Clear Lake is unquestionably the most dynamic lake in California. Not only is it the oldest lake in North America, but it also changes from year to year. As most fishermen can attest, the lake offers some of the best warm-water fishing in the West.
So far this summer the bass and catfish fishing has been excellent. The big question is where are all the crappie? A few crappie are being caught by diligent anglers but overall the crappie fishing has been just about nonexistent.
Clear Lake was the first lake in California to hold crappie. The first plant was in 1908 when black crappie where shipped from Meredosia in Illinois. The black crappie flourished. It wasn”t until 1951 that white crappie were stocked in the lake and they soon became the dominant species. While the black crappie didn”t disappear, their numbers dwindled. In Clear Lake”s crappie heyday of the 1960s, it was the white crappie that filled most fishermen”s stringers. Clear Lake still holds the state record for white crappie, a 4-pound, 8-ounce lunker caught by Carol Carlton in 1971. The number of spines on their dorsal fin can identify this type of crappie. The white crappie has six spines and the black crappie has seven or eight spines.
Whereas Clear Lake is known worldwide for its outstanding bass fishing, it wasn”t always that way. Back in the 1950s and 60s the lake was more famous for its outstanding crappie fishing. In fact, many of the old resorts that dot the shores of the lake were built to accommodate the families that visited the lake to fish for the tasty panfish. Crappie were the No. 1 game fish in the lake. Tourists from throughout the state would visit the lake on weekends to harvest these tasty critters. In fact, many of the resorts had crappie cleaning machines that resembled giant clothes dryers. The fisherman would put in a quarter and then dump his fish in the cleaner. Within minutes the fish was completely scaled. There were often long lines of fishermen awaiting their turn at the machines on weekends.
Back in those years there was no daily limit and it wasn”t unusual to catch 200 crappie per day. Just about every dock produced hundreds of the slabsides. Whereas there were bass in the lake, they took a distant backseat to the crappie. Of course, that was before there were bass tournaments
The crappie started to disappear in the mid-1970s and within 10 years the lake held very fish of these fish. What happened to the crappie fishery is still the big mystery of Clear Lake. There have been many theories ranging from the drought of 1976-77 to the introduction of the silverside minnows and threadfin shad, both of which feed on the same plankton the juvenile crappie require. However, the crappie made a dramatic comeback in 2005. Hundreds of crappie were caught in locations such as Kono Tayee and off the docks at Konocti Harbor Resort. In fact, the game wardens issued a number of citations to fishermen for having over-limits of crappie. However, the crappie fishery again crashed in 2007.
Crappie can grow to huge sizes. The world record for black crappie is 6 pounds and for white crappie it”s 5 pounds, 3 ounces. In Clear Lake, 2- and 3-pounders have been common.
The problem with crappie is they are excellent table fare. Nothing is tastier than a plate of fried crappie fillets. Whereas many fishermen will release a bass, very few release a crappie.
They spawn during the months of May and June and like all members of the sunfish family, the male guards the nest and young fry. The young feed on zooplankton for their first year, after which their diet is mostly small fish and insects. They mature in two to four years and their life expectancy is 8-10 years.
Despite anglers catching very few crappie nowadays there are still some in the lake. Crappie are considered a cyclic fish, meaning their population slowly rises and then crashes. They can”t tolerate fishing pressure and with the daily limit in California being 25 fish they are often over-harvested. A number of years ago the Lake County Board of Supervisors asked the Department of Fish and Game (DFG) to reduce the daily limit to 10 fish and impose a minimum size limit. The request was turned down by the DFG. I am confident the crappie will return to the lake in catchable numbers, but when that will happen is anyone”s guess.
