Region IV
The best venue in Region IV, on the east side, is probably Douglas Lake. It’s one of the most popular crappie destinations in the state, and for good reason. It’s been producing eating-sized crappie for a quarter century.

But Douglas has been hit hard by the drought. The water is at an all-time low. At normal pool, it covers about 30,000 acres; because of the drought, it’s probably less than half that size. Nevertheless, it still offers Volunteer anglers on the west side of the state a fair opportunity to go crappie fishing.

The TWRA has placed fish attractors throughout the lake. Some of the most fruitful are around the islands, not too far from the dam. Any of the 20 or so attractors in the area will hold crappie on any given day. Some will hold fish today but not tomorrow. Others may hold a school for a week.

The best way to fish them is to start shallow and work your way deep. (Again, depending upon the drought conditions, there may, or may not be, deep water available.)

Tuffy minnows, under a bobber, should be your first choice of weapons. After that, you may want to switch to small jigs or tiny plastics depending upon what the fish tell you. If you’re looking for a giant, try tossing a shad-colored deep-diving crankbait.

Douglas crappie are notoriously depth sensitive. Don’t ever forget this. A slight depth change -- sometimes as little as 6 inches -- can make a big difference in the weight of your stringer at the end of the day. And don’t be shy about changing colors either. Sometimes that’s all it takes to turn them on.

If you’re looking for someplace different, try the area around the Spring Creek Access Ramp. It’s roughly northeast of the dam and north of a long series of attractors. At times, this can be trophy territory. Cast a small in-line spinner or a tiny minnow-type crankbait in a fan pattern around your boat.

This is not a numbers game. But the ones you do catch will be enormous. Crappie over 2 pounds are caught every year in this area using this technique. Even bigger ones are possible, though not likely.

The Tennessee crappie outlook for 2008 is strong. Take advantage of it.