ENJOYING THE OUTDOORS: CRAPPIE 101: HINTS FOR THOSE WITHOUT A CLUE

Legions of anglers descend on area waters during the spring to bask in the bounty of crappie fishing -- and many go back home with only the aftertaste of defeat.

Despite oodles of crappie caught, plenty of folks are skunked because they just don't know how to take advantage of the resource. Unlike the ranks of skilled, experienced perch-jerkers, lots of people lack even a basic knowledge of what it takes to catch crappie. Whether it's a vacationing visitor or an area resident who's simply never tried, you've got to start somewhere.

For the would-be angler, the fisherman without a clue, here's a crash course on how you, too, can share in the wealth of spring crappie fishing:

First of all, you fish where the crappie are.

Spring crappie fishing offers realistic expectations for success among novice anglers because fish move toward shallow water to spawn. Because these areas are the easiest to fish with a minimum of equipment and expertise, that's where the beginning crappie hunter should concentrate.

In both lakes and rivers, crappie migrate from deep water, moving up feeder creek channels to scatter onto shallow flats and into coves as the water temperature pushes over the 60-degree mark. The scattered fish, perhaps in a little as two to 10 feet of water, are what we'll target.

A key is that "cover," objects in the water, attract fish. They are drawn to wood such as stumps, fallen trees and brush. Those wood objects that are visible are particularly important to the novice angler.

A beginner, perhaps fishing from a rental boat or some simple, small craft without electronic sonar gear, will have to locate fishing places by eye. Any shallow wood cover that can be seen is a possible fish attractor. Seek out the tops of fallen trees along the banks and brush piles that still stick above the water line. Stake beds are excellent fish attractors.

In river systems, crappie move into creeks and hunker down around standing timber and fallen trees, the same sort of objects that are attractive to them in lakes.

Ideally, one would like to have a few feet of water to shelter crappie, especially if the water is fairly clear. Four to eight feet of water is often enough to hold April and May crappie, and shallower may do if the water is rather murky.

The two basic offerings to entice crappie are live minnows and small, leadhead jigs. The latter choices are varied, but most often they include jigs of 1/8 ounce and smaller dressed with soft plastic bodies, maribou feather or hair. Most popular for stationary fishing nowadays are squid-like "tube" bodies, while small curly-tailed grubs are often chosen by those who cast and retrieve the jigs.

Live minnows are usually fished on a light wire Aberdeen style hook, a 1/0 or 2/0 size. Keep the minnow alive and wiggling for best appeal by hooking it through the lips, bottom to top.

A minnow can be fished tightline, but more often in shallow water it is lightly weighted with split shot lead on the line and suspended under a cork or plastic float. Pick a skinny cork that's just large enough to do the job, not one of the grapefruit-sized floats that a crappie will feel when it takes the bait.

A minnow thus rigged can be fished on medium-weight line by pole or with spincast or casting tackle. With long cane or fiberglass pole, it's easier to control. Going to fish-attracting cover, try easing the baited hook right into pockets within brush piles or treetops. Get it down to where it's a little shady. That's usually where the fish are.

The same sort of places can be fished with a jig on a long pole or fly rod, usually a light, more sensitive wand than what is used with minnow rigs. Lowering a tube jig on light line (6- or 8-pound test) and just letting it hover there will draw crappie bites if fish are present. Feel for light taps and watch for the line to twitch or move sideways to indicate strikes. You won't get a heavy tug.

For those who can and choose to use light spinning or spincast tackle (the latter including the simple pushbutton reels), spawning period crappie often can be caught with considerable success by casting and retrieving jigs to rather open areas.

Sit back off the bank in a boat and cast toward the shore with a curly-tailed or tube-bodied jig of about 1/16th ounce on 6- or 8-pound line. Allow the jig to sink close to the bottom, then begin a slow steady retrieve. Try to let the jig follow the contour of the bottom, but occasionally vary the speed to sample the higher levels of water, too, in case crappie are suspended and holding closer the surface.

Watch the line and pay close attention to what the jig feels like coming through the water. Set the hook by snapping the rod tip upward any time you feel a tap or the line moves unnaturally. Strikes can be very faint.

Bring more jigs than you think you'll need, because you'll find some stumps and brush that you can't see, hang up and lose a few lures. But in encountering the objects, you'll also pick up some additional crappie off them.

Even if you don't have a boat from which to fish, the prospects for catching a few, or maybe even a good mess of crappie, are there. Where possible, crappie can be caught from docks or piers by dabbling jigs or suspending minnows right off the sides to appeal to fish which may lurk in the shade below. Docks that have been spiced by sinking brush by them can be especially productive.

When crappie are seriously moving into spawning areas, fishermen often can score just by fishing from shore -- casting and retrieving jigs or tossing out baited minnow rigs under floats. Anglers who are shorebound obviously are limited in the water they can reach, but steeper shorelines, especially where brush, tree tops or stumps are accessible, can yield some fish.

Crappie fishing can be rather scientific and refined, but thankfully these handful of basic approaches during the spring will put some weight in the cooler for the not-so-advanced angler. Expert credentials aren't necessary to catch crappie -- nor to have a whopping good time doing it.

~Steve Vantreese is outdoors editor of The Paducah Sun.