Question: Kent, after a long cold winter, crappie are finally on the move, what type of travel routes do they use this time of year?

Driscoll: By the time early spring rolls around, crappie have spent the entire winter deep in major river channels, relating to ledges that are formed by the edge of the channel. Their biological clocks are starting to tick and they know it’s time to start moving. Just like ducks, as daylight time lengthens and water temperatures start to change they’ll start moving up the creeks, using the creek itself like a flyway.

Question: You’ve describes creeks as highways for crappie. Can you explain this in more detail?

Driscoll: There are several different classes of creek channels and crappie will relate to each type depending on the shape and location of the impoundment. In order to understand how crappie relate to different types of channels, compare them to a public road system. The major river channels that create an impoundment can be considered interstates. Off of these interstates are highways in the form of tributary creek channels. Likewise local access roads, smaller creeks and tributaries, link highways to neighborhoods and even the neighborhoods have streets which to crappie are subtle ditches and hollows.

Question: Where do you expect to find and catch crappie along these roadways?

Driscoll: Just like any highway, there are rest stops along the road where crappie will pause along their migration route. These rest stops are places where crappie can get out of the current to rest and eat. Look for an area that provides enough profile to block any current and also attracts baitfish. My favorite location would be a big old stump, second is either natural or manmade brush piles, and third are manmade stake beds. Crappie will hold along a creek channel on the down current side of any of this structure, out of the flow of water.

Question: How do you locate these highways and rest stops?

Driscoll: Before I hit the water, I’ll spend some time with a good topo map that gives the depth elevations of the water I intend to fish. You can judge the steepness of the drop into the channel by looking at the elevation lines on the map. Tighter lines mean a steep drop while loose lines indicate a gentler slope. This allows me to narrow my search to specific creeks and specific locations on these creeks.

Once I’m on the water I’ll use the sidefinder technology built into my Humminbird sonar/GPS unit. This eliminates a lot of searching. I can motor up a creek channel and make note of every piece of structure on both sides and use the mapping software of the GPS to locate channel bends and slack water eddies.

Question: Once you find these locations that hold crappie, how do you fish for them?

Driscoll: Once I’ve found a “rest area”, I’ll move over the top of it in my War Eagle and present my bait straight down. For artificial baits, I like a single jig in weights of 1/16 or 1/8 oz, depending on the depth of water. If crappie are holding deeper than 20 feet, I’ll add a #5 split shot about 18 inches above the jig. I am also going to apply some type of scent or attach an attractant like a crappie nibble to the jig since coldwater crappie respond better to scents this time of year.

For live bait I use a ½ ounce bell sinker at the end of my line and loop a # 2 red hook about 18 inches above the weight and often may add another hook above that. I hook the minnow through the lips so I can bounce the weight on the bottom, knowing that will put the minnow eyeball to eyeball with the crappie.

Question: So you’re going to use a single pole for this type of fishing, which one do you prefer?