There are two sub-species of crappie, the black and white. White crappie are the larger of the two and spawn later in spring. Anglers should be able to catch good numbers of crappie over the next couple of months by tossing small jigs around shallow mossbeds with ultra-light tackle.

I’ve sank my choppers into a number of fish dishes over the years – everything from fresh-caught rainbow trout cooked over an open fire at the base of New Mexico’s tallest mountain, to alligator gar smoked to perfection by a couple of river rats dwelling along the isolated river banks of the Trinity River, to “ceviche,” a Mexican-prepared diced bass concoction mixed raw with tabasco, soy sauce, mayonaise and lime.

But rest assured, none can hold a flame to crappie.

Fried, smoked or baked – it’s tough to botch a meal anchored by a ol’ pearly-sides. Crappie are the red snappers of freshwater menu. The meat is pearl white and good to the very last bite. If you’ve never eaten a 1/2-inch slab that’s been seasoned with Tony Chachere’s creole seasoning, rolled in yellow corn mean and deep fried in hot grease until it floats golden brown, you’re definitely missing out.

Not to worry, though. The time is ripe for sacking up limits of wintertime slabs on reservoirs across the south.

On most impoundments the prolific panfish right now are ganged up in tight groups and holding in a suspended state around mainlake structure such as deep river and creek channels. That’s where the bait fish are at, so naturally that’s where the shad-hungry crappies are going to take up housekeeping.

Actually, the term “crappie” is the generalized term most anglers use to describe two different sub-species of fish. There are black crappie, sometimes referred to as the speckled perch, and white crappie, otherwise known as white perch.

The black crappie is the first of the two to spawn. Timing of the spawn will vary in accordance to the geographic location of the reservoir, but the black crappie generally begins moving out of its deep, structure-oriented haunts into shallow water sometime around the middle of March.

The ritual typically lasts for around two weeks and occurs in large colonies over nests situated around heavy brush in water ranging from 18 inches to six feet in depth.

Like the black crappie, white crappie live the majority of their life in large schools relating to deep-water structure such as river and creek channels – the only deterrent being the spawn.

The white crappie normally are about two weeks behind the blacks and their presence tends to become evident in shallow, brushy areas sometime around April Fool’s day – honest. They, too, spawn in colonies.

As their names indicate, there is a very distinct difference in the appearance of the black and white crappies. The black’s coloration is sort of a greenish-silver that’s covered with irregular black splotches. It’s dorsal fin will have seven or eight spines.

The white crappie, meanwhile, is much lighter in color and is easily identified by the vertical black markings on its side. Plus, it will have only five or six spines on its dorsal fin.

White crappie also have the physical capability to grow much larger than blacks. The average black crappie will weigh 3/4 of a pound or less, whereas it’s nothing out of the ordinary to land 25 white crappie averaging 1 1/2 pounds or more when you hit things right.