You may be spending more time fishing some of the main lake points and banks where you find cover, rather than way up some smaller feeder creek. Yet crappie will still find the available cover -- which before the lake was lowered, used to be in deeper water.

“We’ve got adequate numbers of 9- to 13-inch crappie in the population for this spring,” said Williams. “And we found some really nice 13- to 15-inch black crappie last fall while we were netting and checking on walleyes near the Burnside Island area.”

It’s likely that when the water temperatures reach the high 50s and low 60s, crappie will be back in the same areas in the spring. If they are being picked up in study nets, there’s little doubt that they like the habitat here.

CEDAR CREEK LAKE
For the crappie chaser who prefers to catch fish and isn’t out to catch 2-pound slabs only, Williams recommends a second spot in his district as a good place to go in 2008.

Cedar Creek Lake, mostly known as the one lake where trophy largemouth bass management is in place, has a good volume of mid-range-sized crappie, too.

Biologists have learned that Cedar Creek’ crappie have not responded to the 9-inch size limit in terms of super-fast growth, and so have removed that size limit, starting March 1.

“We’ve got a bunch of 7- to 8-inch fish, and some 9-inch plus fish in the population,” said Williams. “But our studies have shown more fish than we’d like are not hitting that range and really dropping off in growth.”

“For those who want to catch a good number of these mid-range fish, Cedar is going to be a good choice this spring. There are a lot of panfish anglers who clean 8- and 9-inch bluegills or shellcrackers for the skillet, and those filets are some of the best- tasting stuff you can put in your mouth. I suspect crappie of that size are still just as good as the big ones. You just need a few more to go as far.

“We believe that reduction of the number of crappie in Cedar will allow those that don’t get to the table to show better growth and thus improve the overall quality of that fishery in the next few years,” Williams explained.

“There should be less competition for food and space,” he added. “That generally results in better growth.”

GREEN RIVER LAKE
A big bright spot in Southwestern District biologist Eric Cummins’ region for crappie this year is Green River Lake.

Look out, bass anglers! This is a pretty big deal now.

Cummins notes that according to recent surveys, when fishermen were asked what they were after at Green River, crappie turned up as the most sought-after species.

That alone should tell the rest of us that something really good is going on with crappie on this reservoir. Cummins says crappie haven’t been “No. 1 since 1991” for Green River.