Steve Danna admires a crappie that he caught at Lake D'Arbonne near Farmerville. Photo by John N. Felsher.

In the spring, as crappie move into the shallows to spawn, anglers in the right place can often find some of the fastest fishing all year with some of the smallest baits imaginable.

"Crappie are much easier to catch during the spawn," said Jimmy Houston, a legendary professional angler and host of the long-running television show Jimmy Houston Outdoors. "That's also the time when people generally catch the biggest fish of the year."

In late winter, crappie move toward the shorelines or shallows to feed or to look for nesting areas. Highly prolific in nature, crappie begin spawning when water temperatures reach the mid-60s, usually in about February or March. Spawning more than once a season, a single female crappie can lay between 20,000 and 25,000 eggs a year. Black crappie prefer to spawn in quiet backwaters; white crappie usually spawn along riverbanks. In lakes, both species congregate near flooded brush and trees.

"Crappie are the rabbits of the fish world," said Bobby Reed, a Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries biologist. "We do not recommend that people stock crappie in ponds less than 50 acres in size, because they can take over a small pond. In a good water body, they can grow to nine inches in one year."

SPOT THE SPAWN
On a big lake, the crappie spawn might stretch into June as fish begin nesting in areas that reach critical conditions at different times. Usually, the first spawns occur on flats in the backs of coves on the northern ends of lakes. Southerly breezes typically blow warmer water toward the northern parts of a lake. Likewise, northern shorelines tend to receive the warmest and most intense solar rays during late winter, because the sun hangs lower in the southern sky.

Moreover, as the sun sets in the west, eastern shorelines receive more intense afternoon sunshine than do shady western shorelines. Conse-quently, the northeast portion of a lake usually warms before other sections, followed respectively by the northwest, southeast and southwest portions of a lake.

When crappie move up into the shallows, anglers often tempt them with small jigs, flies or tubes dipped near flooded cypress trees, stumps, gnarled tree trunks, dock pilings and other objects in shallow water. Tiny hair jigs flicked into the water from long jigging poles or fly rods can often entice slab crappie.