Page 11 - Crappie NOW | April 2015

T we’re doing. They don’t fish places like this.

he button willows we were fishing And that’s fine with me. The reason we’re
were thick enough to hide a hunter-orange catching all these nice crappie is because
hippo. But on the edge in open water, another nobody ever fishes here.”
fisherman somehow managed to see us. Fact is, Lewis and I often act like
“Hey! Y’all need some help?” he called. pickpockets. Years of on-the-water experience
I imagined his thoughts: “How in the have shown us that crappie—especially big
world did those guys get stuck in there?” white crappie—love isolated, seldom-fished
“Thanks for asking, but we’re fine,” pockets of water. Pockets provide crappie a
replied my companion Lewis Peeler. sense of security unavailable in water that
Peering through the tangles, I could gets fished by every passing boat. If you can
see the puzzled look on the man’s face. He find these hidden honeyholes and drop in a jig
shrugged his shoulders and continued fishing or minnow, you’ll catch some slabs.
down the edge. Had we told him we were
fishing, he surely would have thought we were Pockets in Thickets
crazy. The best pockets are those within big
Lewis returned to the business at hand, thickets of dense cover. Size isn’t important.
maneuvering a jig over a small pocket of open The pocket may be no bigger than the top of
water beside a log in the brush. He carefully a garden pail or as large as a school bus. The
guided his pole through the maze of cover, key factor is placement. The opening should
then lowered the lure into the pocket. Instantly, be in the thicket’s interior, away from the edge,
the pole bent downward. Pulling it quickly to where crappie go to avoid anglers fishing the
his rod tip, Lewis managed to pluck a fat white perimeter.
crappie from the gnarly bushes. The best pockets encompass cover
“It never fails,” Lewis said as he removed or structure features likely to attract white
the big panfish and dropped it in the livewell. crappie: a log or stump, a creek-channel edge
“Every time we pull the boat back in a pocket or standing snags. Any structure different from
like this, folks start wondering what the heck the norm is likely to attract some keepers.

11 Crappie NOW April 2015