The lake level is a major variable that affects crappie fishing (and annual crappie production). While winter drawdowns are somewhat less severe than in past years on account of a new plan put into place by the TVA, the lake often is well below full pool during much of March. In addition, Douglas impounds a massive watershed and the water can come up very quickly when hard rains fall in the mountains.

Trolling creeks is a good strategy for figuring out how far up the creeks the fish have moved and learning what depths they are using. Anglers' spreads typically cover a good range of depths until the fish reveal themselves. If the lake is at full pool and spring has hit full swing, the crappie will be in the willows.

The crappie limit on Douglas Lake is 15 fish. The statewide 10-inch minimum size applies.

Cherokee Lake
Trap-netting results from recent years have shown a great year-class from 2003 and a good one from 2004 at Cherokee. Therefore, anglers can expect to find great numbers of crappie available, including plenty of keepers.

Like Douglas, Cherokee is extremely fertile for a tributary reservoir. That allows it to support a very strong forage base, which includes threadfin and gizzard shad and alewives.

The annual drawdown on Cherokee actually provides an advantage for crappie fishermen through the first part of spring. The TVA owns the lake basin, and when the water is below full pool, anglers enjoy shoreline access to much of Cherokee Lake, beginning from 20 different access points. Some banks are too steep to walk, but large sections of fine crappie waters can be accessed on foot.

A significant downside of big annual drawdowns is that cover rots very quickly when it goes back and forth between being submerged and exposed. Region IV fisheries teams continually enhance fish attractors and add other cover, but the wet/dry cycles constantly eat away the cover. As the water level increases each spring, the crappie will move into brushpiles and any other cover they can find, sometimes piling up in big numbers.

Crappie fishing is important on Cherokee. Creel surveys have revealed that nearly one of every five anglers who fish the lake targets crappie. With that in mind, the TWRA has stocked both white crappie and black-nose crappie into the lake several times in recent years, and they are working on developing a mini-impoundment in the German Creek area of the lake, which will be used to produce extra crappie for stocking.

In addition to the statewide minimum size of 10 inches, Cherokee is managed with a 15-fish daily limit for crappie.

CUMBERLAND PLATEAU
Chickamauga Lake
Chickamauga was Region III's top trophy-crappie producer last year, based on results from the Tennessee Angler Recognition Program (TARP), where anglers earn recognition for catching fish that exceed pre-established minimum sizes. Black and white crappie alike must be 14 inches long to earn recognition, and Chickamauga had produced 10 TARP-award crappie through late last spring, landing it second in the state only to Kentucky Lake. Nine of the 10 trophy fish were white crappie. The largest was 16 1/2 inches long, which is a huge crappie.

The third reservoir on the Tennessee River, Chickamauga impounds 34,500 acres beginning northeast of Chattanooga and running into town. Broad flats bound the river channel through much of the lake's main body, and several creeks back into major embayments. The Hiwassee River, which forms the largest lake arm separate from the main body, serves up some of the best spring crappie fishing.

Whether up the Hiwassee or a smaller tributary, anglers do well in the creeks by using two basic approaches. One is to fish stumps and deadfalls along bluff banks, either by casting light jigs and letting them fall among the branches or by suspending jigs or minnows close to the rocks and the trees beneath slip-bobbers.