Swinging back north to nearly where we started on our circular tour of Georgia crappie fishing brings us to the Coosa River on the Alabama-Georgia state line west of Rome. Although located mostly in Alabama, Lake Weiss, the self-proclaimed crappie capital of the world, has its headwaters in Georgia. Here the impoundment fishes more like a river than a lake. The now-flooded, fertile river bottoms once grew cotton, but now they grow crappie.

The fertile ecosystem and strong forage base on Weiss helps the fishery maintain its quality even in the face of heavy fishing pressure. Crappie angling on the upper part of Weiss means fishing the sloughs. When the main lake filled, even in the headwaters, the river backed up into low areas, and shallow sloughs were formed. The sloughs have plenty of woody cover like stumps and blow-downs, and the best ones have a distinct creek channel running through them. A couple of good sloughs for crappie are formed on Mount Hope and Kings creeks on the north side of the river, just downstream from the Georgia Highway 100 crossing.

Another slough, and perhaps the most popular, is Brushy Branch, a large appendage on the south side of the river just upstream from the state line and near the town of Cave Spring. You could spend a solid week fishing Brushy Branch and still not hit every good stump lying underneath the fertile waters.

Although the area is generally very shallow, fishing deep is still a good idea for most of the year -- deep being a relative term, of course. While your competitors fish the shallow brush in just a few feet of water, spend some extra time to find the creek channels. Fish deeper stumps in 6 to 10 feet of water to catch the most fish. Even during the spawn, going deeper usually puts you on better fish.

Two techniques are favorites for springtime crappie fishing on the Coosa, and both are very simple. The minnow-and-bobber routine around shallow brush always catches some fish. Try to ignore the obvious, though, and search for the subtle. The crappie fishing on the Coosa is no secret, and the river gets hit hard. A little time spent searching for stumps and logs just deep enough to escape notice of the casual angler can pay off handsomely.

Jig-fishing is arguably even better than the "soak and wait" approach of bait-fishing. A 1/8-ounce leadhead tipped with a small plastic shad body in pearl or chartreuse is a killer. The jig allows you to cover more water in search of those hidden crappie condos, and the slightly bigger lure should lead to bigger fish in your livewell at the end of the day. Take plenty of jigs, though, because the Coosa stumps eat them like candy!

The main river itself can offer good fishing at times, but spring's high, muddy water and strong current tend to complicate matters. A better tactic is to head into the sloughs.

Access is available at Montgomery Landing in Brushy Branch off State Route 100 between SR 20 and Cave Spring. This ramp is the best choice for fishing Brushy Branch and the area near the state line. For Mount Hope and Kings creeks, there is a boat ramp on the Coosa River off River Road, just downstream of the SR 100 bridge.

Keep in mind that there is no reciprocal license agreement regarding Lake Weiss. Venture too far down the river and into Alabama water, and you must meet the licensing and creel requirements of that state.

Georgia anglers have been blessed with some of the best crappie fishing to be found anywhere in the Southeast, perhaps the whole country. This spring, put on your traveling shoes and make the rounds of some of the best crappie fishing lakes in Georgia.