After anchoring the boat, I pitched a jig beside a stump, danced it around and jigged it up and down a time or two. That was more than the 11é2 pound Soc-e-lait could stand as it sucked the jig in for what it thought would be an easy meal. As it turned out it was an easy meal for me.

“Could this be one of those days?” I thought to myself? One cast and one fine soc-e-lait, or crappie as it is better known around here. While some anglers are superstitious about catching a fish on the first cast, I’m not one of those, as I expect to catch a fish on every cast. With 20 mph winds coming out of the south, conditions were not quite ideal for catching pre-spawn crappie, however.

With the recent spate of windy, cold, wet and nasty weather, fishing may be the last thing on most anglers’ minds. However, the crappie are getting ready to begin their annual spring spawning ritual. And yes, I did head out to the water late one afternoon last week. Past experiences on the water in February gave me hope that the crappie would bite, if you could find them.

Go slow

After you have located them, the one key to catching cold weather crappie for me is to slow down. You can’t get in a hurry and cover a lot of water with your favorite jig, beetle spin or crappie bait. You’ve got to “force feed” them during this time of year, and that means to slow down.

My recent trip occurred in an area lake that is known to produce a nice crappie or two. On this trip, we were fishing in about 6 feet of water along channel drops and structure areas. It didn’t take long to figure out that the crappie were staging in these areas around stumps. I set a small cork about thirty inches to three feet above my jig and started fishing.

Working the outer edges of the stumps, we continued to get bites from the hungry crappie. Sometimes they would strike so lightly you could hardly detect the bite. If the cork bobbled slightly or did something just a little different you had to set the hook, or you would lose them. When fishing in high winds you just have to keep in constant contact with the cork and jig, with a keen eye out for any difference in the movement of the cork.

As we continued to work down the lake it readily became apparent that we would have to keep on the move. Most of the stumps would be good for only one crappie. Others would hold a couple of fish. Occasionally we would even catch a bull bream or small bass.

While I sometimes like to work a jig pole when the crappie are tight to brush in shallow water, I prefer a jig and cork this time of year, when the crappie are still lethargic and not quite as aggressive. If you find the crappie, they will usually bite if you have the right combination. While I’m quick to change colors, I usually stick to one specific color after I determine what they want.

Color counts

On this day we were using jigs with red heads, black bodies, and chartreuse tails. Other combinations with chartreuse would probably work also, but I usually start out with black and chartreuse in muddy or stained water. My fishing partner was getting a few bites on yellow or green and chartreuse but wasn’t having quite as much success as I until I pitched him a couple of my black and chartreuse grubs.

We continued to fish right up until dark and the bite got even better. A couple of times we even caught doubles! While the action wasn’t really blistering, we did catch crappie steadily throughout the afternoon. Our final tally stood at 27 fish. Not bad for a February crappie outing. Of course, you would know that the weather took a turn for the worse the next day and it has been even colder ever since.

If you’re chomping at the bit to catch a fish, don’t wait until you hear they’re biting or you just might miss out on some fine fishing. Just have your gear ready and head for the water the next pretty day you have. You just might be glad you did.