He recommended the backwater creeks if you fish Gainesville.

EAST-CENTRAL
Two east-central Alabama sites really shine for spring crappie fishing: Jones Bluff Lake (also known as R. E. "Bob" Woodruff Reservoir) and Jordan Lake. So said district fisheries biologist Graves Lovell, who helps sample the crappie populations in both from time to time. "Jones Bluff is the best we have," he stated.

In the spring of 2005, state fisheries biologists working at the 12,510-acre lake on the Alabama River documented an extraordinarily large spawn of crappie. Those fish ought to be there for the taking this year.

Jordan Lake, a 6,800-acre Coosa River impoundment 25 miles north of Montgomery, is the region's other crappie highlight. "The Coosa is a very fertile system, as everyone knows," Lovell said. "So there's a good forage base for the fish."

Jordan has lots of good places to look for slabs -- steep banks, rocks, docks, brushpiles and blowdowns. "I would target the blowdowns in the spring," Lovell suggested.

Jones Bluff is more a riverine lake. Some of the best crappie fishing, according to Lovell, is right off the main current. "There are a few backwater creeks," he said, "but this body of water also has a lot of blowdowns, and that is again where I would look for the crappie. Some of the biggest crappie I have ever seen have come from Jones Bluff."

SOUTHEAST
In the southeastern corner of the state, Lake Eufaula stands out as the best crappie destination, District biologist Ken Weathers said. But Gantt and Point A lakes on the Conecuh River are also excellent choices.

Weathers believes that anglers take too little advantage of the crappie fishing at all three lakes. "We're expecting another pretty good spring this year," he said. "We've got good crappie numbers -- but our size is good, too."

Eufaula was feeling the effects of the drought going into the winter, with water levels about 5 feet below normal.

In early spring, Weathers said, crappie anglers should probe deep ledges with jigs and minnows. As the water warms later in the spring, those fish move up. "They'll get as shallow as 2 to 4 feet," the biologist noted.

Because Eufaula has such a strong tradition as a bass destination, the crappie are underfished. Samplings of crappie on the reservoir had turned up fish as old as 11 and 12 years old -- proof that some fish are dying of old age rather than being caught by anglers.