An alternative approach, which tends to work best early in the spring, is to troll atop channel ledges, especially where there are stumps or brush, and dragging minnows or jigs at a variety of depths. Fishermen have sunk excessive amounts of brush along creek channels (and the main river channel) throughout Chickamauga, so finding cover is not a challenge.

Chickamauga also has dozens of pockets and bays around its edges and as spring hits full steam, many of the lake's crappie will move up into shallow pockets, where they'll spawn around any cover they find. When the fish move shallow, it's tough to beat a float rig, whether it's rigged with a minnow or a jig.

Center Hill
Center Hill has been a perennial crappie hotspot ever since the TWRA began stocking blacknose crappie. The black-nosed fish, which actually are just color variations of black crappie, have always done well in this lake. In fact, with Center Hill having been the location for experimental blacknose stockings, anglers and biologists alike had high hopes of the stocked fish performing well all over the state because of their great success at Center Hill.

A 20,000-acre impoundment of the Caney Fork River atop Cumberland Plateau, Center Hill historically was a fine crappie lake. Through the late '80s and early '90s, though, fishing dropped off, whether because of poor production, increased pressure or both. Young-of-the-year crappie were stocked to supplement natural reproduction. Blacknose crappie were used so they could be identified and biologists could assess the effectiveness of stocking efforts.

Today, the blacknose crappie, which are stocked at an average rate of 250,000 fish per year, are Center Hill's trademark. Anglers travel to Center Hill for the purpose of catching crappie marked with a distinctive "racing stripe" down the nose. With the stocked fish typically performing well, the fishery is quite stable, and anglers catch all sizes of crappie. Center Hill had produced five TARP crappie, three of which were blacks, through late spring.

Center Hill's best crappie fishing begins in February and runs through April. During the spring, the fish move into creeks and pockets all around the lake, where they hold in laydowns and around stumps and rocks. Local anglers keep the fishing simple, casting to visible cover with minnows under floats. Early in the spring, many use slip-corks so they can suspend the minnows deeper and still be able to cast their rigs efficiently.

Center Hill is managed with a 15-fish limit in addition to the statewide 10-inch minimum size for crappie.

MIDDLE TENNESSEE
J. Percy Priest Lake
Middle Tennessee crappie fishermen can look for steady action from keeper crappie on J. Percy Priest Lake this year, according to Todd St. John, Region II fisheries biologist for the TWRA. He selected Priest over all other waters in the central part of the state because of an excellent spawning/recruitment year in 2003.

"There should be a lot of keeper crappie -- fish over 10 inches long -- available this spring and fall," St. John said.

Percy Priest gets extensive fishing pressure because of its Music City locale, but sustains high numbers of fish because of very high productivity. Typically anglers have to sort through a lot of small crappie to catch a mess of fish they can take home. However, numbers and quality both should be good this year.

While portions of Priest's crappie population will be shallow throughout the spring, veteran anglers depend on a core population of fish that are always available in middle depths, especially along creek and river channel edges. Anglers who know the locations of brush set up directly above the cover and fish vertically. Other anglers troll or drift to find the cover and the crappie.