Crappie rank just behind black bass and catfish on the popularity list with Texas anglers, but as far as their catchability they're No. 1, and the winter months are excellent times of year to plan a trip.

Black bass can be finicky, with lake levels and water temperature throwing their feeding habits and spawns into tailspins. Not so with crappie.

They are about as predictable as daylight and dark. Veteran anglers don't waste too much time in calculating crappie behavior and locations because depending upon water temperature; they will be locating in one of two areas within Texas reservoirs.

Crappie typically resides in shallow areas during the spring, but sometimes don't, that's when they move to deep water once the spawn is complete.

The spawn takes place when water temperatures are between 68 to 70 degrees — usually April through May — and they can just as easily deposit eggs in two or 10 feet of water.

Without question, when it's cold they will be found in deep water locations that are packed with timber. Crappie will seek out neighborhoods of their same age groupings.

Young spawned crappie will spend a few weeks in the shallows, avoiding predators the best they can.

Later they'll join adults, where they feed on microscopic crustaceans. As they reach juvenile size their feeding habits focus on small minnows and threadfin shad.

Doug Shampine, a noted fishing guide on Lake Fork, said crappie is so predictable that he often books crappie fishing specific trips years in advance and with full confidence that he'll be able to find fish for his customers.

Reservoirs Toledo Bend, Sam Rayburn, Lake of the Pined and Palestine contain unusually good crappie fisheries and large concentrations of black bass.

Both species have reached enormous sizes in Texas, but some reservoirs are better suited for a particular species.

For instance, Lake Navarro Mills, containing both black and white crappie, holds the Texas State Record crappie, white specie weighing 4.56 pounds.

A new Texas record for black crappie was recently set at Lake Texoma by Johnny Summers of Pottsboro when he caught a 2.93 lunker.

Texas fishery biologists try to maintain a close watch on crappie populations across the state, as they can quickly become over populated. As crappie reach larger sizes they need to experience high mortality rates just to keep their numbers in check, say TPWD fishery biologists.

Mortality is seldom achieved through angler's harvest, but from natural causes instead. However, wildlife department experts are constantly urging crappie fishermen to take their legal limits and assist in containing the species.