High water, warm weather and crappie

By By Mike Giles / outdoors writer
March 5, 2004
With the long hunting seasons that we have in our state, anglers hardly have time to rest up before the spring spawn begins. With constant rainfall almost every week, area lakes and reservoirs have been filled to near overflowing. In fact, Okatibbee reservoir has backed up into the woods surrounding the magnificent lake.
Veteran anglers know that during times of high water the fish will head to the flooded timber in search of both warmer water and food sources. It doesn't matter if it's February or late June. If the water floods the bushes and timber, the bass and crappie are both sure to follow.
Although the water is still a bit cool, the crappie, white perch and Soc-a-Lait were found in shallow water on a recent fishing trip. Of course, these three names are all commonly used for the same fish. In Louisiana, they are known by Soc-a-Lait. Some anglers are fond of calling them that right here at home. By whatever name they are called they still are uncommonly scrumptious. Just put a plate full of fried crappie fillets in front of somebody and the tasty slabs will surely disappear in a flash.
Buck brush crappie
After a dry run up one bank last Saturday morning, Zane Chapman and I motored to the back of a secluded cove on the upper end of the reservoir. As soon as we started fishing the brush it became obvious that the wind and cold temperatures would surely play a strong part in the attitude of the fish. However, as any angler knows, the fish have got to bite sooner or later and there were a few nibbling on our jigs. We didn't go very far before a slab crappie engulfed my jig and escaped just before I got him to the boat. If I had netted the paper mouth, I would surely have landed him.
We were using lightweight graphite and fiberglass jig poles teamed with a small line holder or reel and tipped with a jig. My personal favorite jig pole is a ten or eleven foot graphite rod made by B&M right here in Mississippi. You can feel the crappie bite if they even breathe on the bait. We were also using gold or lime colored line in order to detect bites that were evident only by a slight twitch of the line.
On this day the crappie were buried up in the buck brush and button bushes in about four feet of water. Sometimes they would thump my black and chartreuse jig, and sometimes they would just hold on to it as I tried to lift it out of the bush. The bite was really light, but they were biting! Of course, with the warmer weather that we are having this week, the fishing should get better and better. The spawn is still a ways off but the crappie are moving shallow to feed and search for spawning areas.
Doubles anyone?
As we ventured as far as we could back in the brush, Chapman and I both hooked nice crappie almost simultaneously. Although that was the exception rather than the rule on this day, it was exciting and prompted us to continue searching for more. Most of the fish we caught were in three to four feet of water, but we couldn't fish any shallower since the woods were flooded and choked with floating debris.
Due to prior commitments, we had to leave the lake before lunch, but not before we had a chance to catch enough of the succulent crappie for supper! One thing to look forward to. With the warmer weather, and warming water temperature, the fishing should only get better. But don't take it from me. Get outdoors somewhere and catch a few of your own. You will be glad you did. I guarantee!