Ouachita is a clear lake, and crappie usually are found deeper than they are at many other Natural State waters, even in spring. Concentrate your search along brushy banks where the water gradually drops from shallow to deep, and in the backs of coves. Crappie often are suspended 6 to 8 feet down in water that's usually not over 10 feet deep. You may find them considerably shallower than that early and late or on cloudy days.

Spring crappie most often are caught in the upper half of Lake Ouachita, although there are some outstanding crappie-fishing areas nearer the dam. Still, the upper reaches seem to be more consistent - perhaps because there's more shallow water there. There is a lot of good crappie fishing in the midlake area, too. Good bets include the Mountain Harbor, Joplin, Tompkins Bend, Crystal Springs and Big Fir public use areas on the south side, and Irons Fork, Avant and Buckville on the north shore.

Lake Ouachita is accessible throughout its length from U.S. Highway 270 west of Hot Springs (south side) or Arkansas 298 between the towns of Blue Springs and Story (north side). The Corps of Engineers can provide a free map showing all access areas, public-use sites and numbered lake markers. They're good maps, and when used in conjunction with the more detailed topographical maps available at most area marinas, they can aid the knowledgeable fisherman in locating potential hotspots for crappie. For more info, call the Lake Ouachita field office in Royal at (501) 767-2101.

Other topnotch crappie lakes in this region include DeGray Lake near Arkadelphia, Millwood Lake near Ashdown and White Oak Lake near Camden.

The best of the best, perhaps, is Beaver Lake. When considering trophy-sized slabs, this 30,000-acre impoundment stands head and shoulders above other northwest Arkansas lakes. Savvy crappiers catch lots of 1 1/2 to 2-pound crappie here every year, and if you know your stuff, a 15-fish limit is a cinch. Crappie must be 10 inches or longer to keep - a rule that has helped make this an astounding fishery.

Jig-fishing around stickups and cedar trees is one ticket to success, especially in spring and fall. Summer and winter anglers use sonar to pinpoint crappie around fast-breaking underwater structure. Fishing locales popular with local anglers include the Coose Creek area, Esculapia Hollow, around the Ventris Recreation Area and in the Pine Creek Area.

For more info, call the Beaver Lake project office in Rogers, (479) 636-1210.

Bull Shoals and Norfork lakes also provide excellent crappie fishing in this region. Many anglers catch their limits by fishing the 600-plus "brushpiles" or fish attractors that have been installed in the lakes. Each, composed of 30 or more bundles of trees, covers an area approximately 40 feet wide and 300 feet long. The bundles were sunk along a contour line that corresponds to the depth at which the thermocline usually forms (25 feet deep). On Bull Shoals, the target elevation is 630 feet above mean sea level (msl), and on Norfork, it's 525 feet above msl. Fishermen can figure out how deep the attractors are by logging on to the Corps Web site (www.swl-wc.usace.army.mil/white_ basin_intermediate.htm), getting the current lake levels and subtracting the above elevations.

All the Norfork and Bull Shoals fish attractors are marked with special buoys, and all attract astounding numbers of big crappie. Find a buoy and work a jig or minnow in the brushpile below, and a 15-fish limit of crappie is sure to follow. Remember, however, that crappie less than 10 inches must be released.

More information about Bull Shoals and Norfork is available from the Corps of Engineers' Mountain Home project office, (870) 425-2700.

Nimrod Lake is also here, and among Arkansas crappie fans, this reservoir is legendary. Although it covers only 3,550 acres, this cover-laden body of water produces huge stringers of barn-door crappie - fish that commonly weigh 1 1/2 to 3 pounds. Some consider Nimrod one of the top crappie lakes in the Mid-South.

A lot of good crappie are taken around the dropoffs and the thousands of stumps dotting the southern side. Most anglers fish in 4 to 6 feet of water, but many Nimrod veterans never fish deeper than a foot or two, no matter what the season. Because Nimrod is so shallow, many bedding crappie are found only 10 or 12 feet off the river channel, so don't miss these often-overlooked areas in your search. Crappie also congregate around the mouths of the scores of feeder streams.

Nimrod is 25 miles south of Russellville on the Yell-Perry County Line. The daily crappie limit is 20. For additional information, including a lake map, contact the public affairs office at the Corps' Little Rock District, (501) 324-5551, or log on to www.swl.usace.army.mil/parks/nimrod/index.html.

Lake Conway in Faulkner County also sports some superb crappie fishing. This 6,700-acre AGFC lake has some of the most consistent action for big crappie anywhere in the state. Crappie weighing 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 pounds are not uncommon, and most limit stringers will be anchored by fish of such size.

Most summer and winter anglers use 4- to 8-pound line on cane poles, fiberglass poles or ultralight tackle, and fish live minnows, tube jigs or marabou jigs along inundated creek channels and lakes. The Green's Lake and Adam's Lake areas on the east side are good bets this time of year. The flooded timber adjacent the boat lanes at the Highway 89 bridge (just east of I-40 at the Mayflower exit) is especially good for pre-spawn fish.

The spawning season is also a prime time for Lake Conway slabs. In late March or April, crappie leave their deep-water haunts and move in toward shore. As a general rule, the farther you go up the arms of the lake, the better your chances of finding spawning fish. This is true of all three of Conway's major creek arms-Palarm Creek on the northeast, Stone Dam Creek on the northwest and Pierce Creek on the far southeast corner of the lake.

Conway's crappie limit is 20 daily. For additional information, phone the AGFC's regional office at Mayflower toll-free, 1-877-470-3309.

(Editor's Note: Keith Sutton is the author of Fishing Arkansas: A Year-round Guide to Angling Adventures in the Natural State. To order an autographed copy, send a check or money order for $28.25 to C&C Outdoors, 15601 Mountain Dr., Alexander, AR 72002. For credit card orders, log on to www.ccoutdoors. com.)