Tighten up

Crappie enter the prespawn mode as early as mid-February or as late as mid-March. When they are staging, many anglers prefer to tight-line for crappie rather than long-line. Tight-lining is recognized by the sight of two anglers sitting side-by-side in the front of the boat hunched over rods that protrude forward. Jay Bruce of Greer and fishing partner Carolynn Reeves favor tight-lining early in the prespawn.

Bruce likes to fish the tributary ledges because he finds crappie will use channel bends as staging points on their way to the backs of creeks. He scans using his side-imaging sonar to locate any logjams or debris trapped in the bend that will hold fish.

“If they are pulling water through the dam and there’s current in the lake, I’ll concentrate on the inside bends of the channel and look for some type of structure along the drop off of that inside bend,” he said. “If there is no current, I’ll look for the same type setup on the outside bend. The difference is that the inside bend offers more of a current break when they’re pulling water.”

Bruce targets crappie while slow-trolling or spider-rigging, employing a Kentucky rig with a ½-ounce weight on the bottom and two hooks in the rig. The bottom hook is a No. 2 drop-shot hook on a dropper loop set 10 inches off the weight. The upper hook is a No. 4 drop shot that is tied on a loop 12 to 14 inches above the bottom hook. Each person fishes four poles and typically goes with live bait or tips a jig with a minnow.

“With a lively minnow, I can see the rod tip wiggle,” said Bruce. “The way to tell when you have a bite is the rod tip stops moving. Some days the bite will be subtle ,and other times they’ll pull the rod tip down into the water.”