Photo by Polly Dean.

It’s that time of year again: Winter’s starting to break, and Peach State anglers are beginning to get the itch to head out for some early-spring fishing action. While the weather’s still a little chilly and unpredictable at this time of year, it won’t be long until, all across the state, fish of all species start getting some urges or their own and moving toward the shallows to spawn. One of the first species to do so: crappie.

In reservoirs all over Georgia, crappie are staging up and moving shoreward as early as the first part of March. Anglers find stacks of them along river ledges and creek channels where deeper water becomes abruptly shallow. These fish are waiting for the just the right water temperature before moving into flats around stumpfields and brushpiles, where they hatch their young for another year.

One of Georgia’s most prolific fish, the crappie offers the added benefit of being relatively easy to catch, especially in the spring. And it’s not bad in the table-fare department, either. You don’t really need a fancy rig for these fish. A spinning rod and reel tipped with a minnow will do quite well in most places. While there are plenty of very serious crappie fishermen, there is plenty of room in this sport for a family outing or a day of fishing with your kids. During the spring, these fish are close to shore, so they are quite accessible from the bank. A boat increases your access to the fish, but lots of lakes have excellent shoreline cover and fishing piers as well.

Let’s explore several great places for catching crappie at almost any time of the year. These reservoirs have excellent papermouth populations.

WEISS LAKE
A statewide crappie forecast wouldn’t be thorough without the mention of Weiss Lake. This 30,000-acre impoundment of the Coosa River along the Georgia-Alabama border near Rome is a favorite of Georgia crappie fishermen. While it’s technically an Alabama reservoir, a 1,500-acre section of the lake lies in Georgia.

Weiss is nationally known as a great crappie fishery, and has been described by its fans as the “Crappie Capital of the World.” People come from all over the country to fish Weiss, and the effort and expense in doing so will generally be rewarded. And Weiss has the history and records to back that claim up.

Jim Hakala, the Georgia Department of Natural Resources is the Wildlife Resources Division fisheries biologist in charge of the Georgia portion of the lake, said that the crappie population on Weiss is made up of about 25 percent white crappie and 75 percent black crappie.

“The average fish size is in the 10-inch range and the average weight is 1/2 to 3/4 of a pound,” Hakala noted. However, the opportunity to catch a crappie of 2 pounds or more is quite good on Weiss.

“There are plenty of trophy fish in Weiss,” the biologist noted. “It probably represents your best chance for a trophy-sized crappie over any other lake in the area.”

According to Hakala, the best time to catch crappie on Weiss is in the late winter and early spring, usually from March to May. By March the fish are beginning to stage on the channel ledges and flats where deep water is nearby and are getting ready to head into the shallows to spawn.