Freshwater Fishing Archives - Page 60 of 86

Phillip McAnally has been fishing Bay Springs his whole life and provided some insights on what to expect year-round on the 6,700 acre impoundment.

Lost in Transition — Best tactics to catch Bay Springs crappie

May 1, 2013 Phillip Gentry

“A lot of anglers struggle here,” said Bay Springs crappie guide and local fishing guru Wayne Inman. “They expect it to fish like the other big crappie lakes in the state, and that’s just not the case here.”

What Inman means is not that Bay Springs is a poor crappie lake; in fact, exactly the opposite is true. But to successfully catch crappie in the 6,700-acre impoundment, anglers will need to understand a few dynamics about the lake.

First is that depth changes are relatively extreme from one end of the impoundment to the other. […]

Does catch and release really work?

May 1, 2013 Hal Schramm

A decision tree to help you make smart catch and release decisions and do your part to maintain good fishing opportunities. […]

This small but feisty redear bream inhaled the author’s mayfly bait.

Hammer the hatch – Mayflies key to catching summer bream

May 1, 2013 David Hawkins

Understanding how to leverage the annual mayfly to fill the boat with chunky bream. They work well early spring to mid-summer, especially in low water. […]

Cover: May 2013 – Freshwater

May 1, 2013 Mississippi Sportsman

Chunky Bay Springs crappie are waiting, while waters around Ship Island are filling with big speckled trout. […]

MDWFP fisheries director Ron Garavelli knew the post-spawn crappie bite was good enough to use a tandem jig rig to catch them two at a time Monday (April 29) in a Madison County lake.

Post-spawn crappie, and on the double

May 1, 2013 Bobby Cleveland

Little icons littered the bottom gray line of the depthfinder, an indication that a lot of fish were suspended just off the top of a hump adjacent to the creek channel of the 250-acre lake. […]

A box full of chunky bream was the results of a memorable Lake Naomi fishing trip with a father-son team more than a decade ago.

Remembering a full moon in April with Big Joe

April 29, 2013 Bobby Cleveland

Friday was sort of an anniversary for me. The date itself, April 26, has absolutely nothing to do with it. It just happens to be the day on which the full moon falls this year in April. […]

Crappie that spawn deep, like in the stumps on Barnett Reservoir, should hit a peak on this week's full moon. Sardis, Enid and Grenada are also expecting a big spawning run beginning with Thursday night's full moon and running through the weekend.

Experts, reports indicate another crappie spawning run

April 24, 2013 Bobby Cleveland

All over Central and North Mississippi, there is one question on the minds of crappie fishermen — “Has the spawn come and gone, or will there be another run?”

The answer probably varies from lake to lake, but most crappie experts are saying — and the reports coming from on the water offer supporting evidence — that the best action is still ahead. […]

You know you are fishing the peak of the crappie spawn in a certain area when the females you catch are in the egg-laying process, like this one caught Wednesday by Keith Partridge of Terry at Barnett Reservoir.

Crappie spawn: Don’t blink, you could miss it

April 18, 2013 Bobby Cleveland

The first report of spawning crappie came Monday afternoon (April 15) on one particular spot on Barnett Reservoir. By Tuesday afternoon, it was over in that honey hole and Wednesday bites were tough to come by. “But we found them again, in a very similar area, about a mile up the lake,” said Joe Alford of Brandon, who fished with his son Jace. “I was in on that tremendous run between the islands Tuesday but it was over on Wednesday. […]

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. […]

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.

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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. […]