Catching them in the springtime under willows will turn up some dandy crappie. Stone also credits the 10-inch size limit and 15-fish creel limit for helping to keep the lake’s crappie population in good shape and growing at this time.

In early April, when he’s not checking creels, Stone is chasing crappie in between smallmouth bass trips. He said the April crappie fishing is very good in the backs of major creeks and anywhere around willow bushes. Irons Creek, Ill Will Creek and Ashburn Creek are top destinations for papermouth anglers.

The crappie are moving shallow in search of spawning areas, and Stone said in low water conditions they’ll be in and around the grass. With a high lake situation, you’ll want to hit the willows. Many anglers will be finding success with slip-bobbers and minnows, while Stone prefers to tight-line them with a 1/16-ounce jig fitted with a 2-inch grub around the willow bushes.

The last two weeks of the month, Stone said to pull out with the crappie to ledges. A few will still be hanging back around the grass in a post-spawn pattern as well. He said like all of Dale Hollow’s fish, catching crappie is more about quality than quantity. He said you could expect to boat anywhere from 15 to 18 crappie per trip.

There will be days of 15-fish limits, but April is a pretty good time to catch 2-pound-plus crappie at the smallmouth capitol of the world. The black-nose variety dominate the catch and 3-pounders are not uncommon. Last year, he saw a 4-pound, 2-ounce monster that was taken near East Port Dock.

Stone added again that the mid-lake section is a good starting point, from Eagle Creek on up the lake. He also said he’s seen more crappie caught in the area of Star Point Marina than the rest of the lake put together.

DOUGLAS LAKE — THE BETTER
How good is the crappie fishing now on Douglas Lake after a few years of a great comeback? TWRA’s Region IV fisheries biologist John Hammonds said in relation to other lakes around, Douglas is one of the top crappie lakes in the entire state.

Hammonds said that which species of crappie dominates on Douglas Lake might seem like a simple question, but it has an interesting answer. He said TWRA’s trap net data catch is made up of about a 15:1 ratio of black versus white crappie. They see many more black crappie in trap nets than white crappie. However, just the opposite occurs in the creel surveys. There is about a 15:1 ratio of white versus black crappie in the angler’s catch.