Long before bass became the top game fish in Clear Lake, crappie drew the attention of thousands of anglers. The lake at one time was considered among the top crappie fisheries in the state and anglers would come from around the West to sample the outstanding crappie fishing.
In the past 15 years there have been times when the crappie fishing has been excellent or practically non-existent. This year, for some reason, the crappie action has been one of the few bright spots on the lake. A good example is Indian Beach Resort in Glenhaven. I visited the resort on Saturday and manager Ken Taddie told me the crappie fishing off his docks has been outstanding. In fact, he said that in his 10 years of being associated with the resort he has never seen the crappie fishing this good. Fishermen are catching their 25-fish daily limit is less than an hour and these aren’t little crappie. Some are weighing in excess of 2 pounds. Most fishermen are casting red-white crappie jigs and are allowing them to sink to the bottom before twitching the end of their rod tips. A number of fishermen are rigging with two jigs and are having double hook-ups. In addition to its guests the resort allows the public to fish from its docks for a small fee.
It’s not only at the Indian Beach Resort where fishermen are loading up on crappie. The entire Glenhaven Beach-Clearlake Oaks shoreline is also producing many of the fish. Shag Rock, located at the Narrows, is kicking out hundreds of crappie.
Crappie are considered a “cycle fish” meaning that the population explodes and then crashes. Under ideal conditions they can be very prolific, but they are also a fragile fish. One of the problems at Clear Lake is competition from other fish. Crappie eat plankton the first two years of their life, but other species compete with them for that plankton.
Like largemouth bass they aren’t native to Clear Lake or even the West. Actually, Clear Lake was the first lake in California to be stocked with crappie. Back in 1908 crappie were brought to the lake from Meredosia, Illinois. These were black crappie and they flourished because of the ideal habitat Clear Lake offered. White crappie were planted in the lake in 1951.
White and black crappie are nearly identical and fishermen have a hard time telling them apart. The species of crappie can be identified by counting the spiny rays on the dorsal fin. A black crappie has seven or eight spines while a white crappie has six spines. Most of the crappie presently in the lake are of the black species although there are also good numbers of white crappie.
Crappie can grow to large sizes. The world record for black crappie is 6 pounds. For white crappie, the world record is 5 pounds, 3 ounces. Clear Lake holds the state record for white crappie at 4 pounds, 8 ounces. That fish was caught in 1971.
The reason crappie are such a popular game fish is because of the eating quality. A fillet of crappie fried in garlic butter is one of the tastiest meals around. Because crappie tend to be in large schools, some fishermen will catch and keep more than the allowed daily limit of 25 fish, which is also the possession limit. Recently the game wardens have cited a number of fishermen for having more than their allowed limit. That can be a costly mistake as two fishermen learned recently. One was fined $4,000 and other was fined $950.
The good news about the excellent crappie action is it should attract tourists, which helps local businesses. The county has experienced a decline in tourism and fishermen the past few years. Hopefully the excellent crappie fishing helps change that.
