Some Love for the Sac Au Lait
Like our occasional friend the bowfin, the basic crappie has a lot of different names, including one from Louisiana – as with “choupique,” the Cajuns have added some French to this unassuming-but-tasty panfish, naming it “Sac Au Lait.” That means “Bag of Milk.”
The Sac Au Lait (at first I thought it was “sockle eye”) is widespread and revered in the pan. Many of the bass pros spend their off time on the water not chasing their bread and butter species, but crappie instead. Since the introduction of Livescope and other forward-facing sonar, targeting them has become even more refined.
While they’ll likely never get the glory of the smallmouth, the rainbow trout or the blue marlin, Sac Au Lait get their share of love.
Paris Ink
There’s even a song dedicated to fishing for them, Tab Benoit’s Power of the Ponchartrainm“Sac-au-Lait Fishing”
And since they’re so good to eat, I suppose it’s not entirely unexpected that there have been various restaurants, pubs and beers with some form of “crappie” in their name:
Sac-A-Lait Restaurant (closed 2018)
New Orleans
Northwoods Brewpub
Bobbing Bobber Brewing Company
Crappie Hole Bar and Grill (MO)
