Another great technique here is to float a jig under a bobber with the current. Allow this rig to drift past the edge of any debris you can find. Let the bobber bump against the wood as it drifts along. This bobber's bumping will impart a subtle and lifelike early-season action to your lure.

Just 200 yards farther upstream on the left is a long row of stumps and overhanging brush. This is also a good place to fish. Again, tightlined minnows and small jigs are the ticket to success.

However, adventurous anglers may want to travel several miles to the very back of this creek. At the end, a small cut will allow you to enter an equally small slough. This area is well known for producing some big fish. Most local anglers will fish this slough with tiny in-line spinners or small twistertails on leadhead jigs.

Casting accuracy is a necessity here. The cover is thick, and the trees hang nearly to the water's surface.

KENTUCKY RIVER MOUTH (CARROLLTON)
The mouth of the Kentucky River is at mile 545.8.

This relatively small tributary, immediately below Carrollton, offers great early spring crappie fishing. Traditional late-March and early-April rains wash trees and bushes into its waters. Much of this debris collects along the bank.

The trees and brush attract bugs and insects. They, in turn, attract minnows. Crappie aren't far behind. And so, if you want to catch Kentucky River crappie, fish the trees and the brush along the bank.

Fishing this stuff isn't difficult, but it does take some experience and the right attitude.

First, not all trees and bushes are created equal. The newer ones, with a little greenery on them, are by far the best. The theory is that decaying greenery attracts bugs and insects, which in turn attract small baitfish. The small baitfish then attract the larger predator fish such as crappie.

Whether that's right or wrong is arguable. What isn't debatable is that crappie hide under this brush.

At times, the crappie seem to prefer outside bends where the water is deeper. But on other days, the shallow inside bends will produce the best. There's no rhyme or reason to this, so fish both areas until you find where they're hiding that particular day you are fishing.

Regardless of location, however, the best way to fish the woody structure is with minnows -- the smaller, the better. Most anglers use minnows under small quill-style floats. They'll toss the rig into a treetop's thickest parts and let the minnow swim around.