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Coming at you a little later this week but still the same 🧃 from the crappie world! We hope y'all enjoy this week's Target Crappie email! Thanks for tuning in – any comments or suggestions, just email us back! Thank you!

Find us also on Instagram (@targetcrappie) and Facebook (Target Crappie)!

Tip: Don't push the crappie too hard in creeks right now

Matt Adams – the ex-pro baseball slugger turned bass tournament beast – has a serious jones for Lake Guntersville, AL's speckled fish. When he's not stacking bass trophies, he's out on "Gville" putting his clients on mega slabs.

We got ahold of him, and he spilled the juice on how to find 'em and hook 'em for the next 6-8 weeks. Note that Guntersville is a "riverine reservoir" with generally clear water and a lot of grass, and of course crappie follow seasonal patterns – so you don't need to be fishing Gville to put this info to work for you!

> "Right now, when you find the gizzard shad...often mixed with threadfin in the same pocket, creek, cover or area these fish are pushing into...you'll see the crappie stacked up like cordwood.

> "They're just starting to hit the shallows – had a wave move in 3 weeks ago with warm weather, then rain pushed them back, but I'm seeing them creep shallow again.

> "Next 6 weeks, expect waves of crappie in 3-6' in spawning bays off deep water – gonna be killer with good electronics. From now to late April, I'll see wave after wave keep rolling in.

> "The big mistake people make is chasing them too much in creek channels...you start pushing too much, they get finicky.

> "Once we figure out where they are...those schools aren't moving...they're no different than a bass school. If you bust them up, catch 4, 5, 6, 8, 10 fish off of them...they're not going to sit there with all their buddies gone and not realize something's up.

> "...you start pushing too much, they get finicky, and you end up with a 12, 15, 20-fish day instead of a good 2-man limit of 60.

> "Patience is a virtue...power down, let them move...and they'll come right back and set up."

Check out this slab he nabbed in stealth mode throwing a 6th Sense Clobber Minnow. He says they'll eat the Strobe Minnow and the Panorama Shad as well.

Find Matt on YouTube and Facebook at Matt Adams Fishing. He drops weekly vids and slabs like that 3-lber he posted not long ago.

"Just because it rained doesn't mean the crappie left the creek."

That's Caleb Hensley of 903 Fishing on YT talking, setting up his video about how you can pick apart creeks right now (on foot!) to get yourself on some crappie:

In that YT video Caleb walks up on a creek with current from recent rains in east TX and finds a place where the creek bottlenecks:

> "Current is coming in here flowing, but there's a slack little pocket of water over here, and it also has a little back flow.... If there's going to be crappie, they're going to be in this little back flow area.

> "We're only fishing about 2' deep right now.... What you can also do is cast that bait right on the edge of that current.

> "With the muddy water conditions, I'm going to use one of three colors: 'white,' 'black' or 'blue'...we got the 'white' [tied] on right now – I'm catching fish on the 'white.'"

To get 'em to bite, Caleb lets his rod tip shake slowly to give his jig a subtle action until the crappie try and pull it out of his hand.

An important deal is he's using a slip cork set only about 1 foot up the line, along with an egg sinker, weighted swivel, and 8-6 lb leader to a lightweight jighead with a sickle hook:

Who says you need a boat!

Time to head to the trees!

Spring's just around the corner so we all know what that means – the SPAWN! Here's a little from a good Louisiana Sportsman post with Atchafalaya crappie tournament angler James Picard – some cypress tree insight for you this spring:

> "Water conditions permitting...we typically fish 1-3' deep around cypress trees along the bank....along the edge of the island [too].

> "In muddy water, I like using black/pink and black/red. If the water is not too muddy, I will use a solid white jig or a solid chartreuse."

> "To find pre-spawners before they hit the beds, probe deeper water with shallow water nearby. The use of forward facing sonar makes all the difference in the world around hardwood on or close to the bottom.

> "I usually target the deeper [out to 6'] cypress trees first and move shallower using black and red hair jigs, and tube jigs."

How to tell footballs from bulls on live sonar

😁 Interesting tip from an Ozark Outdoors' Facebook post talkin' about how to decipher a bass from a crappie on your live sonar:

> "On a screen, you can see the difference.... [For bass] it's the way their tail is kinda pointy and their belly kinda tucks up instead of being that football shape – and that football is what we're looking for.

> "When I see a stretch out there real long and I see that pointy tail and an arch [to its body], I know it's a largemouth bass.

> "Bass a lot of times are real territorial. They're kinda like a charging bull. They'll run out there, stop, and then turn away."

Hope this helps you pick out the black and white slabs from the green ones!

Another ice cold 3-lber! 🥶

Fish-head Scott Mackner (aka 330 Maniac) has been leaning into some seriously BIG crappies this ice season in MN, and has actually broken his personal best multiple times:

This PB might stick around for awhile though: He iced a massive 16.75-incher that weighed 3 lbs and gave his Tuned Up Custom Rods Bullwhip the workout of a lifetime!

Wait til you hear what he's been catching all these 15"+ crappies on:

> "I've been preaching it for years now...if you want a big fish, use a big bait."

