Catch More Springtime Crappie

By TAM Sta

It’s the time of year when crappie shing can get mighty easy. However, you can always strive to load the cooler with more and bigger sh. Here are a few tips:

• Know Your Prey: Crappie are on the move this time of year. ey might be staged up at prespawn or postspawn depths, or they might be right up on the banks in a foot and a half of water spawning. Knowing their cycles will help you nd them.

Before and a er they spawn, crappie hold on brush and structure just outside of their spawning areas. ey move up into the shallows to spawn in waves, and this can go on for a month or more. So, while some sh are easy targets when they’re spawning or guarding fry on super-shallow brush, there are other, possibly larger, sh feeding a little deeper.

If you’re not catching the numbers or size you’d like to see in the shallows, get on the trolling motor and use your sonar to nd the creek channels and rst drops o the spawning areas. Find some good brush or search the fronts of docks. You might nd big schools slab crappie. Pitch jigs or minnows to individual brushpiles or slow troll these deeper areas to nd sh.

• Ditch the Bobber: A minnow under a bobber is a traditional and e ective crappie rig. It is not, however the most e cient way to catch them in most situations. During the spawn, male crappie are the ones that stay shallow and guard the nests. ey are aggressive, and they are not necessarily feeding when they attack. ese sh are particularly susceptible to gaudy, brightly colored jigs.

Crappie jigs are the best way to cover water both on spawning banks and on deeper brush. Even when they’re feeding heavily, crappie on brush won’t chase their prey more than a few feet. A jig allows you to make numerous casts and thoroughly cover the water horizontally and vertically in the time it would take to hook and soak a single minnow under a bobber.

Move quickly until you nd the you can slow down and catch them all. If you still want to support the local live bait store, go ahead and buy some minnows and thread them through the lips on a crappie jig.

• Scent: You might not need it all the time to catch sh, but scent helps crappie nd your lure and convinces them to eat. It doesn’t hurt to tip your jig with a minnow, and arti cial attractants like PowerBait Crappie Nibbles or JJ’s Magic can sometimes make them bite when they’ve got lockjaw.

• Network: Make friends with other crappie anglers. ere’s no shortage of available crappie in most lakes. Sharing information with other anglers helps everyone stay on top of the sh. You don’t have to tell anyone where you sunk your Christmas tree in January, but a little give and take doesn’t hurt when you’re talking about stages of the spawn or e ective colors.

For more crappie shing, visit www.coastalanglermag.com.

DAYTON, Tenn. — A prespawn bonanza is on tap for the 2023 Yamaha Rightwaters Bassmaster Kayak Series Championship at Chickamauga Lake powered by TourneyX, and while the lake can be tough, Tennessee native, Jordan Marshall, believes big bass will be caught.

“If we can get some nice warm weather, there will be a lot of prespawn bass,” Marshall said. “There’s a lot of moving parts to Chickamauga. It is hard to pin down a pattern. There are quality fish there, and you will run into them eventually, it is just about landing them and capitalizing. “If we are putting numbers on big bass, I’m going to say it is going to be 24 inches or more. It can happen on any cast.”

One of the hottest big bass lakes in the country over the past several years, Chickamauga — one of the Bill Dance Signature Lakes — stretches about 60 miles through the east Tennessee hills, providing plenty of opportunities for anglers to spread out. The Kayak Series Championship kicks off Classic week, with tournament days scheduled for March 22 and 23. The winner will be announced in Knoxville on the stage of the 2023 Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Toyota prior to the Day 1 Classic weigh-in.

Marshall, a Hobie Bass Open Series Angler of the Year, lives in Knoxville and has extensive experience on Chickamauga, including a Tennessee B.A.S.S. Nation state championship victory that earned him his spot in the championship. Consistency will be key in this event. While Chickamauga kicks out giant bass almost daily, it can be difficult to find a consistent bite from day to day.

“You are going to have to do a lot of stuff to figure out the bite,” Marshall said. “You can fish for seven hours and not get any bites and then in a 30-minute window you have everything that needs to happen to figure out something. Those fish are so strange on that lake, it is an interesting puzzle to put together. There will be a lot of boats. It is absurd. There is not a place on this planet that gets as much pressure as Chickamauga year in and year out.”

Nice weather could send the bass into a full prespawn pattern, and Marshall said he will likely be exploring both the main lake and the creeks and backwaters. He noted that water clarity will be much cleaner than a lot of anglers will anticipate going into the event. While smallmouth and spotted bass both inhabit the lake, Marshall said largemouth will almost certainly be the key species.

“If you told me someone had a full-blown limit of smallmouth, I would be impressed,” Marshall said. “But I don’t think a whole limit of smallmouth is an option. I don’t think it is something consistent.”

The lake will also still be at winter pool, barring a weather system that brings heavy rains to the region — and that will mean less cover on the lake. Deep docks, select laydowns and clean rock will be key items to target. “The vast majority of the lake will be a player,” Marshall said.

“Guys can win the tournament up at the Watts Bar Dam or down at the Chickamauga Dam. If we get a little bit of rain and then some sunny days, any creek on the lake could be a winning or competitive spot. “There is a lot of rock in that lake, it’s just finding rocks that have a hard bottom around them.

Lures will largely be determined by the weather, Marshall said. “If we get some solid weather, it could be plenty of moving baits. If it is cold, a jerkbait could be a big player, March on the Tennessee River, the first thing I think of is throwing a crankbait. That kind of gets everyone catching fish, and it could be a really competitive tournament. “Regardless of weather, I would imagine a Rat-L-Trap in some form (will play).”

While Marshall notes Chickamauga hasn’t fished as well lately as in years past, a mega-bag is possible at any point in time. The event will follow a catch-measure-release format. The live leaderboard can be found on Bassmaster.com throughout the tournament. The event is being hosted by Rhea Economic & Tourism Council and Fish Dayton.

2022 Bassmaster Kayak Series Title Sponsor: Yamaha Rightwaters

2023 Bassmaster Kayak Series Partner: MotorGuide

2023 Bassmaster Kayak Series Angler of the Year Sponsor: Dakota Lithium

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About B.A.S.S.

B.A.S.S., which encompasses the Bassmaster tournament leagues, events and media platforms, is the worldwide authority on bass fishing and keeper of the culture of the sport, providing cutting edge content on bass fishing whenever, wherever and however bass fishing fans want to use it. Headquartered in Birmingham, Ala., the 515,000-member organization’s fully integrated media platforms include the industry’s leading magazines (Bassmaster and B.A.S.S. Times), website (Bassmaster.com), TV show, radio show, social media programs and events. For more than 50 years, B.A.S.S. has been dedicated to access, conservation and youth fishing.

The Bassmaster Tournament Trail includes the most prestigious events at each level of competition, including the Bassmaster Elite Series, St. Croix Bassmaster Opens Series, TNT Fireworks B.A.S.S. Nation Series, Strike King Bassmaster College Series presented by Bass Pro Shops, Strike King Bassmaster High School Series presented by Academy Sports + Outdoors, Bass Pro Shops Bassmaster Team Championship, Yamaha Rightwaters Bassmaster Kayak Series powered by TourneyX, Yamaha Bassmaster Redfish Cup Championship presented by Skeeter and the ultimate celebration of competitive fishing, the Academy Sports + Outdoors Bassmaster Classic presented by Toyota.