Indiana Lake Depths

Panfish · sunfish family

Crappie (black and white)

Pomoxis nigromaculatus (black) · Pomoxis annularis (white) · also called speck, papermouth, strawberry bass

Native to IndianaRecorded in 149 Indiana lakes
Illustration of a crappie in side view
AI-generated illustration, not a photograph and not to scale.
Two species
Black and white crappie, managed together
Spawns
Late April and May, near 55°F, in 3–10 ft of water
Eats
Mostly small fish; also insects, larvae, worms and crayfish
Found near
Sunken logs, standing timber, brush piles and docks
Indiana record
4 lb 11 oz — Private Lake, Jennings County, 1994

Where crappie have been recorded

149 of the 186 Indiana lakes on this site with fish records list crappie, across 43 counties. Tap a dot to open that lake’s depth map.

Lake Wawasee, Kosciusko CountyLake Maxinkuckee, Marshall CountyLake Freeman, Carroll CountyBass Lake, Starke CountyJ C Murphey Lake, Newton CountyHamilton Lake, Steuben CountyLake Manitou, Fulton CountyCrooked Lake, Steuben CountyCedar Lake, Lake CountyHardy Lake, Scott CountySylvan Lake, Noble CountyWinona Lake, Kosciusko CountyDewart Lake, Kosciusko CountyBig Chapman Lake, Kosciusko CountyKokomo Reservoir, Howard CountyLake of the Woods, Marshall CountyOliver Lake, LaGrange CountyGlenn Flint Lake, Putnam CountyWorster Lake, St. Joseph CountyKoontz Lake, Starke CountyLake Gage, Steuben CountyCedarville Reservoir, Allen CountyJAMES LAKE, Kosciusko CountyHurshtown Reservoir, Allen CountyKickapoo Lake, Sullivan CountyPike Lake, Kosciusko CountyBlue Lake, Whitley CountyWitmer Lake, LaGrange CountyShipshewana Lake, LaGrange CountyBluegrass Lake, Warrick CountyStone Lake, LaPorte CountyWabee Lake, Kosciusko CountyBischoff Reservoir, Ripley CountyDeam Lake, Clark CountyIrish Lake, Kosciusko CountyHoffman Lake, Kosciusko CountyLoon Lake, Warrick CountyWestwood Run Lake, Henry CountyAtwood Lake, LaGrange CountyBeaver Dam Lake, Dubois CountyHuntingburg Lake, Dubois CountyLake Celina, Perry CountyBeaver Dam Lake, Kosciusko CountyBrush Creek Reservoir, Jennings CountyWall Lake, LaGrange CountyLittle Chapman Lake, Kosciusko CountyKuhn Lake, Kosciusko CountyRound Lake, Whitley CountyLittle Turkey Lake, LaGrange CountyNorth Twin Lake, LaGrange CountyLake of the Woods, LaGrange CountyBear Lake, Noble CountyIndian Lake, Perry CountySkinner Lake, Noble CountyBixler Lake, Noble CountyStarve Hallow Lake, Jackson CountyYellowwood Lake, Brown CountyIndiana Lake, Elkhart CountyCenter Lake, Kosciusko CountyGriffy Lake, Monroe CountyNyona Lake, Fulton CountyDiamond Lake, Noble CountyBarton Lake, Steuben CountyFlint Lake, Porter CountySouth Mud Lake, Fulton CountyClear Lake, LaPorte CountyFish Lake, LaGrange CountyRound Lake, Noble CountyPretty Lake, Marshall CountyMyers Lake, Marshall CountyWestler Lake, LaGrange CountyPrides Creek Lake, Pike CountyBall Lake, Steuben CountyUpper Long Lake, Noble CountyAppleman Lake, LaGrange CountyRockville Lake, Parke CountyDiamond Lake, Kosciusko CountyCree Lake, Noble CountyRiddles Lake, St. Joseph CountyEagle Lake, Noble CountyLake Salinda, Washington CountySaugany Lake, LaPorte CountyOtter Pit, Warrick CountyLittle Long Lake, Noble CountyRoyer Lake, LaGrange CountyHill Lake, Kosciusko CountyMessick Lake, LaGrange CountyLower Long Lake, Noble CountyScales Lake, Warrick CountyIndian Lake, DeKalb CountyProvince Pond, Henry CountyShakamak Lake, Sullivan CountyHackleburg Lake, LaGrange CountyLincoln Lake, Spencer CountyPisgah Lake, Johnson CountyGreen Valley Lake, Vigo CountyWilliams Lake, Noble CountyLoomis Lake, Porter CountyLittle Cedar Lake, Whitley CountyElk Creek Lake, Washington CountyLake Everett, Allen CountyFletcher Lake, Fulton CountyShock Lake, Kosciusko CountyEmma Lake, LaGrange CountyEngle Lake, Noble CountySaddle Lake, Perry CountyFerdinand State Forest Lake, Dubois CountyCypress Lake, Jackson CountyFish Lake, Elkhart CountyMollenkramer, Ripley CountyGilbert Lake, Marshall CountyMcClish Lake, Steuben CountyRosser Park Pond, Lake CountyRound Lake, Steuben CountyOld Lake, Whitley CountyMcClures Lake, Kosciusko CountyPinhook Lake, St. Joseph CountyCedar Lake, DeKalb CountyEve Lake, LaGrange CountyRivir Lake, Noble CountyBuffalo Trace Lake, Harrison CountyBaugher Lake, Noble CountyGordy Lake, Noble CountyDixon Lake, Marshall CountySellers Lake, Kosciusko CountyCrane Lake, Noble CountyW Keith Ruble Lake, Vigo CountyGrouse Ridge Lake, Bartholomew CountyClear Lake, Porter CountyRupel Lake, St. Joseph CountyHenry Lake, Steuben CountyWahkShinGah Lake, Huntington CountyStone Arch Lake, Johnson CountyPigeon Pit, Pike CountySchlamm Lake, Clark CountyPleasant Lake, Noble CountyLake Arrowhead, Steuben CountyMartindale, Wayne CountyLindsey Lake, Noble CountyFunk Lake, Vigo CountyCrooked Creek Lake, Brown CountyBoone's Pond, Boone CountySmalley's Pond, Fayette CountyFancher Lake, Lake CountyMoss Lake, Noble CountyThomas Lake, Marshall CountyBryant Creek Lake, Monroe CountyCattail Pit, Pike CountySummit Lake, Noble County

