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That's more than 5 pounds of crappie on the author’s back deck. These Barnett slabs hit at the same time while he was trolling five cranks behind his boat. Catching multiple slabs at one time is not uncommon. The crappie are suspended, and when you run through a good school, you're likely to hook up with more than one at a time. Tips for more crankbait crappie
July 2010
I admit it. I’ve gone crankbait crazy. Look, I’ve fished for crappie every which way I’ve ever heard of, and, right now, I love to pull crankbaits for crappie.

Tom Cox and Paul Johnson long-lined last fall on Wolf Lake. Learning new techniques is part of the fun. It’s the summer season, thank goodness
June 2010
Writing this monthly column serves as a fishing calendar for me, and because my monthly entry in this magazine must be turned in a full month before the issue date, it serves to cause me to look ahead, to get ready for what’s coming. That is, as I write this June column, which will deal with summer patterns and techniques, I’m actually still trying to figure out this April’s crappie spawn on Barnett Reservoir.

Magnolia Crappie Club members teamed up to get some much-needed structure in Eagle Lake. Redemption arrives for Grenada, Eagle
May 2010
Score one for the good guys. Score one for crappie fishermen who take care of our resources. Score one for Eagle Lake and the state of Mississippi.

Jason Blackwell and Shelton Culpepper show off some Barnett pre-spawners. It’s April, and the spawn is on!
April 2010
It’s April, and it’s the peak of the annual crappie spawn on most lakes in Mississippi. If there were only one month out of the year that a fellow could choose to go crappie fishing, most anglers would pick April.

Expert jig fishermen Ray Williams and Rodger Womack of Mendenhall won the January Chotard crappie tournament fishing out in the middle over the thick shad. The top-three teams at Chotard averaged more than 2 pounds per crappie. That's one of the best tournament weights ever. Myths abound in our favorite sport
March 2010
Let’s talk about some half-truths, some fishing myths and some surprises, if you will, that I’ve experienced in the last year or two of crappie fishing. What ever you call it, things don’t always work out like we expect when we grab a bucket of minnows or a bag of jigs and head to our favorite crappie hotspot.

Brian Battle and Shelton Culpepper quietly caught the two-man limit (100 crappie) before 1 p.m. on the winter pattern at Chotard. Cold crappie won’t hit crankbaits?
February 2010
Let me tell you from first-hand experience the winter crappie pattern is on over at Chotard. Seems that every winter season on this beautiful, hidden-away crappie paradise located north of Vicksburg on the Mississippi River, there is a day or two where the fishing is so outstanding that it is hard to describe.

For two days before Thanksgiving, these slabs slammed the author's crankbaits. Two days that will live in infamy
January 2010
I ordinarily leave my “as big as they grow” comment to the last paragraph of this monthly column. However, this month I just can’t help myself. I’ve got to tell you about two of the very best days I’ve ever had catching ‘em as big as they grow.

Cool, muddy, high-water conditions in Wolf Lake didn't stop Magnolia Crappie Club member Tom Cox from catching crappie “as big as they grow.” As usual, one change leads to another
December 2009
The New Year is right around the corner, and with ’10 upon us, I find myself experimenting with my crappie fishing, trying some things new to me.

Jim McKay shows off a nice live slab with a homemade ballast attached. Alligator clips with ¾-ounce weights attached worked great on stressed fish at Grenada. Ingenious invention keeps tourney fish alive
November 2009
The crappie fishing season — at least the crappie tournament fishing season — is in full swing. The last few years have brought more and more interest in fall crappie fishing. The tournament circuits have recognized this, and the two national circuits — Crappiemasters and Crappie USA — have moved their National Championship tourneys to the fall.

Mike McMurtrey, left, knows how to back a boat trailer and how to catch slabs on Barnett Reservoir. Is there a better month than October?
October 2009
October has become my favorite month of the year. Readers of this monthly column know that I prefer to fish in the fall, and for me, October is when the crappie action starts getting good.

The author shows off a nice black crappie caught with a 14-foot Wally Marshall drift pole. Here’s the crappie gear that I like
September 2009
I would never say that I have the best equipment or the only equipment that catches crappie. I do, however, have some things that I know work and give me dependable service.

Kenny Browning and Earl Brink showed the Magnolia Crappie Club how to catch fish at the state championships long-lining jigs in clear water. Long-lining delivers summer monsters
August 2009
It’s summertime, folks, and the fish are biting. It’s prime time for hot-weather crappie fishing on North Mississippi’s big reservoirs. Great reports are coming to me from Sardis and Enid especially this summer.

Both of these fish are white crappie, but male white crappie, second picture, can sometimes be confused with black crappie. Blacks, whites welcome on my boats
July 2009
Do you know the difference between a white crappie and a black crappie? Lots of folks don’t. During the spawn, the male white crappie turns black, and is often confused with his double-first cousin, the black crappie.

This is some good old stuff. The author's favorite crappie-catching combination is Riverside Real Craw and soft-plastic baby crawdads. Has-beens can be downright innovative
June 2009
It’s funny how the more things change, the more they stay the same. I pride myself on trying new fishing techniques, new lures, new poles, new line, etc. I’ll often be one of the first to buy the latest, greatest thing.

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