You Say Croppie, I'll Say Crappie
Dateline 07/05/99
Fish fries in the south often mean trays of fried crappie. Few fish taste better, especially those caught in my neck of the woods. You can fry them or cook them in many other ways, all of which are good since they have white, flaky flesh. The name "Sac A Lait" or "Sack of Milk" in Louisanna because of their sweet, white meat.
I grew up catching crappie at Clark's Hill, but we only fished for them two times of the year. We caught a freezer full every spring when they moved into the shoreline bushes to spawn. We would ease down the bank and drop a minnow suspended under a cork by every bush in the water. Although there were lines of boats on every bank, we all caught our share. We used so many minnows we found a place to buy them by the pound and kept them in a 35 gallon plastic trash can with an aerator in it.
I found out I could use a small jig and catch even more than I could catch on minnows. The jig was faster - I did not have to put another minnow on the hook after taking a crappie off! It was ready to go again immediately. And I found a fly rod spooled with monofilament line worked better than a cane pole for me, since I could vary the amount of line I used to fish bushes at different distances.
In the summer we tied a boat up under the local bridge or to the branches of a tree sticking above the surface in deep water, hung a lantern over the side and fished at night for crappie. Sometimes a school would move through and you could catch a bunch of them. I have great memories of sitting under a bridge half asleep, the lantern hissing as it burned, watching for movement at my rod tip.
I discovered fishing for them during the winter by accident. When I saw a guy catching them and figured out what he was doing, it opened up a whole new world of crappie fishing for me. By using a depthfinder to locate trees totally under the water, I could hold my boat over them and catch some grown crappie. I found this worked best in the winter, but could catch them all year.
Trolling is also an excellent way to catch them year round. Tie jigs on several rods and use your boat speed to control the depth they run. That is how most crappie tournaments are won, by crappie pros trolling jigs thru their most productive. areas.
Jim Pope also found a special crappie hole. That is another good thing about them - they school up and you can catch a bunch when you locate the right place!
No matter how you catch them, get out on your favorite lake and land some crappie. Northern fishermen are missing out on some fun, and some good eating, when they ignore the crappie in their lakes and concentrate on walleye or pike. Give crappie a try!
Links in the order they appear above:
Fish Recipes
Cooking your catch, from fried fish to chowders
Fish Recipes, Cooking What You Catch
Fish taste good, are easy to cook and are good for you. Release
most of what you catch, especially the big ones, but here's how to cook
the little ones.
Winter Crappie
Crappie fishing can be great in the winter. Catch a mess of fine
eating fish right now.
Trolling for Crappie
Pull small jigs or minnows behind your boat to catch a freezer full
of fish. How to, where to and how to rig your boat.
Crappie Heaven: Jim Pope tells us about a secret crappie fishing hole that sounds fantastic.
Do you fish for crappie? Have any favorite internet sites on fishing for them? Tell me about it. If so, you can also post information about it for others on my message board - you must register to post but can read the board as a guest. Also, if you have thoughts you want to share about this topic, let me know about it at fishing.guide@about.com. for a "Fishtale" or discuss it in the chat room on every night at 8:00 EDT. Tell others what you like.
ONE YEAR AGO THIS WEEK - 07/06/98
- July Fishing - How to beat the heat
There are ways to fish in comfort or at least ways to make fishing
bearable - this time of year.
TWO YEARS AGO THIS WEEK - 07/07/97
- Lure Hype on TV
Banjo Minnow - Flying Lure - Tornado Lure - Helicopter Lure - Do they work?
Should you order some to catch more fish?.
Check out Coming Next Week - Next week's column topic, contest prize and new additions to the resources lists.
