Although the blacknose is a plain ol' black crappie with a racing stripe down its face, anglers have developed a cult around this fish. The blacknose are described as thicker, heavier and even more determined fighters than the other crappie.

Indian Creek is the main arm to explore for the blacknose. Keep in mind that they will be spawning this month among the stumps in the shallows if conditions are near normal.

John Riddle said that crappie will spawn in nearly any conditions, but it is the survival of the young that determines if recruitment is good or not.

EAST TENNESSEE: REGION IV
Bobby Wilson said, "Douglas Lake ranks as excellent. Boone, Melton Hill, and South Holston lakes also have good fisheries."

Allen Ricks, Information Officer for Region IV, noted, "Douglas is the reason we have a creel fish limit on crappie. It was nothing for anglers to catch 200 to 500 crappie a day. Douglas is still one of the best producing reservoirs in Region IV."

Expert angler Floyd Coffey has fished Douglas Lake since the 1960s and his fishing style doesn't change from season to season. He tosses a solid-plastic tube on a tight line and fishes the main or secondary points in river or creek channels, sometimes venturing into large hollows, but never heading far back into creeks.

Coffey's gear consists of a stiff 5 1/2-foot graphite rod, a small spinning reel spooled with gold 4-pound-test monofilament, and -- most of the time -- a 1/8-ounce split shot leadhead molded on a No. 4 hook and threaded with solid-plastic tubes.

Coffey tosses light colors in clear water and bright colors when the lake is dingy. Chartreuse, chartreuse/ black, green metal flake, pink and solid white are among his favorite shades.

"If I could only have those five colors with me at any time, I'd be in pretty good shape," Coffey said.

He said you have to learn to walk your bait on the bottom and do so without slack in your line. Most of his early-spring fishing occurs on the lake's midsection from Point 7 to Point 16.

Other good spots are Muddy, Indian, McGuire and Flat creeks. The smaller creeks near Swan Bridge, especially Nina Creek, are hot fishing holes.

Norris Lake, north of Knoxville, is suffering. Some used to blame the poor crappie population on the stripers, but, as studies have shown, it is the lack of nutrients and loss of habitat that has caused that lake's decline.

The Clean Water Act of the 1960s that brought back many fisheries from the brink of ruin has, in some cases, shifted waters out of balance in the other direction, from polluted waters to waters nearly sterile of nutrients. The fish won't miss the industrial pollutants, but they do miss the results of nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium and some organic materials.

Without these nutrients to feed phytoplankton, the entire food chain suffers. Oligotropic is what Norris has become -- meaning it is poor in nutrients for plants.

Fort Loudoun and Tellico are average, but Cherokee ranks below average.

BOTTOM LINE
So, the picture we get from TWRA biologists is that you can find some very good crappie fishing in all regions of the state. Now, get out there and dunk your minnows and jigs; you'll find some happy hooking!