Saline/Larto crappie discussed by LWFC

I wouldn’t trust this commission to do anything right. Once they taketh away, it will never be regained.

Interesting. So the fish we were catching around Muddy Bayou were all black crappie? Did we ever catch any white crappie out there?

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Interesting. So the fish we were catching around Muddy Bayou were all black crappie? Did we ever catch any white crappie out there?

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One of my local fishing lakes had its composition change over a period of time due to lake management and surrounding development of its watershed. In a matter of 2 years it went from a clear, mostly shallow, swampy backwater cypress lake to a muddy, turbulent one.

Before the change, for every white crappie you'd catch, you'd have 10 specks, and in a matter of 2 to 3 years you'd have about half/half. Ten years later a speck is a rarity. They don't tolerate turbid conditions and current as much as white crappie. Fishing strategies for the two are different year round. They spawn at different water temps and whites are more semi- pelagic while specks lived in the deeply shaded shallow water cypress brakes and vegetation year round. That lake went from a poor man's crappie paradise where all you needed was a canoe, a skulling paddle, a couple rods to bump stumps and a spot to slide in, to needing offshore electronics, spider rigging setups and the boat ramp to launch at in order to chase the white perch after they moved out of the shallows.

There's been some interesting studies done on tagged black and white crappie and their habits and tendencies throughout the year.

If you ever want to know if you're catching specks or white perch (you can't always count on color), count the dorsal fins: white crappie will 5 to 6 spines while black crappie have 7 to 8 (don't forget to count the very first, shortest spine at the very front).

Years ago Larto was insane, we would catch 40 to 50 of the biggest crappie you could imagine daily with ease.

There was something about a levee being built that screwed it up.

Don’t tell anyone but when the water is past the trees you can hammer them wading the bank. Hair jig/18” of line on a jig pole kills them.

I've seen guys doing that around dry larto island. I no longer have that energy.

Some of my favorite banks have button woods where I cannot get to the bank from my boat. I know I am missing out on bites by not getting out and walking some.

Livescopers.

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Shiners

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You mean “shinners”?

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Once they taketh away, it will never be regained

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Unless we're talking about pogie-fishing waters