Brushpiles placed in the lake specifically for crappie are another excellent sort of place, but the anglers who put those piles out usually guard their locations very closely. You can sometimes find them off boathouses or docks, as many dock owners who fish place the brush within casting distance of their docks in order to try catching crappie in their back yards. One clue is to look for docks with rod holders attached -- there's probably a reason for those being there!

Guntersville has good, steady lake levels, something that other reservoirs have struggled with during the long drought that has gripped the state the last two years.

Even as good as Guntersville can be, district fisheries biologist Dan Catchings said, it's not the best crappie lake in northeast Alabama -- that honor goes to Weiss Lake, an impoundment on the Coosa River covering some 30,200 Cherokee County acres.

"Weiss is a shallow, fertile reservoir and seems to be just geared perfectly for crappie production," Catchings said. "There's a good shad population."

Going into the winter, Catchings added, the drought that has gripped the state has left the water level at Weiss about 6 feet below full pool. For such a shallow lake, that can create problems with regard to the usability of boat ramps and the safety of running conditions if spring rains don't materialize.

The dry weather isn't expected to affect crappie populations this year, but it may cause a down cycle in their numbers in a couple of years. Crappie reproduction and recruitment tend to be strongest in years of high water -- something to keep in mind for the future on Weiss and just about every other Alabama impoundment.

"We had a good year-class at Weiss in 2003," Catchings pointed out. "It was a poor spawn in 2004 and a moderate one in 2005 and 2006."

The dry weather aside, the biologist said, conditions are looking good for strong fishing on Weiss again in the spring of 2008.

NORTHWEST
In northwest Alabama, the Bear Creek lakes -- a chain of four fairly small reservoirs on that creek's drainage -- offer the best crappie fishing, reported district fisheries biologist Keith Floyd.

"The last couple of years, the Bear Creek lakes have been our best bet for crappie," he stated. "They have a lot of crappie in the 10- to 11-inch range."