“You get a line and I’ll get a pole and we’ll go down to the fishing hole!” So goes the refrain from an old familiar tune that is playing once again on lakes around the South. Yes, when the fruit trees bloom the crappie spawn and they’ve been doing it now for about month on Okatibbee Lake and many are still full of eggs.

Don’t you just love to hate Okatibbee Lake? Hate it you may ask. Well, Okatibbee is one of the most prolific crappie lakes in the South as far as producing numbers of crappie go. Thousands of crappie are caught from the lake each spring as everybody who can get off work and fish will be heading to the lake and they’ll be catching fish.

You can catch crappie or white perch a number of different ways and many people do all at the same time on the same lake. That’s the good part. However, if you’re like many anglers you like to fish shallow and probe the grass, bushes, shoreline brush and stumps when targeting pre-spawn and spawning crappie.

Shallow water crappie will bite almost anything you put in front of them. They like Bass Pro Jigs, Covington minnows, Roadrunner jigs, Mr. Crappie grubs, Strike King jigs, and just about anything that resembles food. Shallow water crappie are there to spawn, eat, or protect their beds and it all includes biting and eating. That means plenty of catching for anglers and you don’t have to be a pro to catch them.

So what’s the downside you might ask? Okatibbee Lake is a flood control lake and as the water warms and the fish head shallow, the lake goes up and down. If you can find the fish in the grass and start catching them then you can be sure that the water will start falling fast and the bite will die. You’ve only got a short period of time to catch them when you find them because there might not be any water there the next time day or time you come.

Catch them while you can as the lake is liable to rise 8 feet or fall a foot a day at any time during the spring.

How might you counteract the water you may wonder. Well, it’s easier said than done but by being proactive and staying on the water every day you can keep up with their whereabouts. If you can’t then the next best thing is to be versatile.

Start shallow each time you come and work deeper until you find the fish. Many times the fish will simply move a little deeper as the water falls each day. Sometimes they will leave the grass or shoreline structure and stop at the first ditch, or submerged stump field in a flat or slightly deeper area offshore. Although it may be harder to locate them there you can load the boat when you do find them.

There’s as many different techniques as there are anglers these days but a popular way to catch them offshore is by spider rigging with rod holders and trolling back and forth in the area where you locate them.

Anglers such Johnny Cumberland and Bruce Roberts fish shallow with jig poles, spinning rods or by trolling when the fish move out and they catch them at all lake levels with various techniques. Cumberland started trolling after having shoulder problems which hindered his casting. I joined him on a recent trip where he used a Capps and Coleman double minnow rig with Covington minnows. We fished 5 to 7 feet deep and caught fish while other anglers were seen on the banks catching fish.

Scott Vance is the Crappie King and he catches crappie year-round by targeting offshore fish even during the spring. Vance will utilize jigs and minnows at times depending upon what they want at the time. He’s a Pico Lures lure designer and is an avid angler and designer. Vance catches pre-spawners and post spawn fish and big ones by working submerged ditches and creek channels all while the shallow water anglers are catching spawners.

Whether you want to fish shallow with jigs and minnows or offshore there’s sure to be a few fish waiting for you right now, but you’ve got to get outdoors and GO! Carpe Diem!

Call Mike Giles at 601-917-3898 or email mikegiles18@comast.net.