Guide Jim Duckworth knows about the size of Dale’s crappie, too. The lake’s crappie are a little-known and often overlooked treasure, but Duckworth said if you can fish Center Hill you can fish Dale Hollow. You just have to keep the clear water in mind. That means staying back as far as you can off the fish.

Duckworth said Dale Hollow is a key destination in the spring just because of the size of the fish. In the clear water, he likes to use fluorocarbon line like Berkley Transition Gold. With this type of line, you can see the subtlest strike, but the crappie can’t see the line.

The veteran angler said to slow roll a Blakemore Road Runner Pro Series with a willow leaf off ledges and let it fall. Duckworth also likes red and white tubes with chartreuse 1/8-ounce jigheads as well. The more colors you can throw at them the better. He also fishes his lures on his 8-foot Float-N-Fly rod. The clear water means the crappie hold deeper than at most lakes. You can make long casts with the longer rod and stay off the targeted fish. Cast up on the ledge and let your lure fall into 15- to 20-foot depths.

Duckworth said the mid- to upper section of the lake is best in April, and you can use accesses at Cedar Hill Resort and Holly Creek. Once the water temperature reaches 58 degrees, crappie will start looking for pre-spawn areas. That makes ledges near flats productive areas. The best days to be on the water are the cloudy ones with a little wind to break up the clear surface. Duckworth said a nice drizzle is a great thing as well.

The veteran angler has been guiding on Middle Tennessee lakes for 32 years and can be reached at (615) 444-2283. You can also visit his Web site at JimDuckworth.comwhere you’ll find eight of his DVDs on crappie techniques.

DOUGLAS LAKE
Douglas Lake may not be known for the size of crappie like the other waters we’re discussing, but it’s definitely the comeback king across the Volunteer State. Scholten said Douglas is an important fishery, and the agency is doing what it can to make sure it remains strong. They reduced the creel limit to 15 per day on Douglas in 2001 as part of a crappie recovery plan. In addition to the creel reduction, this plan called for fish habitat improvement throughout the reservoir and increased stocking efforts.

Scholten added that since 2002, almost 200,000 crappie have been stocked and 58 acres of fish habitat were improved or added. Since this plan was implemented, catch rates have more than doubled, and in 2003, young-of-the-year catch rates were the highest on record for Douglas. In the angler success category, Douglas ranked fourth in harvest rates last year, behind Barkley, Reelfoot and Kentucky lakes.

Fortunately, I’ve experienced the Douglas Lake comeback in recent years and some of that time has been spent in the boat with Douglas crappie veteran Roger Swatzell. He loves to use a float and fly for them in shallow water, and that’s right up my alley. Swatzell fishes it just like I do for smallies and it’s just as exciting when they’re in the mood -- and in the springtime, they are. The best news is you can put a bunch of them in the boat in a hurry.