lake Erie's southern harbors, from Sandusky, Ohio, to Erie, Pennsylvania, to Buffalo, New York. Craig Lewis, owner of Erie Outfitters in Sheffield, Ohio, finds himself in the midst of the action, at least during the spring and fall runs.

"During spring, all the harbors attract lots of crappie, both black and white," Lewis says, "though they're hardly fished compared to the amount of attention they attract on Ohio's inland reservoirs. After they spawn, however, crappies seem to literally disappear into Erie's open waters. They're rarely taken by anglers chasing walleyes, perch, salmonids, or bass.

"There are so many opportunities for other species that no one has taken it upon himself to find the fish in summer. And Lake Erie hasn't yet attracted attention from tournament sponsors who focus on inland waters."