Recorded here Other lakes with fish records

How we know

  • 149lakes where a DNR fisheries survey caught them

A lake can appear in more than one line. A lake that isn’t listed may still have them: records exist only where someone caught, netted or stocked them.

Inland lakes on this list run from 6 to 3,508 acres (median 83) and from 6 to 91 ft deep (median 32 ft).

How many turn up in DNR surveys

Indiana DNR crews survey lakes the same way everywhere: timed night electrofishing along the shore, plus gill and trap nets set overnight. The standard method makes lakes comparable. These are the DNR’s own sampling rates from its community surveys, 2008–2025 — a measure of how many fish a lake holds, not how many an angler will catch.

Found in
140 of 170 lakes surveyed this way
Typical rate
1.8 per net lift where found
Highest
67.2 per net lift
Method
fish per net lift (gill and trap nets)

“Typical” is the median across the lakes where the survey caught at least one. Nets and electrofishing catch different fish: by the other method it turned up in 63 lakes at a typical 4.0 per hour of electrofishing. A single survey is a snapshot of one season.

Highest survey rates on this site

  1. Mollenkramer, Ripley 2022 67.2
  2. Skinner Lake, Noble 2016–2025 60.2
  3. Lake Salinda, Washington 2013–2025 54.5
  4. Bischoff Reservoir, Ripley 2022 38.0
  5. Cedar Lake, DeKalb 2019 37.2
  6. Shipshewana Lake, LaGrange 2022 36.5
  7. Brush Creek Reservoir, Jennings 2018 33.5
  8. Huntingburg Lake, Dubois 2012–2021 23.8
  9. Glenn Flint Lake, Putnam 2018 23.5
  10. Clear Lake, LaPorte 2015–2025 17.8

Fish per net lift (gill and trap nets), with survey years. Survey effort and season differ between lakes.

Often found with

Share of these lakes that also list each fish.

How to recognize it

Count the dorsal spines: black crappie have seven or eight, white crappie five or six. Black crappie are mottled with dark blotches that don't form bars; white crappie carry 5–10 vertical bars and a slightly longer body. Indiana manages the two together, so this page covers both.

Don’t confuse it with

Black crappie — Seven or eight dorsal spines, a deeper body and scattered dark blotches.
White crappie — Five or six dorsal spines and 5–10 vertical bars.

Up close

Illustration of a black crappie's head and front half from the side, with seven spines at the front of the dorsal fin and irregular black speckles on the sides.
Black crappie: seven dorsal spines; the dorsal fin's base is about as long as the distance from the eye to the fin; irregular black speckles, not bars.
Illustration of a white crappie's head and front half from the side, with six spines at the front of the dorsal fin and dark vertical bars on pale silvery sides.
White crappie: six dorsal spines; the dorsal fin's base is shorter than the distance from the eye to the fin; dark vertical bars on silvery sides.

AI-generated close-ups, not photographs, drawn from the cited descriptions. They show what to look for; they are not a substitute for an expert identification (provenance).

