John Morgan

Just when I thought it was going to be a late spring things go into overdrive. Water temps have jumped eight degrees in just a few days and the crappie have really responded.

Black and white crappie have started their yearly migration toward shallow water and are as healthy as I've seen in years.

I've fished Jonathan Creek, Blood River and Big Sandy and all have the most varied creel we've had in several years. There have been some big crappie taken from all of these bays. Lots of fish over two pounds and a couple over three have been taken this spring.

The last few weeks have progressed like every other year. I started off fishing cover in 14 to 22 feet. Then I moved up some chasing fish in open water in 12 to 16 feet. In the last few days I've caught them as shallow as four feet.

Mostly I've been Livescoping, targeting fish and flipping jigs to them or using a vertical presentation. Water has been from stained to muddy so I've been using orange/chartreuse and black/chartreuse. I've casted some curly tails to some of the fish out in open water.

Every year I get asked a hundred times "when is the peak of the crappie fishing season?"

This year may be easier to predict than ever. In my opinion the last 5 or 6 days and the next 5 or 6 days will be the peak of our crappie season.

With that said there will still be some good days following this short period of time but if you really want to know when the peak is I think everyone will look back and see that it's now.

You won't know if you don't go.