That big bait is a Fiskas XL Walleye Series Tungsten Jighead paired up with a 3" Northland Eye-Candy Grub:

Go big or go home, and Scott's not going home! Congrats on the new PB man! And thank you for not keeping everything a secret. 👊

1. MO: Advanced crappie clinic Mar 13

6:30-8 pm. Topics will include: doodle-socking, spider rigging, dock fishing, using live bait, jigging, how to fish a brushpile, how to fish standing timber, how to use a map to locate crappie, and an intro to electronics.

2. TX: Lake Fork hosting Crappie Fest tourney Mar 29

> "The emphasis this year is on getting kids to fish and that means they don't pay any sign-up fees...they're gonna come out, they're gonna fish for free with a chance to win up to $21,000 for their futures.

> "1st place is $1,000, 2nd place $500, 3rd place $300, and then there's the $10,000 bonus for the 3-lb fish."

Grown folk need to pay a $100 entry fee but have a shot at $25K:

> “...1st place is $5,000 and then there's a $10,000 bonus for a 3-lb crappie, and then there's a $10,000 bonus for the state record."

3. TX: TPWD weekly fishing report

Fork's crappie bite is "really good," and Nacogdoches, Naconiche, Houston are "excellent".

4. LA crappie fishing reports

> Claiborne – Crappie fishing has been best with some slabs caught fishing shiners or jigs just out from the dam.

> Caney – Crappie fishing has been good with some slabs caught fishing shiners or jigs out in front of the spillway.

> Poverty Point – Crappie are improved on both the north and south ends of the lake on shiners or jigs with largest reported weighing 2.85 lbs.

5. WI: Ice is still good and crappie are on

> Crappies are still hanging on the weed edges in 6-9' of water on the Chain. Anglers are having success with small vertical jigs tipped with waxies or crappie minnows. The bite has been best during the late afternoon and evening, with decent numbers being caught.

6. MN: 17th Annual MN Fishing Challenge May 31

Gull Lake derby raises a ton of funds for a great cause, the MN Adult & Teen Challenge drug and alcohol rehab programs that help people find freedom from addiction through Jesus.

7. The best crappie for ponds is...

Black crappie:

> ...more willing to eat a diverse diet including insects and larvae, which are often abundant in healthy ponds. White crappie tend to stick to feeding on small fish, increasing pressure on limited forage fish supplies in smaller systems.

> Also, black crappie reproduction is more stable than white crappie....

8. Garmin released the new Force Pro trolling motor

New deal is "ninja-quiet" reverse without having to run your motor head around. Also the anchor lock is supposed to be better. 100 lbs of brushless thrust and costs $4K.

9. Solid state batteries are here

Supposed to be the next thing, better than lithium-ion. Some info from the BassBlaster email:

> Made in the USA. [So avoids new tariffs?]

> ...CEO, Tom Calef, a US Coast Guard licensed captain and 7-time entrepreneur in consumer devices and services, commercial and industrial robotics, medical robotics, computer vision and artificial intelligence, with over 30 years of marine experience. > "Exclusive licensee for the marine industry in the US" – not sure what that means?

> R&D – "Over 10 years of testing and 2 years of field tests."

> "...uses a completely solid electrolyte to conduct lithium ions, significantly reducing the distance between the cathode and anode and avoiding heavy and often volatile liquids or gels, like those found in lead-acid- or lithium-ion-based products. This results in roughly half the weight of traditional lithium and a quarter of the weight of AGM batteries with reduced fire or combustion risk for the ultimate peace of mind.

> "Solid State Marine batteries can run up to 8 times longer than the leading lithium or lead acid batteries and are safe to charge and operate down to -4 F (-20 C).

> "...batteries are interchangeable with existing battery footprints and can be charged with existing chargers....


Cheapest battery they have is $999 for 12v 90Ah.

10. New Sunline Almight sinking braid

> A sinking braid helps reduce line drift and the bow in your line caused by wind and waves on a cast. This allows it to sink...more quickly in water to reduce the bow in an angler’s line. Almight has a specific gravity that is 50% heavier than traditional braided lines.

Check it out here.

11. Grundéns releases new spring/summer apparel

Lots of stuff but check out the Crappie Patch trucker hat!

12. CA: $200 mil in fed $$ released for sites rez project …

...but total cost of the project is $4 bil. This would be a new Norcal lake.

13. MA: More herbicides in Neponset Rez this year

Been treating it, but apparently the fanwort, milfoil growth, and pond weed isn't gone enough.

Don't be shy of a heavy weight

Quick tip from American Crappie Trail hammer Hayden Jeffries:

> "A trick to getting on these fish is rigging your weight a lot heavier than you would normally fish it.

> "I'm fishing a 1/2-oz weight, and once those fish start running I'm just keeping up with them – trolling 1.5-2 mph and just trolling [the bait] right in front of them.

> "[Because of the heavy weight], I can just lay that bait right on the fish's nose when he's running.... Most of the time they'll just tuck right under it and eat it."

Check out this absolute GIANT Dustin McDaniel boated on Grenada, MS! A 3.81 on a 2" Bobby Garland Original Baby Shad.

It was one of the fish that contributed to Dustin's 7th-place finish in the Crappie Masters Team Tournament on Grenada. Congrats on the new PB and the top 10 finish Dustin!

National Professional Anglers Assoc.

MN-FISH