The author shows off the kind of crappie that Peach State waters give up this month. Photo courtesy of Ronnie Garrison.

If you haven't experienced the ritual of catching crappie in Georgia in the spring, you've missed one of the most enjoyable fishing experiences that our state offers. The action's fast, the fish taste great, and thousands of your fellow anglers take advantage of some of the best fishing Georgia has to offer.

Growing up near Clarks Hill, I experienced that excitement each spring. Word would spread around McDuffie County like pine pollen blowing in the April wind: The crappie are in the bushes! Everyone -- from farmers who got in a boat once a year, to bass fishermen who concentrated on largemouths 50 weeks a year, to mommas and young kids -- would head to the lake to catch a mess of crappie.

This was the time to fill your freezer for fish fries that would last for months. For a two- to three-week period every cove at the lake would have several boats full of fishermen easing round the bank dropping minnows or jigs beside buttonbushes and pulling out crappie. Everyone had a big smile on his or her face.

In lakes all over Georgia, crappie go through their spawning cycle, and fishermen show up to catch them. With a little effort, you can expand the two-week spawn, when the fish are shallow, into a full spring of slab action. And you can do it at almost any large public lake near you.

During the winter, crappie are suspended out over open water, usually around some kind of wood. They hold over brushpiles or sunken treetops, and you can catch them -- trolling and jigging will prove the most effective approach -- but the weather's not very much fun, and the fish are hard to find.

As the water starts to warm in late February and early March, the fish start to move toward the spawning areas. Depending on how fast it warms up, some crappie may be back in the spawning areas in late February, but by mid-to-late March you can count on some laying eggs. The period from late March through early April is usually the prime time to catch them shallow.

Ordinarily, the shallow action is over by mid-to-late April, and the fish are heading back to deeper water. As they work outward, you can troll for them, or shoot docks on lakes that have lots of such structures. You can also find them in blown-down trees on deeper banks toward the main lake. Then, by early summer it's back to trolling and jigging in deeper water.

Spring's the time for bank-fishermen to catch their share of crappie, too. From late February to late April the papermouths are more likely to be near the bank and in reach of fishermen without boats. Find access at boat ramps, parks, fishing piers and roads that run near the water. Of course, make sure that it's on public land, or, if it's private, that you've got permission.

When you're fishing from the bank, have several rods or poles, so you can cover a fairly wide area. Keep some baits near the bank, but make long casts with others. When you catch one fish put all your bait in that spot, because a school of crappie is likely present there.