ADDED: I'm told you shouldn't pronounce crappie crappy. Say "croppie." So elegant! Like to-mah-to.
May 9, 2007
Speaking of crappy...
... there's a fish called a crappie. I just happened to take a picture of one recently, so here it is, in case you need something mellow to contemplate this morning:
ADDED: I'm told you shouldn't pronounce crappie crappy. Say "croppie." So elegant! Like to-mah-to.
ADDED: I'm told you shouldn't pronounce crappie crappy. Say "croppie." So elegant! Like to-mah-to.
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That's a black crappie. There are also white crappies. They are all damned good eating, probably the best of the panfish. In north Florida, we referred to crappies as "speckled perch."
Yep, those are good eatin. Not much in the way of a fight when you hook em but tasty nonetheless.
Best time for them is just after sunset. Get a lantern, minnows and you're good to go.
what bob and hoosier daddy said; fish on ultra-light tackle with white jigs. The have very "soft mouths," and have to be brought in very gently. One of the best fish there is for a fish fry.
I think you're just fishin' for compliments on your photography skills.
Ultra-light, six and a half foot, worn-out fiberglass? Four pound test with a floating Rapala? Two high school buds in a rowboat working the cedar-water banks with a bunch of stumps and logs to worry about?
Those crappies fought like the devil.
Don't know about the eating. We let them go.
But man, those were good times.
Hmmmmm. Early spring, water warming up, crappie hungry, they fight pretty good on light tackle. Filet them (I'm too lazy to clean them) and you get two very nice pieces of fish.
I personally like the taste of the hybrid Redear, but all Midwest fried panfish go great with potato salad, sweet onions, and beer. It tastes like summer.
I believe the technical name for this fish is Calico Bass. In southern Michigan folks usually pronounce the word as "cropy". They are easy to catch here and are good eating...although I prefer the taste of Bluegills. YUM!
Light tackle... crappies... bluegills... pumkinseeds... and of course, if you're lucky, a walleye or a small mouth -- then you're in for a real fun fight. If you have a whole case of beer, spare one bottle for the batter. Don't forget the onion rings and the bonfire.
you give a man a fish and he will eat for a day; you teach a man to fish.................and he will stay out on the lake all day drinking beer.
Good one Roger!
In Louisiana they call the sacalait, which in Cajun French has something to do with milk, a reference to their nice, white flesh.
Trey
Good for winter fishing; used to be heated docks where you go go sit and catch 'em at night when I was a kid.
And, yes, like all of the panfish, exceptionally good to eat.
Through much of the South, I believe they're called "bream".
Personally, I prefer bream (pronounced "brim") but nothing wrong with a good crappie. I must agree, however, with the "fishing for compliments" comment...
Its nice to know there are some folks who appreciate the pleasures of panfishing: like using a flyrod with a rubber spider pattern when the bluegills (bream,brim) are on the spawing beds in the late spring or casting jigs over sunken timber in april when the crappies are spawning!
Tell us bout the picture; were you swimming with the fishes?
Technical name is Pomoxis annularis (says wiki, and it's never wrong)
Speckled perch can get quite a bit larger than pictured, and they can be a lot of fun to catch. Try using a 2 or 3 weight fly rod!
TroutFanatics
Crappie are North American sunfish, as are large-mouth bass and bluegills. Closer to bass than perch, but neither.
The technical names are Pomoxis annularis (white crappie) or Pomoxis nigromaculatus (black crappie).
Whatever you want to call them, they're delicious. So are bluegill. Bass don't even come close.
You never knew there was a fish called a crappie?
You have just begun to live!
I knew there were crappies, but I didn't know how to pronounce it, and I'd never had the chance to photograph one until Sunday.
Here's a riddle for you related (vaguely) to crappie (croppy) fishing.
(Remember, I grew up in a Baptist household in the county farthest north at that time that had a majority population of Baptists, and we were next door to the county farthest south with more than half Catholics.)
