PUSHIN'
The final tactic for your Weiss winter arsenal is simply a method of putting live bait exactly where you want it in relatively shallow water and keeping it there. At Weiss this method is best for late winter, when fish are starting to move in to spawn. Weiss is full of docks, stumps, and brushpiles, and when the spawn nears, shallow woody cover on a flat is likely to hold fish, especially if deep water lies nearby. The Chattooga and Little River arms of the lake hold considerable promise early in the season; later on, Coosa River sloughs around Riverside Campground will prove savvy choices.

The tackle needed for pushin' isn't complicated. First get your hands on some long soft-action crappie poles -- something like 10 or 12 feet in length; pair the rods with ultralight spinning reels spooled up with 6-pound-test monofilament. Tie a 3/4-ounce bell sinker to the end of your line; about a foot up the line, add a snelled No. 1 Aberdeen hook and, a foot above that, another similar hook. Anglers serious about this method rig the front of the boat with a battery of rod holders so that they can easily fish multiple rods at once.

The rods should extend out from the bow of the boat in something like the way the fingers extend from the palm of your hand. Bait the hooks with lively minnows, remembering that a big bait means a big bite. Select an area, and simply drop your lines down until the weight hits bottom, and then lift it off by the giving the reel a crank or two. Begin moving very slowly around the area, making sure to use the long poles to put the bait up under docks, around brushpiles, or anywhere else that looks as if it might hold fish.

The speed at which you move along is critical. If your lines are going straight down, or are just barely angled back, you have it just right; if the line's swinging back much at all, you're going too fast.

As with bumping bottom, the one drawback to pushin' is sensitivity to wind speed. A windy day makes proper boat control almost impossible. Go with the wind, and you're moving way too fast; go against it, and it'll be hard to keep your baits in position. You'll be constantly getting blown off course, and just as with bumping bottom, the idea is to get your bait right in front of the fish's nose and keep it there for as long as it takes.

Although locals bill Weiss Lake as the "Crappie Capital of the World," it does see its ups and downs, as do all reservoirs. Crappie populations are cyclic, and some years are better than are others. Last year was one of the best for crappie fishing that anglers had been treated to in years, and that level of fishing quality should persist into this year -- especially for bigger fish, as a strong year-class continues to make its way through the fishery.