Lake Greenwood’s post-spawn crappie ganging up around piers, docks

More-reliable pattern has set in as crappie are moving toward deeper water

After another season of wait, wait, wait, fishermen are reporting that the crappie spawn at Lake Greenwood has come and gone like a spring-break romance. Fortunately, those same fishermen report that Greenwood tends to have a better and more reliable post- spawn pattern around the lake’s numerous boat docks and piers. That bite is a love meant to last, and it’s happening now.

“The water temperatures would creep up and then drop, creep back up and then drop,” said veteran angler Rod Wall. “Rain and cold weather kept pushing it off, then when it happened, it happened quick.”

Typical of Lake Greenwood, most crappie spawned around shoreline trees or planted brush piles, then moved under boat docks and piers to recover. In many instances, fish spawn on boat docks and simply never leave for the remainder of the summer.

“You can never tell exactly when they’re going to spawn,” said angler Bill Brookshire of Taylors. “April was cold and rainy, but this last week they moved up under the boat docks like they always do, and you can catch them here all summer long.”

Brookshire prefers single-pole tactics for catching crappie, using an 8- to 9-foot fly rod equipped with a small spinning reel and 6-pound monofilament line to “dip” crappie jigs around boat dock and pier pilings. A 1/16-ounce jighead tipped with a 2-inch tube jig in white or pearl usually fills his limit in a day’s fishing.

“If you get there early in the morning, crappie will be out to the side of the boat docks, but you’re better off to wait a little while ‘til the sun gets up,” he said. “That will push them right under the edge of the boat docks, then you can just swing your jig under the edge and let it swing back out.”

Brookshire prefers to fish the Laurens County side of the lake, explaining that most of the houses and docks on the north side are older and have brush around the docks, while many of the newer developments on the Greenwood side have little if any structure around them that will attract crappie. Water depths may range from three to 15 feet, with most of his success coming from the 8- to 10-foot range early, then moving deeper as the water warm through the summer.