Alright, let’s set the stage…the wind is a little stronger than you’d like and the temperatures could be a bit better than the 40 degree F reading when you left the house. Your fingers are starting to get just a little bit numb from the stinging blast that blows in every now and then. There’s a decent ‘bow’ in your line as you try to make contact with the 16 th ounce jig that you hope will entice a big crappie. Your eyes water as you think about warm coffee or maybe you should have slept in. Then, that bow in the line makes a little jump and you some how manage to set the hook to a weighty fish that puts a big arc in your ultralight rod. Easing the fish in, you see that you have what you want…it’s a slab crappie well over a foot in length! As you ease the fish boat ward you see that it is just barely hooked and in danger of escape. Reaching down, you try to grab the slippery critter as it cartwheels for freedom. Thinking it is hooked well enough, you try to lift the plump crappie over the side of the boat by grabbing the line and giving it the heave-ho.



Just as it seems that the fish will clear the gunwale, it falls off and remains motionless in the water for a few seconds, as if to show you just how big and broad it is and that your last, desperate swipe at it with your free hand will surely be in vain. Just out of reach, the slab flips its’ tail and quickly disappears to the depths where it came from. Welcome, my friend, to the world of cold weather crappie fishing.

That is actually just one scenario of the cold weather crappie gig. Hopefully, you won’t loose too many fish like that, but it does happen. More often, you can expect some better weather conditions, warmer temperatures and cooperative fish. In truth, some of the best crappie fishing of the season occurs just after ice out. Here’s a game plan for cashing in on some slabs this early spring before the spawn.



GEAR…

Although ultra-light rods from 5 to 6 feet have been the panfishing standard for many years, an increasing number of panfishers are opting for the longer rods that tape 8 to 11 feet for longer casts and better leverage when hoisting slabs out of brush or away from man-made wooden structures. Crappies can hunker down tight to them during the cold. We use B&M crappie poles from 9 to 11 feet and Bass Pro Shops Wally Marshall Crappie Rods that go 8 to 9 feet and are able to make longer cast into the wind and gain more sensitivity from the soft tips of these rods. We use medium size spinning reels with a good drag system and spool with either Stren or Trilene limp, castable monos in 4 or 6 pound strengths. I tend to favor the fluorescent blue line as it aids in strike indication for these old eyes of mine. If you are doing close quarter work or vertical jigging, then you can do just fine with the shorter ultra lights. But for distance casting from the bank or pulling slabs from the wood, we like the longer rods.

Lure selection can be pretty simple this time of year with a heavy nod going to 1/16 th or 1/8 ounce leadheads jigs of the round or shad dart style head and in various colors. This is the only time of year that I tend to favor jigs heavier than the 16 th ounce because fish are often deeper and the extra weight of them helps to keep the bow out of your line during windy conditions or when crappies are deep, which they often are during the cold. On warmer, sunny days you may find fish higher in the water column.



Colors can be critical, so it pays to have some variety in your arsenal. We do well with chartreuse, lime green, white, pink or shad patterned plastics like Panfish Assassins, Bass Pro Stubby Butts, or any variety of tubes and twisters that run from 1.5 to 2.5 inches long. There are days when one particular color seems to get all the attention, so it pays to experiment. To hook more soft biting slabs, open up the gap of the hook on your jig so that it is wider than the standard ‘j’ shape as it was purchased from the store. Cold weather crappies often hit lightly and don’t hold on very long and the open gap enables better hooksets. Sometimes, you’ll need to cast farther or go deeper with the small jigs. That’s when we pinch on removable split-shot to adapt to the situation.



LOCATION

For sure, crappies tend to maintain their love for wood structures throughout the season. Even in early spring and late winter, big fish will favor brush, fallen trees, bridge supports and docks. Slow, patient and methodical fishing in these areas will usually yield fish in the cold, as jigs placed close to these structures will get their attention. You must be willing to lose some lures to get to the slabs, or ‘boys’, as I like to call them. An overlooked option for cold crappie would be concrete or riprap areas that are exposed to the sunlight during much of the day. These structures heat up enough to draw crappies and other game. And, shadows from these forms can often provide ambush points for fish. Check ‘em out!

Timing can be the key for a hot bite in the early spring. If a few days of balmy weather occurs, then I’d say it’s time to try for some slabs. These fish are somewhat sensitive to barometric changes and oncoming warm fronts in the late winter or early spring can put the odds in your favor to cash in on some of the ‘boys’. A couple of hours before an oncoming cold front can also turn them on. Be ready to make a move, if you can, according to the weather.

In the Mason-Dixon/Mid Atlantic region, waters that can be productive in the cold would include Liberty Reservoir bridges and fallen trees, Marburg Lake (near Hanover, PA.) bridges and up-lake flats, Pinchot Lake (near Rossville, PA.) brushpiles and isolated fallen wood, and many Delmarva millponds and spillways that often go overlooked during the cold. Bigger and more famous lakes suchas 9,000 acre Lake Anna and 50,000 acre Kerr Lake in Virginia are year round crappie factories that annually cough up three pounders.

This year, after the snow flies and the ice melts, make an effort to cash in on some cold-water crappies. Who knows? Maybe you’ll hook up with a few of the ‘boys’.

