For the past several springs the water level on Beaver Lake has been 10 foot higher than the current water level. Like other reservoirs that are experiencing low water conditions the crappie spawn is here. Beaver Lake crappie guide Payton Usrey believes that the lower water level has more effect on the anglers then it does on the crappie.
For most crappie anglers the spawn means going in shallow and fishing brush or stumps. Crappie are shallow and visible targets are everywhere on reservoirs where the spring rains have brought the water levels up to full pool or higher. For many anglers low water conditions are leaving anglers scratching their heads.
“With the absence of a lot of brush or cover in the water,” Beaver Lake fishing guide Payton Usrey with Over the Limit Guide Service continued, “Crappie anglers are just fishing the obvious or visible spots for spawning crappie and they are overlooking where lots of crappie are spawning on Beaver Lake. The best place to fish is going to be pea gravel or black shell rock and they are going to load up on them.”
Other areas Usrey noted to fish was the less obvious spots like little indentions, small dips or single logs are even better. Usrey believes that the majority will spawn in 1- to 3-feet and may have spawning beds in 3- to 5-feet in diameter if spawning in a group spawn situation. “I think that we’ll see some group spawn where several crappie will use the same large spawning bed,” Usrey continued, “I will keep my boat in 12- to 15-feet of water and cast to the spawning crappie. You really don’t want to blow out the bed with the trolling motor so keep your boat out away from shore.”
Usrey will either tight line cast or fish a bobber rig during the spawn. To tight line cast, Usrey uses a B’n’M Pole sharp shooter 6 rigged with a spinning reel lined with 6 pound test Berkley low vis green monofilament line. His favorite lure is the Bobby Garland Baby Shad in monkey milk, chartreuse, green lantern or purple monkey. As for the jighead Usrey uses the cheapest 1/16-ounce jighead with a #4 hook. The cheaper the better as Usrey knows clients are going to lose a lot of hooks in the cover or structure.
He approaches bobber fishing with a different setup completely compared to tight lining. “Everything is different because of the bobber,” Usrey went on, “With a bobber, I like to use a short pole only 5- to 6-foot long rigged up with a pencil sharpener reel. By that I mean an old style push 33 Zebco style reel. I will paint the bobber black to camouflage it and you won’t think that would make much of a difference, but it does increase the number of bites I get in a trip out fishing.”
As for what jig Usrey uses it’s the popular Christmas tree color pattern red/green/white marabou jighead from Bass Pro Shop with a 1/16-ounce head. He typically just has his client cast out the bobber and jighead with a 12- to 18-inch separation between the two. “There are two ways to work a bobber rig back during the spawn, I like to cast out the bobber and jig then slowly retrieve it in,” Usrey continued, “or I will have a client reel, stop, pop it then let it set still a little and continue that way back to the boat.”
Two tips Usrey gave was first don’t backwash the spawn area. If you don’t know for sure give it a wide birth just to make sure. The second tip was don’t fish the obvious spots. “On Beaver Lake and other popular lakes don’t fish the obvious spots. They have been hammered and few crappie are left to catch there,” said Usrey.
