From the Mississippi River to the Great Smoky Mountains, one common aspect among Tennessee's reservoirs is abundant crappie fishing opportunities. Tennessee Sportsman contacted some of the Volunteer state's best crappie resources and asked them about their picks for getting in on the action as crappie make their way into the shallows and prepare for the annual spring spawn. Below are some of their top picks that will help you get on the fish this month.

REELFOOT LAKE
Created by an earthquake in 1812, Reelfoot Lake is Tennessee's only large natural lake and is really more of a swamp than a true reservoir, with bayou-like ditches, some natural, some manmade, that connect open bodies of water that are referred to as basins. Reelfoot is said to have more biomass of fish per acre than any other lake in the country owing to its fertile surroundings and myriad of stumps and vegetation for fish to reproduce in.

Wade Hendren from Ripley is a TWRA law enforcement officer in the northwest region of Tennessee, as well as a professional crappie tournament angler. Hendren looks forward to spring time at Reelfoot, when crappie migrate to either end of the lake.

"I'd have to rate March as a better month than April simply because of Reelfoot's abundance of black crappie that really school up in the shallow stumpfields on either end of the lake," he said. "They're still in there during the first weeks of April, but from the middle of March to the first of April is the best time."

It's been said that a person could walk from stump to stump across the entire expanse of Reelfoot if the water ever dropped low enough to permit it. Hendren said these massive stumpfields are where you need to look for spawning crappie. Because of the stumps and pre-emergent lily pad stalks that come up in the spring, crappie don't need to move to the shoreline to spawn and will more often than not lay eggs in the tops of hollowed-out stumps in the middle of Reelfoot's basins.

"If you're in the stumps, you're where you need to be," he said. "The wind will be the deciding factor on whether you can fish the north side or the south side of the lake."

Hendren indicates the polar destinations on Reelfoot to be at Gray's Camp on the Upper Blue Basin on the north end of the lake or Kirby's Pocket, located on the south end of Buck Basin. Both locations have ramps by the same name for easy access. Most of the water in these two areas will be in the target range of 4 to 6 feet deep and have plenty of stumps and stalks to hold crappie. Like any spring outing, the weather decides what happens next.

"Before or during a cold front, we'll get strong winds out of the northwest, which makes Gray's Camp the place to fish," he said. "Even on warm, sunny days we'll get strong winds from the south, so Kirby's pocket offers the most protection from the wind."