Spring spawning can take place anywhere there’s shallow water with emergent vegetation or woody cover. Crappie nest in several feet of water, though the depths can change depending on weather conditions.

Lake Chicot is small enough that anglers exploring the lake can probably find the crappie, especially during the spawn. The minimum-length limit at Chicot allows fish to remain in the lake until they reach spawning size and ensures a relatively stable population.

Lake Chicot is located in Lake Chicot State Park in Chicot County. Access is off U.S. Route 82 near Lake Village. For more information, contact the AGFC’s Southeast Region at 1-877-367-3559.

BULL SHOALS LAKE
Though it is better known for smallmouth bass than crappie, this huge reservoir does hold a good population of papermouths that are large by anyone’s book.

“Bull Shoals crappie are 11 inches plus,” said AGFC fisheries biologist Ken Shirley, “due to a huge year-class of crappie in 2002. However, poor spawning success since then means that the number of crappie has fallen due to angler harvest and natural mortality. Those fish are nearing the end of their life span, but 2008 should be a good year for the big ones, followed by a rapid decline.”

Bull Shoals isn’t an easy nut to crack when it comes to finding the slabs, said Shirley. In a lake this size, anglers do best in the spring, when the fish are in the shallows and easily accepting of angler offerings.

After the spawn, Shirley recommends targeting the 400 brushpiles scattered around the lake. They’ve been submerged along a contour following about a 25-foot depth below conservation pool and are marked with blue signs along the shoreline. Implementing the brushpiles was a monumental effort, and about 100,000 trees were sunk to create the fish attractors.

Later on in the spring, crappie will relate to standing timber in water as deep as 50 feet. Electronics are the only way to be sure an angler is on the trees. Crappie move up to the thermocline in the late summer, when oxygen levels in deep water are low.

Bull Shoals covers 71,000 acres and has 1,000 miles of shoreline. For more information, contact the AGFC’s North-Central Region at 1-870-297-4331.

Visit the AGFC’s Web site at www.agfc.com for more information on the state’s crappie opportunities.