Q. Why should you always take two Baptists crappie fishing with you?
A. Because if you take just one he'll drink all your beer, but if you take two neither one will drink any beer.
Having fished for "croppies" in Minnesota, I was quite surprised back in 1971 when I was stationed at Ft. Hood Texas and first heard the fishing report for Lake Belton where the "crappies" were biting.
Perhaps it is only in Texas but I think I have heard "crappy" elsewhere in the South
arent they also called specks in some parts of the south? (versus seatrout also called specks). Trout Fantatic: use popping bugs for large blue gills on top--esp early in the AM or late in the PM.
I fish crappies in Northern Ontario and it's a bit of a lark with real light weight tackle.
Pronounced "Crappy" in Missouri (Eastern and Central/South),TN, and southern Illinois.
Sounds like another entry for the dialect map project.
Agree that this is yet another very nice picture.
I've only ever heard crappie (and bream as brim) in rural Florida.
I grew up in Huntsville, AL--a lot of linguist influences--and I heard both "croppie" and "brim" used to refer to the same fish. The only "crappie" users were from farther south (Gulf Coast, panhandle of FL).
My favorite method of crappie fishing is a 2" Rapala minnow on an ultra-light rig. Loads of fun.
Pronounced as spelled: http://www.answers.com/crappie?gwp=11&ver=2.1.1.521
Like Michael Farris, I too grew up in rural Florida, and all of the sunfish had local names. Bluegill were called Bream, pronounced "brim;" Red-Eared Sunfish were called "Shellcrackers;" Black Crappie were called "Speckled Perch" or just "Specks." Other fish: Pickerel were called "Jacks," and the primitive Bowfin was called a "Mudfish."
I've heard the word "crappie" pronounced both with the short "a" and the short "o" sound, my dad (from Mississippi) favored the latter, although he customarily referred to the fish as "Specks."
Caught them, pronounced "croppy", in the mid-60's from my grandmother's boat on Lake Conway, north of Little Rock. Also at Cross Lake, to which we kids bicycled from Barksdale AFB, Bossier City, Louisiana c. 1971. Good pan frying in every case, and good fun on light tackle. ("Rapala" -- +1)
here's how you filet them: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8Q1Wr00UV4
Let us all pause now to honor the man.
Ladies and Gentlemen, …, I give you, …, the one and only, …, the late, …, great, …, Lauri Rapala!!!
* * * the crowd roars * * *
(As well it should.)
Give a man a fish, he owes you a fish. Teach a man to fish, and he owes you a royalty each time he catches a fish.
for all of the fisherpersons everywhere--thanks ann, and thank for all of you who validate panfish. The first fish my kids caught were bluegills and it was special. Fishing is what I want to do when I die and go to heaven--or whereever
Specks are not crappy in the Southern Highlands. Specks or speckled trout is another name for the native Southern Appalachian brook trout found in the high isolated creeks of the Smokies and the Blue Ridge. They look the same as the brook trout found in the North but are genetically different and usually smaller.
Seatrout are also called speckled trout in some parts of the coastal South.
And I've always heard the fish that Ann pictured called a "crappy" and never a croppy.
John
"Speckled perch can get quite a bit larger than pictured..."
How can you tell how large that guy is? It was pretty large, larger than a football.
(Or am I exaggerating? It was large... let's just say.)
I love fishing for panfish on a fly rod.
If I recall correctly from my days subscribing to Field & Stream, the crappie has an unusually large number of alternate names. Perhaps more than any other American fish.
The important measurement when you are talking panfish is whether or not it's too big to put your hand around when you're taking out the hook.
Big ones are easily large enough to filet. Without a dinner plate to compare the photo to I can't honestly judge its size, but it looks large enough to filet.
Ann's bringing out the redneck in me by showing me the fish of my childhood. :)
of course wel all remember that song from the early 50s "How much is that doggie in the window"...i'm doing this from memory and am NOT going to google the lyrics...
"I don't want a crappy (pronounced croppie) or a cat fish..."
is a start of the second verse.
Was it this fish?
i am completely repentant. i looked up the patty page song on lyrics and crappy isn't in the lyrics as i remembered them.
ahhh my first and only mistake of the day. As Emily Latella would say, "never mind".
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