One of the habits of a veteran deer hunter is to spend a good bit of time in the woods after the season, learning the habits and habitats of his quarry.
Veteran angler Wade Hendren does the same for crappie. When Arkabutla or any of the other Mississippi flood-control lakes reach their winter pool levels, Hendren heads out in his boat and visits the places, most of them now high and dry, where he caught his best fish during the previous fall.
After initially scouting Arkabutla, Hendren’s findings provided some surprises.
“You’d expect to find some type of structure, stumps, brush or something up on the flats where we caught fish,” he said. “But the fish are not real structure-oriented, especially in the fall. That tells me they’re feeding and chasing baitfish. I’ve even tried to doctor up some of those better areas by putting out stake beds, and it just doesn’t make a lot of difference.”
One thing that has made a difference for Hendren is the ability to understand what he’s seeing on his LCR by having laid eyes on the bottom topography during the drawdown. The pro offers that at low pond, there’s not much water in Arkabutla outside the main Coldwater River channel.
He uses a Go-Devil mud motor to push him up into skinny water so he can get a better eyeball on some of the more subtle features such as ditches and rivulets that dictate crappie movements and holding areas when covered with water.
With the advent of digital cameras and handheld GPS units, it’s not hard to pinpoint specific locations that will pay off big dividends next spring when the water is back up. Being able to see structure, especially something as winding as a ditch or small channel, helps the angler understand how to orient to that particular spot. Even with digital mapping, most of the subtler places, the ones created by rain run off or water currents, won’t show up on these maps anyway.
“I know a lot of folks who are hesitant about running Arkabutla even with the water up — they are afraid of stumps that aren’t covered by much water,” said Hendren. “Because I’ve spent so much time out here with no water, I also know where the hazards are and I can run with more confidence.”
Editor’s Note: This story appears as part of a feature in Mississippi Sportsman’s September issue now on newsstands. To ensure you don’t miss any more information-packed issues, click here to have each magazine delivered right to your mail box.
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