Look for the crappie there in brushtops or along creek channels. "There's not a lot of causeway habitat like you see on some of the big Tennessee River impoundments," Floyd noted. "Two years ago, we had a really good year-class of crappie here, so that's what anglers are enjoying now."

Crappie are popular with anglers at the Bear Creek impoundments -- creel surveys by state fisheries personnel have shown as much as 40 percent of the spring fishing there targets papermouths -- so expect company.

Wheeler Lake is another good bet for slabs in this district, with fish being found in some of the stumpflats off the main creek arms. Reports that Wheeler's crappie fishing has picked up in recent months are circulating.

A good shad base enables Wheeler's crappie to grow very fast. The fishing at the lake is cyclical, with exceptional fishing every three or four years.

WEST-CENTRAL
Aliceville Lake is considered the premier crappie destination in this locale, but, said district fisheries biologist Jerry Moss, its sister, Gainesville Lake, can be just as good. Covering some 6,400 acres on the Tenn-Tom Waterway, it's a river-run type of reservoir with some creek backwaters running off the main river.

"A difference in Aliceville and Gainesville is that Aliceville has a lot of plants or weeds," Moss said. "The weedlines can be good places to find crappie."

Both lakes have standing timber that affords another great habitat to probe for crappie. "Our crappie anglers do really well," asserted Moss. "Our growth rates for crappie are as good as anywhere in the Southeast. We've got a lot of shad as a food source. It's just a terrific fishery."

But, he added, even at outstanding venues like Aliceville and Gainesville there's only an "exceptional" year-class of crappie every three to five years. "It does coincide with high water, so one thing we're doing is working closely with the (U.S. Army) Corps of Engineers to manipulate water levels to improve the chances of a good spawn."

Of course, that might not be possible this spring, since the region has had two straight years of drought. But the drought hasn't affected the fishing yet, and Moss expects a good spring at both Gainesville and Aliceville this year.

According to Moss, the bigger fish seem to come from Aliceville, but the Gainesville population appears to be just as abundant. "Aliceville gets a lot of press about its crappie fishing," the biologist pointed out, "and Gainesville is overlooked."