Spring crappie fishing picks up in waterways across Missouri

Although the spring turkey season is in full swing and morel mushroom hunters are out seeking a bag full of those tasty fungi, if you are a crappie angler, now is the time to hit the water.

Fishing reports from most area lakes show the crappie run is on and anglers are taking limits of these tasty fish. David Teegarden, Racket, Mo., is one of the many turkey hunters who likes the fact that turkey hunters in the spring have to quit hunting at 1 p.m.

He said, "Usually, I get a bird early and then, I have plenty of time to go after spawning crappie and hunt morels. It's a great time of the year. There are a lot of spawning banks where people line the bank when the word gets out that the crappie have moved in close to the bank."

Truman and the Lake of the Ozarks are two of the best crappie lakes in Missouri. Back in the 1930s, when the Lake of the Ozarks was built, much of the brush was cleared and crappie fishing suffered. Crappie anglers started building their own fish habitat by sinking cedar trees and other brush.

The resorts and docks around the lake made crappie beds to attract the fish and it worked. Today, the Lake of the Ozarks is a crappie hot spot in the spring.

Everything from minnows to jigs is catching fish that are in water from 1 to 4 feet deep, along the spawning banks. When turkey hunting with the late Paul Hoffman, who had a cabin at the Lake of the Ozarks, we caught lots of spawning crappie when fishing at the Lake of the Ozarks or Truman.

Hoffman had said, "The turkey season comes at just the right time. You have the entire afternoon to go crappie fishing or look for morels."

After an early morning turkey hunt, my son, Kevin, and I hit Stockton Lake. We launched the boat, but found we had motor problems, so we used the trolling motor to fish a nearby cove that we normally would have passed up.

It turned out to be a good move because right away, we started catching all kinds of fish. We found crappie, walleye, smallmouth bass, bluegill and a few drum.

The action lasted several hours and all the fish were caught on a white, 1/16-ounce jig.

Other crappie anglers report good fishing.

Truman topped the list of Ozark lakes for Jack Blake, Warsaw. Blake said he was waiting for a friend to meet him at the dock.

"While I was waiting, I watched several boats come to the dock with their limits of spawning crappie. I couldn't wait for my friend and get a line in the water," he said.

I walked the bank and caught seven crappie before my friend showed up. We never launched the boat because we had our limit while fishing from the bank, using a bobber with a white jig, about a foot below. It doesn't get any better than that."

Other hot spots for spawning crappie are Table Rock, Pomme de Terre, Bull Shoals, Lake of the Ozarks and Stockton.

Before the recent rains, anglers were catching crappie from several streams, including the Sac River. Bob Smith, Joplin, found the fishing good in late April, for the second year in a row.

He said, "Fishing near the Highway 54 bridge, I caught several walleye, some white bass and crappie. I checked with several locals and they said the fishing had been good for more than a week. It depends on the amount of flow in the stream."

There is no doubt that this is the time to go crappie fishing on any of the large impoundments in the Ozarks.

The recent rains might have moved the fish to deeper water. If you don't catch a crappie in the first few minutes in a place where you had been catching them, try deeper water.

They they will usually hit, if they are there. Crappie patterns change from week to week, as weather varies in the spring.