The blooming of the Dogwood trees signals the crappie spawning period. The rest of the forest is full of dark shafts of wood rising toward the sun. On them are small buds and the beginnings of green leaves. The mantel of green will soon provide shade a plenty.
The sighting of the dogwood and red bud blossoms seems to explode on the scene just in time for the crappies to move in to shallows in search of bedding areas.
Veteran crappie anglers take to the water with long poles and ultra-light reels spooled with 2-4 pound line. The long poles enable one to dip his offering into the flooded buckbrush where the big ones hide. Spring is a time of rising water levels. Most lakes are watershed or flood control lakes.
Jigs are popular offerings by crappie anglers. They are usually tipped with a minnow (known around here as crappie minnows) or some brightly colored plastic lure. White, black and pink are popular colors. Hair jigs or marabou jigs also are popular. One sixteenth or 1/32nd ounce jigs are the size of choice.
Remember that crappies are a predator fish that likes to feed on insects and small fish. They relate to structure which conceals them until they can ambush there forage.
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