If you want to escape that competition, according to the biologist, check some of the other creeks where fewer boats are. Search around a bit for some brush or a ledge in a little deeper water, and you might come up with a honeyhole that’s getting a lot less fishing pressure.

Don’t overlook cover in Big Bear and Little Bear creeks, such as flooded shoreline bushes, brushpiles, tree stumps and even stakebeds or other locations that attract fish. Sometimes big crappie move into those areas at the onset of the spawning period, and you can slip up on a spot and catch a number of good fish.

Barkley Lake’s trend on numbers of young fish is similar to Kentucky Lake’s. To help give these reservoirs a break until things return more to normal, beginning March 2008 the daily creel limit on crappie for both reservoirs is going to be 20 fish, versus 30 fish before.

“This measure is designed to stretch out the harvest of the larger fish a little longer,” said Jackson, “and protect a few more crappie that may help offset the downward trend in numbers.

“The average-sized crappie caught on these two lakes has been 10 inches for several years,” he added. “And until the spawns pick back up, reducing the harvest some will give more of the smaller crappie the time to grow into a higher-quality fish.”

Best spots to try on Barkley included Eddy Creek and Little River embayments, where a good proportion of the crappie are found when the spawn comes in late March and early April. Don’t overlook the less-fished creeks, either. Spend some time searching for schools of crappie in Donaldson Creek and Devils Elbow.

Don’t expect to be completely alone, but it’s likely there will be fewer boats in these smaller creeks, especially on weekdays.

LAKE CUMBERLAND
It’s been a busy last year or so at Lake Cumberland for the thousands of anglers and boaters this reservoir attracts each season. A major concern to many anglers is the drop in water level for the long-term repair of the Wolf Creek Dam. How would the repairs affect access to the lake, as well as the lake’s many fisheries?

The lake will remain down from traditional levels for some time into the future, but most of the fear that this change might clobber fishing in general has now been alleviated.

According to Southeast District fishery biologist John Williams, Cumberland is his top crappie pick for 2008.

“Cumberland contains quality populations of both black and white crappie,” Williams reports, “although the black crappie seem to be doing the best right now.

“We have excellent growth rates, and these fish attain really nice sizes -- they just aren’t as numerous as you might find in other reservoirs,” he added.

This spring, some of the shoreline habitat that crappie fishermen may have utilized in the past will be unavailable, so it might be worth an early trip to locate a few new likely-looking spots to hook up with spring-spawn fish. Remember, though, that even at its lowered level, Cumberland still holds over 35,000 acres of water. That’s a lot of territory and within it, plenty of places to try for crappie when they start moving more to the banks.