eddie

Just got a note from a guy said one of our mutual acquaintances caught a 3# 14 oz crappie last Friday. He's on Grenada today but I don't know if that's where the fish came from. That would be one pay back for all the miserable, stinking hot weather you guys have to put up with down there... big crappies and brim. ;)

WOW, that's a good 'un, for sure, Hide!!!....when the COE opens the spillway up there in the spring, the fishing gets fanatical.

Three of my buddies and I had a fish camp there, until about 8 years, ago....one of them started boinking one of the other guy's wife, so that broke up the fish camp real quick.

Before that, I fished Grenada a LOT, and caught some huge white crappie there....it's only about 90 minutes from here, but I've found good crappie fishing holes much closer to home, since then.

This guy has a cabin on one of the lakes down there(not sure which one). Spends quite a bit of time in the winter. Guess he had several in the 2 1/2# range. He's a pretty good fisherman - but it doesn't hurt that it's a target rich environment. ;)

Now that is a double slaber....

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As a side note, some of the out-of-state fishermen who come down here, and spend a couple of months fishing the reservoirs with the multiple-pole spider rigs(sometimes as many as 15 poles each) will carry their crappie back home and sell them....illegal to sell them here in MS, but not in other states.

Anyway, our DOW got wind of it, when the local fishermen noticed reduced numbers of crappie....so, about three years ago, the DOW enacted the following regulation:

* The aggregate daily boat creel limit for all species of crappie on Arkabutla, Enid, Grenada, and Sardis Lakes for boats with three or more anglers shall be 50 crappie larger than 12 inches (PNF3818).

+ Anglers fishing these lakes may fish no more than 5 poles per person. Each pole may have no more than 2 hooks or lures.

++ Grenada Lake anglers may fish no more than 3 poles per person. Each pole may have no more than 2 hooks or lures. ***release crappie 12 inches & under***limit of 20 per day

+++ Anglers fishing these waters and Sardis Spillway to the end of the riprap may fish with no more than one pole per person with no more than 2 single hooks. No bare or baited treble hooks allowed.

I hate spider rigging. It's taken over here. I ain't that coordinated. Plus, some of the reasons that I fish do not entail fish....though I surely do enjoy catching them.

I spend a ton of time on Crappie.Com. Arkansas has 100 folks a day there viewing, other states a few, but MS is also high. They constantly brag on weights of catch, numbers, how fast they caught a limit, etc. All that is fine, they are better fishermen than I am. They work harder, they deserve to catch more.

But I've changed in what I consider success. I'm personally against all fishing 'tournaments', or guys who post game camera pics of deer and ask "What do you think he would score?", and such competition-laced approaches to God's gift of game........I'm gonna load the boat when I can.....but I can't often enough that I ain't hurting anything. Some of these guys would deplete a fishery in a second if given their choice. That's one thing..........but they'd brag about it with smiling faces on pictures while doing it.......and that's another thing.

My soapbox. Maybe it's because I suck at catching crappie. I dunno...... I know I'd like to spend more of my retirement time fishing more places, including the famous Crappie Corridor of I-55..........I've been to the Chicken Coop at Toledo and would like to go back, but it's dried up. Literally. There's still dozens of places here that I haven't fished. Truth be told, we have more crappie catching places than the law ought to allow.

I hear they're wearing the slabs out on Lake Earling on yoyo's in a foot of water. I don't yoyo, jug or trotline. Not that I wouldn't, just arkansas has made compliance to boating laws too difficult especially at night. I limit my fishing to daylight hours usually with a flyrod. Sometimes I'll carry a jigpole for old times sake

Back when I was following the crappie circuit (largely Crappie U.S.A.) I fished with most of the better teams of the era (Capps and Coleman included). I did some spider-rigging because all I had to do was sit in the seat and catch crappie while someone else did all the work. It's effective - but slightly more fun than watching cement crack. Like White Oak, I prefer a flyrod most of the time - but a jig pole is fun when you're dredging them out of the cover.

A white perch will thump a big light colored wet fly in a heartbeat. You might catch more on shiners but I'll have more fun

No you ain't, not in some of these creeks with overhanging canopy every foot. You'd spend all day yanking that thing down out of trees. It's hard enough to figure out how to set the hook with an 11' crappie pole in that kind of cover.

I guess the other reason that I dislike spider rigging is that it takes a big, open body of water. I hate fishing those. I am no good at it, and don't know how. I have one 'open' little lake that I have done well on, but that's because I have monster brush piles GPS'ed and just sit on top of 'em.........when the wind allows. But if I didn't know where those were, I'd NEVER go to that lake.

My favorite type of cover is a newly blown down tree, with roots still on the bank, and green still on the branches, and branches everywhere. If the top of the tree is out in 10' feet of water, I'm in Heaven. I can fish all up and down that thing (retying on a new hook never more than 50 times!!!) and come home with supper.