Experts, biologists expect great spring fishing for crappie on Jordan Lake.
Fishermen have lamented for two years, wondering what happened to B. Everett Jordan Lake, one of North Carolina’s best reservoirs for crappie.
At about the time that biologists figured it what caused a 2011 fish kill on the 13,940-acre impoundment on the Haw River and New Hope Creek, anglers started to report that things were back on track, and that’s great news for guide Freddie Sinclair of Clayton.
“I’ve been fishing Jordan Lake since (it was) flooded it in 1981,” said guide Freddie Sinclair of Clayton. “I was working at the N.C. State veterinarian school in 1981, and me and a friend used to come over here and fish for bass. About 1988 I started fishing it seriously for crappie.
Sinclair said good-sized crappie were caught almost as soon as the lake was impounded, but the average appeared headed downward in the late 1990s. The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission instituted a 20-fish daily creel limit and 10-inch size minimum in 2004, and that got things headed back in the right direction until the 2011 decreases apparently caused by a die-off of shad.
Two Commission biologists, Jessica Baumann and Corey Oakley, along with enforcement officer Bryan Scruggs, discovered last fall that crappie were recovering — something Sinclair had also observed.
“They are really coming back now. Last fall, multiple people were catching plenty of 13- and 14-inch fish,” Sinclair said. “From what I saw last fall, I thought it would be this spring before we saw good-sized fish, but it’s already good. The threadfin shad population really has come back. If the food source is back, then Jordan’s crappie fishing is gonna be okay.”
That means this spring those fish will be even larger, returning Jordan to its once proud position as the king of Tarheel State’s crappie lakes.
March is probably the best month to chase slabs at Jordan — as well as most Foothills and coastal impoundments. In February, big female crappie begin to stage off points near spawning flats in 20 to 30 feet of water, especially around sunken trees. Then, as the days get longer and the sun warms the water, the spawning urge pushes them toward the warm shallows where they’ll deposit millions of eggs covered by a sticky coat that adheres to wood and rocks.
“March is when I start checking the flats,” Sinclair said. “The crappie start moving into the shallows.”
But they don’t make a massive move to spawning areas and remain there until their business is finished. The pomoxis nigromaculatus clan is weather-sensitive, so while they move toward the shallows, they’ll hustle back to deeper climes when cold fronts blast through.
“It depends on what kinds of fronts we have, the weather patterns that time of year,” Sinclair said.
The smaller males head in first, looking to establish beds.
“In 2012, crappie already moved to the backs of coves in early March because we had such a mild winter, and the water was warm,” Sinclair said. “The water never did cool down. But in May 2013, they didn’t move to the flats until May 1 because it was so much cooler.”
Sinclair knows all the spawning flats at Jordan., But if I was new, I’d look at maps, and if it’s March, I’d try to determine backs of coves that have flats with deep water nearby,” he said.
He classified any bottom that’s three feet deep or less as a flat.
“Just outside if it drops off to eight or nine feet, those are places I like to look for in March,” said Sinclair, whose technique is to drop the trolling motor on his boat, cruise flats and long-line troll to see if he can locate fish.
“I use 1/48-ounce jigheads and cast them 30 to 35 feet out the back and sides,” Sinclair said. “I go 1.2 or 1.3 mph to cover a lot of water.
“If I don’t get a bite in three to four feet of water, and I’m not too far from deep water, I’ll move out and slow down and troll in the 8- or 9-foot water,” he said. “If I find fish in the shallows, then I’m going back to tight lining because I want to slow everything down.”
Tight-lining means trolling lures almost vertically in the water, so Sinclair only has about six or seven feet of line out and, using his trolling motor, moves from .5 to .6 mph. He may crimp split shots on his 4-pound test lines or tie on heavier jigs to keep lures vertical.
“If I’ve got three feet of water or less, I go back to tight-lining off the front of boat,” he said. “If I’m in eight or nine feet of water or deeper, I long-line troll.”
Sinclair said caution is advised if crappie are in shallow water.
“They can be finicky, so I try to ease toward the bank if that’s the case,” he said. “A trolling motor will scare them if you’re runnin’ your bait just a foot off the bottom.”
Water temperature also is a key. Sinclair said he starts seriously hunting crappie when the water temperature gets to 53 degrees.
