Some 2-pound-plus slabs are caught each year at Sinclair, and most fish run more than 8 inches long. About a third of the crappie at Sinclair are 10 inches or longer and weigh more than a half-pound. In the spring, the slabs will be fat and heavy.

You can start trolling for crappie and catching them early at Sinclair if you concentrate in water warmed by the outflow of the power plant on Beaverdam Creek. By early March many papermouths are found in the backs of coves looking for spawning areas around docks, brush and bushes. The region from Beaverdam Creek downstream to the dam sees fish move in earlier with those up the Little and Oconee river arms moving in shallow a little later.

Although the crappie that you catch at Hamburg average about a half-pound, a good many 2-pound-plus fish swim the lake.

Check out Rooty Creek for good spawning areas all during the spring. The lower creek is warmed when water is being pumped back into Lake Oconee, drawing the heated water out of Beaverdam Creek and upstream into Rooty. Fish minnows and jigs around dock posts and brush back in the creeks at this time. The upper third of the creek channels should be best when the fish are spawning.

When the water hits the mid-60s, the fish have mostly finished spawning, and are moving back out. Start shooting docks in the coves, concentrating on the structures in the outer two-thirds of the creek. When you catch a crappie around a dock, stay there; others should be around, as they school up at this time of year.

Several WRD fish attractors are promising for fishing in late spring, and the main-lake docks hold crappie, too. Troll the open water around the brushpiles or shoot jigs up under docks on deeper water in late spring to find the fish. Many crappie are also caught under the Little River bridge from late spring to summer.

HAMBURG LAKE
One of the most peaceful venues for the crappie angler may also be the best at which to target big slabs. At Hamburg, a 225-acre millpond on the Little Ogeechee River in Hamburg State Park just north of Sandersville, boat motors are limited to 10 horsepower, so the lake stays quiet and calm. You can camp there, and boat rentals are available.

Although the crappie that you catch at Hamburg average about a half-pound, a good many 2-pound-plus fish swim the lake. The pond's full of stumps, and as crappie love wood cover, you can usually locate the fish fairly easily.

In the early spring, look for stumpbeds and brush out from the bank and either troll carefully through the area or cast jigs around the structure. When the water warms, cast jigs to all the shoreline cover or dabble minnows in it. In late spring, troll the old river channel and fish the standing timber along it with jigs and minnows.

When fishing standing timber, try to find the depth the crappie are holding at by spotting them on a depthfinder. If you can't see the fish for the forest, drop a live minnow or jig down and work it deeper and deeper until you catch a crappie. When you catch one, note the depth; that's where most of the other crappie should be as well.

LAKE HARTWELL
The many arms of this big reservoir all offer crappie fishing of substantial quality. Different parts of the impoundment warm at different rates, so you can usually get into a variety of types of fishing at the same time. Once you find the crappie, you can follow them as they move in, or try to hit spawning crappie over different areas and extend that catch.