Freshwater Fishing Archives - Page 60 of 86

After just 30 minutes on Tuesday's hot spot, the livewell was filling fast. One and a half hours produced 42 spawning crappie, and we missed that many or more.

Nothing like being “spot on” on the spawn

April 18, 2013 Bobby Cleveland

Ron Garavelli and I had 10 crappie from two hours on our first fishing spot at Barnett Reservoir Tuesday (April 16), a mix of dark black males and fat female chunks. […]

Jimmy McGuire displays a stringer of Okatibbee Lake crappie caught last spring.

Crappie on the rocks

April 15, 2013 Michael O. Giles

Jimmy McGuire pitched a couple of jigs out just off the dam and let them sink a few feet before jigging them slightly. McGuire whipped his rod back and set the hook a split second after a crappie struck his offering.

After a short battle he landed not one, but two crappie on one cast. […]

A crappie with the ever popular Roadrunner lure that is deadly on Okatibbee Lake and other similar impoundments in the spring.

Lures that make crappie bite

April 15, 2013 Michael O. Giles

T.J. Stallings is an experienced angler who also happens to combine his love of fishing with his job. Stallings is with Roadrunner Lures, and specializes in marketing and designing product and packaging. […]

This Okatibbee crappie couldn’t resist the new Reality Shad Buffet Rig by Roadrunner Lures.

The theory of white

April 15, 2013 Michael O. Giles

T. J. Stallings has come up with his “theory of white” after fishing in the Alabama River. The water is very dark in an area where the Coosa River ends and the Alabama River begins, and Stallings catches spotted bass and crappie on solid-white lures.

[…]

Male white crappie are starting to turn black, their mating color. It's a sign the spawn is about to turn on in most of Mississippi's crappie hot spots.

Signs the spawn is about to turn on

April 11, 2013 Bobby Cleveland

Wednesday (April 10) was the day that crappie fishermen started reporting the first true sign that the spawn is imminent at most of Mississippi’s perch-jerking hot spots. […]

April showers mean monster catfish for Columbus Lake area angler Joey Pounders. He and his brother Jerry give a demonstration in the attached video.

Columbus Lake cats

April 8, 2013 Phillip Gentry

The saying goes “April showers bring May flowers,” but for Joey and Jerry Pounders of Caledonia, Mississippi, April showers bring monster catfish. […]

Crappie anglers have been waiting on some warm weather to push fish into the shallows for the spawn, and it looks like that's finally going to happen.

Crappie forecast: 80-degree fun ahead

April 5, 2013 Bobby Cleveland

The weather crappie fishermen have been waiting for is finally in the long-range forecast for next week, and that has them ready to dance a jig. […]

Pat Jeffcoats and Rabbit Rogers toughed it out on a miserable, snowy day to place second with 15.45 pounds that included a 2.95-pound kicker.

Premier crappie lake gives up nine 3-pounders at tourney

April 1, 2013 Paul Johnson

Last month I told you about the Magnolia Crappie Club tournament at Sardis. I want to use the March 2 Lake Washington tournament as the backdrop for this month’s column. Both tournament experiences are unique and were great fun. […]

Spring Fling — Catching limits of crappie is the norm at Okatibbee Lake this month

April 1, 2013 Michael O. Giles

Okatibbee Lake has changed over recent years, but not the reservoir’s incredible crappie fishing. Here’s how to fill the boat. […]

It happens every spring at Barnett Reservoir. At some point the big females move into the pad stems on the upper lake and river areas, and this year a swim jig — like the Pete Ponds signature series by Talon — is proving a productive technique. Swim baits are also hot with the big females in pre-spawn mode.

Swim baits, swim jigs produce big bites

March 21, 2013 Bobby Cleveland

Despite the recent rain, up-and-down temperatures and seemingly constant wind, the spring fishing transition continues, and that is good news for bass and crappie fishermen. […]

Bay Springs crappie guide Wayne Inman indicated that the typical spring crappie hotspots on the north end of the lake are starting to heat up.

Bay Springs crappie on the rise

March 19, 2013 Phillip Gentry

Though it seems that the late arriving winter is reluctant to release its grip this year, Bay Springs crappie guide Wayne Inman (662-416-1296) indicates that the prime season for catching slab crappie from the upper Tenn-Tom Waterway lake is right around the corner.

“Water temperatures in the back of most of the northerly coves have reached 57 degrees,” said Inman. “The main lake is still 47, which is helping to push the fish shallow. Right now males are being caught in 3-4 feet of water using small crappie jigs.” […]

One of the most productive prespawn crappie patterns in Mississippi is fishing outside the timber of the old lake beds on Barnett Reservoir. It is a March favorite for Rabbit Rogers, who is shown hauling in a fat and sassy female from 12 feet of water.

Prespawn crappie bite has begun

March 8, 2013 Bobby Cleveland

Fishermen wasted little time, hitting the water Thursday in numbers surprising for a supposed workday. That’s what you get when it’s the first day in over a week when weather would allow for safe boating access.

And the reports from crappie anglers were to be expected — good. […]