“From 56 to 63 degrees, the big females start moving to the backs of the creeks,” he said. “If the temperature is 56 and there’s a good weather pattern, that’s your best chance to find big female crappie.”
His largest Jordan crappie weighed 2.72 pounds, and he won the big-fish award at a tournament with a 2.52-pounder.
“I’ve never seen one over three pounds at Jordan, but I’ve heard of some being caught,” he said.
Jordan Lake has several creeks where anglers can expect to find big crappie during March.
“There’s the flat underneath (the) White Oak bridge to the right past Crosswinds Marina,” Sinclair said. “Then there’s Bush Creek all the way past Farrington Point. That’s a big community hole everyone knows about.”
Bush Creek consistently holds staging female crappie in March. The channel is six feet deep back to the upper end, where a large shallow spawning flat turns west. The entrance to the flat often holds big crappie, and many anglers drop live minnows at woody structure near the shoreline.
Because Bush Creek runs from north to south and has tall pines and hardwoods lining its narrow channel, anglers can fish sheltered from gusty winds.
“Beaver Creek at Ebenezer (boat ramp) has a big flat, too,” Sinclair said.
Beaver and Little Beaver creeks have ideal crappie habitat, with water levels of six feet or less that hug the shoreline but quickly drop off to 12, 16 and 26 feet.
The two channels often are described as super highways for spawning fish, not only for black crappie but also largemouth bass.
Still, no matter where anglers fish, Jordan doesn’t always surrender slab stringers during early March.
“It can be a tough time to fish, because crappie are in transition and can get confused by weather changes,” Sinclair said. “They can do a 180 in one night, depending on the weather.”
Crappie looking to spawn may head for the shallows one day, then stampede back to deeper water if a cold snap blows through Piedmont — a normal March pattern.
“I think you need a 3-day, consistently good weather pattern,” he said. “You gotta have sun for three straight days to make the fish go to the backs of the creeks.”
To illustrate how he fishes, Sinclair, 57, recounted a trip with a client from western North Carolina.
“We were back in Beaver, and our first fish was 1 1/2 pounds,” he said. “But come noon, and we’ve got only five fish. I’m saying, ‘Whoa, what’s the matter?’
“So we went into No Name Creek; one boat was in there, and the guy had caught just three or four. I trolled through there and didn’t get a bite. I moved to a drop-off, and we started pulling ice-blue jigs, and we must have caught 100 fish. Every time I pulled (across the drop-off) we caught three or four crappie.
“So if you find fish, you can really catch ’em at that spot, and that’s how March fishing for crappie is at Jordan Lake.”
DESTINATION INFORMATION
HOW TO GET THERE/WHEN TO GO — Jordan Lake is southwest of Raleigh and west of Durham, most-easily accessed east-west by US 64, which crosses at mid-lake. Farrington Road and NC 751 will bring fishermen in from Chapel Hill and Durham, respectively. Good crappie fishing gets started in late February and will last through April.
TACKLE/TECHNIQUES — Slow-troll or tight-line near creek-channel drops in the backs of creeks in four feet of water or less or long-line crappie jigs or live minnows when fish are eight feet or deeper. Use 1/32- to 1/16-ounce crappie jigs in brown/chartreuse, black/chartreuse or blue/black, but with ice-blue in each jig, or use live minnows on 1/32- to 1/16-ounce jigheads. Use B ‘n’ M or Southern Crappie rods in 10- to 16-foot lengths with 4-pound test line.
GUIDES/FISHING INFO — Freddie Sinclair, Sinclair’s Guide Service, 919-219-2804; Wilsonville General Store, 919-362-7101; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Moncure, 919-542-4501. See also Guides and Charters in Classifieds.
ACCOMMODATIONS — Budget Inn, Sanford, 919-775-2814; America’s Best Value Inn, Sanford, 919-776-5121; Holiday Inn Express, Chapel Hill, 919-489-7555; Hampton Inn & Suites, Chapel Hill, 919-403-8700. Five campgrounds are available at the Jordan Lake State Recreation Area, 919-362-0586.
MAPS — Kingfisher Maps, 800-326-0257, www.kfmaps.com; GMCO Maps, 888-420-6277, www.gmcomaps.com; Fishing Hot Sports, 800-500-MAPS.
