MARCH
Reelfoot Lake
Crappie
Guide Billy Blakely at Blue Bank Resort on Reelfoot Lake said the bigger crappie seem to come up from February and on into March. March and April, though, are when the parking lots along the ramps at Reelfoot really fill up. This is the time to boat 60 to 70 fish per angler before lunch.

Blakely's strategy for success isn't overly complicated, but it does come from experience. He said you want to hit the thicker underwater cypress stumps early in the spring for the big papermouths. Later, the numbers will start to come in on stumps of all sizes. The action begins on Reelfoot after water temperatures get above 40 degrees. After the 50-degree mark is breached, Blakely said the numbers start to pile onto the stumps.

Blakely said that in March, if baitfish move into 6 to 8 feet of water, the crappie will come with them. The Reelfoot Double Hook System also plays an important tackle role. Blakely uses the Reelfoot double hook rig with a cork and plain minnows to boat springtime and fall crappie. Early in the spring, the famous rosy-red minnows do the damage on Reelfoot crappie.

APRIL
Kentucky Lake
Crappie
There's a five-week period on Kentucky Lake that guide Garry Mason terms as prime time. It typically falls the last two weeks of March and the first three weeks of April. It's those first three weeks in April Mason calls the "real good" period. During the five-week prime time, crappie are migrating into established spawning areas. They're migrating from around 12-foot depths in late March to as shallow as 2 feet in mid-April. The first part of April may find them along a bank halfway back in a creek.

"There's no doubt," said Mason about his top spring bait choice for Kentucky Lake crappie, "the only thing to do is to decide which color of Charlie Brewer Slider Grub to throw." Mason relies on Tennessee shad, June bug with a chartreuse tail, and chartreuse with multi-glitter colored Slider Grubs in the 2-inch version. They're good to cast around stakebeds along drops to catch a multitude of crappie. This is a lake where 2-pound crappie are expected.

Mason said the best area on the lake for quality fish is the Big Sandy River section of Kentucky Lake. It's always been noted for its number of quality fish. Eagle Creek is another good option for quality crappie.

MAY
Chickamauga Lake Tailwaters
Catfish
Guide Richard Simms uses spinning tackle with light line in the form of 8-pound-test and 3/0 Eagle Claw Kahle hooks in the tailwaters below Chickamauga Lake. The hooks are rigged with Simms' favorite bait -- cut chicken. Yep, chicken.

The chicken tactic in the tailwaters is probably not on most cat men's lists of baits, but it sure isn't complicated. You maneuver the boat just below the churning water at the turbine and drift downstream until the current slows to a moderate level. Simms said you're basically making one long 100-yard cast and then cranking back up to do it all over again.

The catfish here thump the chicken offering like a smallmouth bass tagging a jig. Big cats plus heavy current and light tackle -- a perfect combo. Using the chicken drift method, Simms often boats big blues. On one trip I took with him, Simms hooked up with two hefty blue cats. The first tipped the scales at 19 pounds and was followed by an 18-pounder. On the last drift of the day, he quickly hooked up again and bore down on a bigger cat. Some 20 minutes or so later, we hoisted a 38-pound behemoth aboard.