Page 11 - Crappie NOW - April 2018

SOLVING “CURRENT” SITUATIONS

straight down into the thickest stuff I can find. scatter, especially in extremely heavy current
It comes through the limbs good. That little in the winter.”
weeder works perfect.” Changes in current dictate a change in
The B&B products (B&B Weedless tactics, and Overstreet adjusts his approach
Crappie Jigs on Facebook) are normally hair accordingly.
jigs tied one at a time. However, Overstreet The fish tend to re-position just after a
gets some of the bare jigs and pairs them reduction in current. Crappie will be found at
with Midsouth tubes in black/chartreuse, the top or on the perimeter of a current break
orange/chartreuse, and junebug/chartreuse in no or very slow current. For Overstreet, his
for stained water and blue/chartreuse and main considerations then are adjusting depth
green/chartreuse for clearer water. and presentations.
He fishes the jigs on a B’n’M Bucks He will still use one-pole tactics,
Graphite Jig Pole (www.bnmpoles.com) dropping a 1/8- or 1/4-oz. jig with a Midsouth
and a reel spooled with six-lb. test line. The tube just above the structure.
small line is necessary to cut through the “You might have wood with the top at
current. Bigger line creates a bow or pushes 14 feet. I drop that jig straight down to 12 or
the jig back under the boat. A near-vertical 13 feet just above the wood,” he said.
presentation is necessary to prevent snags. “People say they can’t catch them when
The same is true of a minnow rig dropped the current slows down or is not running.
into a top. They are still fishing down in the brush. If it’s
Adding a split shot above his jig is a slower current, the fish tend to suspend up.
sometimes a necessity to maintain the drop The people who are still fishing down in the
angle. Overstreet adjusts the weight based on brush are under the crappie. That’s why they
current volume and pinches on just enough are still not catching them.”
split shot about a foot above the jig to keep Overstreet also spider rigs in a light to
his presentation vertical. moderate current when he has located fish on
“Whether I am fishing a jig or a minnow the perimeter of structure. He uses the same
rig, I want to use the lightest weight possible,” BGJP jig poles for his spider-rigging and tends
he said. “Sometimes a bigger weight to favor a B’n’M Capps and Coleman Minnow
interferes with the bite. But I don’t want that Rig in those situations, opting for the lightest
bait pushing back under the boat. That’s why weight and lightest line possible to complete
more weight is necessary at times.” his spider-rigging set-up. Overstreet adds a
Overstreet rarely anchors, instead snap to the end of his main line so that he
attempting to gain some forward momentum can change weights quickly if necessary. At
in the current with his trolling motor. As he times, he even carries two separate sets of
nears a waypoint, he backs off to a “slow trolling rods equipped with different weights,
and steady” pace and may eventually be 14-footers with 1/2-oz weights and 12-footers
motionless. A MinnKota Fortrex 80-lb. trolling with 1-oz. weights.
motor allows him to maintain boat control and
position in all but the most extreme current.
Overstreet finds crappie in the moving-
water current conditions almost every month
although he said May through December are
the absolute best to pinpoint main-river fish.
“You can find fish out there on main
river systems year-round,” he said. “Some of
those fish are dead set on staying on the main
river channel. At least a few of the fish will
stay out there or very close every day of the
year. There are a few times that they begin to

11 Crappie NOW April 2018