Life in an Indiana lake

Crappie live in many Indiana streams, ponds and lakes. They move shallow in spring and fall, when they are easiest to find.

The male fans a nest with his tail in 3–10 ft of water, and females lay in one or more nests; a single nest can hold up to 20,000 eggs. Most Indiana lakes have no crappie size limit, because on most lakes one would leave more small fish competing for the same food.

Source: the sources below.

Rules and eating

Check the rules before you keep fish. Each lake page shows the regulations that apply there, and the Indiana Fishing Guide is the official source. Before eating fish from a particular lake, check the Indiana Fish Consumption Advisory.

All 149 lakes with crappie

Show every lake, by county

Allen County 3

Cedarville Reservoir, Hurshtown Reservoir, Lake Everett

Bartholomew County 1

Grouse Ridge Lake

Boone County 1

Boone's Pond

Brown County 2

Crooked Creek Lake, Yellowwood Lake

Carroll County 1

Lake Freeman

Clark County 2

Deam Lake, Schlamm Lake

DeKalb County 2

Cedar Lake, Indian Lake

Dubois County 3

Beaver Dam Lake, Ferdinand State Forest Lake, Huntingburg Lake

Elkhart County 2

Fish Lake, Indiana Lake

Fayette County 1

Smalley's Pond

Fulton County 4

Fletcher Lake, Lake Manitou, Nyona Lake, South Mud Lake

Harrison County 1

Buffalo Trace Lake

Henry County 2

Province Pond, Westwood Run Lake

Howard County 1

Kokomo Reservoir

Huntington County 1

WahkShinGah Lake

Jackson County 2

Cypress Lake, Starve Hallow Lake

Jennings County 1

Brush Creek Reservoir

Johnson County 2

Pisgah Lake, Stone Arch Lake

Kosciusko County 18

Beaver Dam Lake, Big Chapman Lake, Center Lake, Dewart Lake, Diamond Lake, Hill Lake, Hoffman Lake, Irish Lake, JAMES LAKE, Kuhn Lake, Lake Wawasee, Little Chapman Lake, McClures Lake, Pike Lake, Sellers Lake, Shock Lake, Wabee Lake, Winona Lake

LaGrange County 16

Appleman Lake, Atwood Lake, Emma Lake, Eve Lake, Fish Lake, Hackleburg Lake, Lake of the Woods, Little Turkey Lake, Messick Lake, North Twin Lake, Oliver Lake, Royer Lake, Shipshewana Lake, Wall Lake, Westler Lake, Witmer Lake

LaPorte County 3

Clear Lake, Saugany Lake, Stone Lake

Lake County 3

Cedar Lake, Fancher Lake, Rosser Park Pond

Marshall County 7

Dixon Lake, Gilbert Lake, Lake Maxinkuckee, Lake of the Woods, Myers Lake, Pretty Lake, Thomas Lake

Monroe County 2

Bryant Creek Lake, Griffy Lake

Newton County 1

J C Murphey Lake

Noble County 21

Baugher Lake, Bear Lake, Bixler Lake, Crane Lake, Cree Lake, Diamond Lake, Eagle Lake, Engle Lake, Gordy Lake, Lindsey Lake, Little Long Lake, Lower Long Lake, Moss Lake, Pleasant Lake, Rivir Lake, Round Lake, Skinner Lake, Summit Lake, Sylvan Lake, Upper Long Lake, Williams Lake

Parke County 1

Rockville Lake

Perry County 3

Indian Lake, Lake Celina, Saddle Lake

Pike County 3

Cattail Pit, Pigeon Pit, Prides Creek Lake

Porter County 3

Clear Lake, Flint Lake, Loomis Lake

Putnam County 1

Glenn Flint Lake

Ripley County 2

Bischoff Reservoir, Mollenkramer

Scott County 1

Hardy Lake

Spencer County 1

Lincoln Lake

St. Joseph County 4

Pinhook Lake, Riddles Lake, Rupel Lake, Worster Lake

Starke County 2

Bass Lake, Koontz Lake

Steuben County 9

Ball Lake, Barton Lake, Crooked Lake, Hamilton Lake, Henry Lake, Lake Arrowhead, Lake Gage, McClish Lake, Round Lake

Sullivan County 2

Kickapoo Lake, Shakamak Lake

Vigo County 3

Funk Lake, Green Valley Lake, W Keith Ruble Lake

Warrick County 4

Bluegrass Lake, Loon Lake, Otter Pit, Scales Lake

Washington County 2

Elk Creek Lake, Lake Salinda

Wayne County 1

Martindale

Whitley County 4

Blue Lake, Little Cedar Lake, Old Lake, Round Lake

Sources

← All fish of Indiana