What do crappie NOT eat?
Most of what a bass eats. A crappie is a mid-water picker of small things: it hovers, looks up and sips prey that is mostly 2–8 cm (1–3 in) long, rarely beyond a third of its own length. That rules out frogs, mice and anything else from the bass topwater box; adult suckers, ciscoes and whitefish, which are far outside the size window; and fish eggs, because a crappie eats fry in open water rather than rooting in nests or gravel. Bottom food is marginal for the same reason — a small crayfish, worm or leech is taken now and then, but a fish that feeds upward meets few of them. Dead bait is the practical one: a lively minnow draws far more bites than a dead one, so keep bait fresh and moving.
The full story
This answer is one piece of a longer lesson — setups, diagrams and the reasoning behind it.
More questions about Diet
- Do crappie ever stop eating zooplankton?
- What size minnows and shad do crappie prefer?
- Do crappie really eat their own young?
- Why do such tiny jigs catch such big crappie?
- How does the crappie diet shift through the year?
- What do crappie eat at night versus during the day?
- Do crappie eat freshwater shrimp and scuds?
Same topic, other species
- Will largemouth pick up dead or motionless bait? — Largemouth Bass
- What do muskie eat in southern reservoirs that have no ciscoes or perch? — Muskellunge (Muskie)
- Why is a piece of worm such a reliable perch bait — do perch eat worms and leeches naturally? — Yellow Perch
- Do pike ever eat insects, leeches and other invertebrates? — Northern Pike
- What do smallmouth eat in winter? — Smallmouth Bass
- Do trout eat suckers, sunfish or dead fish? — Trout (Rainbow · Brook · Lake)
- Do walleye eat bluegills, frogs — or their own young? — Walleye