Dragging lines slowly with an age-worn johnboat, two old-timers watch three poles apiece, waiting for one or more tips to bend toward the water. Along a nearby riprap bank, dozens of shore-bound anglers of every age sit staring at bright-colored bobbers. Not far away, two fishermen in a modern bass boat work a line of docks, using ultralight spinning outfits to cast jigs around the pilings and close to brush that has been sunk at the ends of the docks.

Reelfoot Lake's fertile waters are less cyclical than most crappie fisheries. During early spring, longtime Reelfoot guide Billy Blakely typically either spider rigs over sunken timber or fishes jigs under floats around vegetation. Photo by Jeff Samsel.

The techniques and the appearances of the anglers vary, but the objective is the same: to catch crappie. Although crappie can be caught 12 months of the year in Tennessee, the spring "crappie run" brings a spike in fishing effort that is apparent from even a glance at any parking area near a bridge.

The fish begin moving shallower with the first warm, sunny spells that foreshadow spring, and the migration progresses as days lengthen and spring-like temperatures become more frequent. Word travels quickly as action begins picking up, and crowds soon assemble at popular access areas.

With the best crappie fishing just barely around the bend, now is an ideal time to look at fisheries in all parts of the state and to consider which waterways should serve up the best slab-catching action this spring. Good crappie fishing can be found in all parts of Tennessee. That's partly because of the sheer quantity of lakes and rivers in the state, but another important factor is the management work done by Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency.

The TWRA's proactive approach to crappie management, which includes a 10-inch minimum size for most waters and an active stocking program on many lakes, helps lessen the population dips that commonly occur in crappie populations. Stocking, which is done to supplement natural reproduction and to maintain year-classes for reproduction when conditions are good, helps substantially on some reservoirs but has minimal positive impact on others. Generally speaking, if stocking crappie might help, TWRA stocks.

Early forecasting of crappie fishing prospects can be challenging. Fall trap-netting surveys had not been completed when this issue went to press, and those samples provide the best annual snapshot of crappie populations and the most complete look at the success of the year's spawn. Still, biologists know long-term trends and have results from other types of samples, including creel surveys. Plus, they typically get a lot of casual information from conversations with anglers. With that in mind, let's take a look at crappie fishing expectations for all parts of the state, beginning with West Tennessee.

Region I
The bad news about Kentucky and Barkley lakes is that several years of sub-par spawning success in both lakes have resulted in a forecast of lower-than-normal numbers of crappie available this spring. The good news is that lower-than-average numbers on these two big reservoirs still equates to excellent fishing compared with many places. The other good news is that there are some very large crappie being caught in both lakes. The big fish remain from good spawns in the first part of this decade.

Recruitment on both reservoirs was down for five years, due in part to the recent drought, according to TWRA Region I fisheries biologist Tim Broadbent. Because of much improved water levels and greater stability in water flows in 2009, Broadbent is hopeful that trap-netting surveys will show good spawning success in '09, and that this will be the beginning of an upward swing.

Although there are significant differences between Kentucky and Barkley lakes in their topography, fertility, structure and cover, both are large, riverine reservoirs, and a canal connects their lower bodies. Water levels and water-flow dynamics tend to be similar, therefore, and that normally equates with similar spawning success.