The fish just barely thumped my 32-nd ounce jig but immediately felt much heavier than the panfish I had been catching the past hour. Setting the hook, I felt that I would likely lose whatever was on the end of my two-pound test mono. My son Matt eased the boat out and away from the shoreline stickups and brush we had been fishing and tried to keep the wind from blowing us back to shore. All the while, I had to scramble, stern to bow, to keep the fish from getting either motor. Matt was looking for the net in one of the compartments, and finally came up with one as the fish finally surfaced and showed us his toothy maw…it was a big chain pickerel that had my tiny jig just hooked on the tip of it’s snout!

Meanwhile, the wind had kicked up again and we were headed right for some more shoreline brush. Matt got us back out of peril as I tried to keep pressure on the fish and get it back in close enough to get it in the net. Like all esox species, the fish seemed to have at least one last- ditch surge…several times. Matt made three attempts with the net, twice the fish slithered out, and on the third try it finally just collapsed in the belly of the rubber net, literally too long to fit like it should. But we got it in the boat!

I felt as though we had accomplished the impossible…landing a big chain pickerel on 2-pound test line and a tiny panfish jig. The fish measured just over 25 inches and was easily my personal best. Later that day, we would have several more encounters with the toothy critters, with several more fish up to 24 inches, all on ultra light gear.

Indeed, chain pickerel can be fun and exciting. It was not the first time these ’big snakes’ had caused a stir in my angling efforts. And as far as a winter target species goes, chain pickerel would have to be high on the list for the cold weather angler throughout much of the Mid-Atlantic region. They are somewhat of the Rodney Dangerfield of freshwater fish…no respect, in the way, messing up the fishing and just not liked by many anglers seeking more ‘worthy’ gamefish. Me? I like ‘em.

Much like their larger cousins the northern pike, chain pickerel are active throughout the winter and prepare to spawn in February or March in much of the mid-Atlantic waters where they are found. They are a favorite among ice anglers in parts of the northeast and are a winter catch throughout tidewater Virginia, southern Delaware, much of New Jersey and down into the Carolinas. Although not noted for tablefare, I have eaten some caught through the ice and found them to be firm and flaky and of good taste. Record size fish vary from state to state, with a Pennsylvania record going 8 pounds, 8 ounces. Maryland lists a 7-9 pickerel and Delaware a 7-8. All of these fish are true monsters, with a world record of 9 pounds, 3 ounces, coming from Georgia. Most state citation requirements need fish of 4 pounds or 24 inches to get entry. Anything larger is just a great fish in my eyes.

Classic winter pickerel patterns would be to look for fish near brush, logs, dying weed bed edges or incoming creek mouths that have not frozen over. Open water anglers can cast in-line spinners like Sims # 4 or #5’s, ¼ to 1 ounce spinner baits or simply a shad dart, tipped with a minnow, fished below a bobber. Some pickerel men just suspend large golden shiners, known regionally as ‘millroach’, below floats in and around visible cover during warm winter days and wait for a take. Ice fishermen utilize tip-ups with live minnows over sparse weed bed areas or in and around logs and laydowns on the lake floor. Some of the biggest pickerel of each winter season are caught by anglers fishing for bass or crappie in tidal flows in eastern seaboard states.

JUST A FEW ‘BACK EAST’ PICKEREL HOTSPOTS…

If you have a hankerin’ to slip out for some ‘big snakes’ this winter, then here are a few places that you might want to try in and around the Mid-Atlantic…

Deep Creek Lake, Western Maryland

This is one of the best ice-fishing spots in the nation for really big yellow perch. It also has an abundance of chain pickerel that seem to top out in the 24 inch range. Anglers using tip ups and minnows encounter them. The weed beds and point off of McHenry holds a lot of them during early ice.

Pinchot Lake, Rossville, Pennsylvania

This 340 acre lake has a variety of popular gamefish and an overlooked population of trophy chain pickerel. Every year, 5 to nearly 7 pounders are caught either through the ice on from open water on mild winters. Minnows are the primary bait, but I have caught them here using panfish jigs for crappie.

Loch Raven , Baltimore, Maryland

Surely a great and popular multi-species fishery, Loch Raven boasts a very good population of pickerel, and some trophy fish in the five pound range are in the mix. It may freeze in the winter, and ice fishing is not permitted here. But open water efforts are worthy in March and April or even as early as February if the winter is mild; a sleeper for big fish in my opinion.

Pocomoke River, Snow Hill, Maryland

On a mild winter, anglers can enjoy a multi-species effort on this scenic Delmarva waterway with bass, crappie and pickerel as the quarry. Simple bobber/jig combos can lead to some excellent catches. I have seen numerous pickerel from this river that exceeded five pounds.

Delmarva Mill Ponds

Both Maryland and Delaware have a myriad of tidal flows that boast chain pickerel and some get big. Check out Concord Pond, Nanticoke River, Lake Bonnie, Choptank River and the ponds in and around Salisbury, Maryland, to include Johnson Pond. The Chickimicomico is another good, isolated bett for winter snakes.

Tidewater Lakes of Southern Virginia

In and around Suffolk and Norfolk Virginia are several lakes that have great multi-species fishing to include big chains. Cahoon, Western Branch and Lake Prince offer good cold weather fishing for them and the bass and panfish aren’t at all shabby.