 WINTERTIME
CRAPPIE FISHING AT WEISS LAKE
Crappie Plus
EDITOR’S NOTE: Jason Tucker, who guides out of
J.R.’s Marina on Weiss Lake near Cedar Bluff,
Alabama, has guided and fished on Lake Weiss, known
as the Crappie Capital of the World, for 18 years. He
guides more than 200 days a year for crappie during
the fall, winter and spring and for striped bass during
the hot summer months. Tucker’s also a member
of the Weiss Lake Improvement Association and Crappie
Unlimited, and you’ll learn more about both these
organizations. Crappie Unlimited has the most-unique
inshore artificial-reef-building program ever that’s
funded by crappie fishermen, for crappie fishermen,
and improves the habitat for all the fish in the lake.
I’ve been asked why I like the Spike-It jigs
so much. These jigs are somewhat fatter than most jigs,
and the company has some great colors. When you’re
fishing stained water, color is important, and Spike-It
has a wide variety of colors. The BlowHole that we fish
during the winter is right off Highway 68, coming out
of Cedar Bluff. When the crappie are biting, folks will
see there’s a number of boats out there. So, they’ll
go home, get  their
boats and come back to start fishing. I have seen as
many as 50 boats in this same area fishing for crappie
at one time. When you have a tremendous number of jigs
in the water, you need a jig that’s a little special,
if you’re going to catch more crappie than the
other crappie fishermen in a crowded situation. That’s
why I like Spike-It jigs. One of the biggest problems
we have when there are so many people fishing is that
many of these anglers will crank up their big engines
instead of using their trolling motors to change position,
which spooks the crappie. You can’t troll in this
region because there are so many boats. So, the best
way is to anchor-down on the shallow part of the ledge.
Christmas week in 2005 I had three other fishermen
with me, and we caught 180-keeper crappie out of this
hole in 4 hours. I don’t know of many places in
the country where you can go crappie fishing in the
wintertime and produce these kinds of numbers. That’s
why people come from so far away to fish Weiss Lake,
not only in the spring and summer but in the winter
months as well. We have so many crappie concentrated
in so many places along where we fish, catching two
crappie at one time is an everyday occurrence. We work
hard to make sure there are plenty of crappie in the
lake throughout the year for fishermen to catch, not
only by stocking crappie but also by building habitat
and sinking deep beds and brush. We have a unique situation
here at Weiss where three different river systems come
together to create Weiss Lake, including the Little
River, the Chattooga River and the Coosa River. All
these river systems have not only the old underwater
riverbeds in them but also plenty of creeks, sloughs
and ditches off them.  When
Alabama Power starts generating current through the
lake, the crappie will move to all these underwater
bottom breaks and hold right on the edges of those creek
channels, ditches and river channels. By sinking brush,
we can concentrate the crappie at the brush piles along
these underwater current breaks. The lake also contains
natural underwater eddies. If you know where these eddies
are, particularly the ones with brush in them, you can
find and catch more crappie. Because there is so much
structure in Weiss, we prefer to fish with the 10- or
12-pound-test Mossy Oak Fishing Line. We usually fish
with two jigs when we’re cork and fly fishing.
So we have two knots tied in the line, plus you have
your line clipped onto your bobber in two different
places. Even though our weather is usually warm during
the middle of the day, often early in the morning during
the winter months, you’ll have ice build-up on
your guides. You need a line that’s really strong
and can take a lot of abuse, and that’s why we
like the Mossy Oak Fishing Line. I know this pound test
is heavier than most crappie fishermen fish with, but
we also have three other problems to deal with when
we’re crappie fishing at Weiss – spotted
bass, saltwater striped bass and catfish. These species
will also eat crappie jigs. When you get one of these
fish on, you want to be able to hold it and get it to
the boat. By using the heavier line and those sensitive
but strong B’n’M poles, our fishermen have
a better chance of landing not only crappie but also
any other fish that bite crappie jigs.
Two other things that are critical for crappie-catching
success is the type of knot you tie and the depth you
fish. The knot we use is called the troller’s
knot and is made by putting the jig on the line and
then tying a loop in the line so that the line tie jig
on the loop can move freely up and down that loop  knot.
When I’m fishing with a bobber and twitch or move
the bobber, the jig doesn’t jump or dart like
it will if it’s tied directly to the line. It
just quivers under the water like a baitfish that’s
trying to hold its position in the water rather than
swimming. When we see crappie on our depth finders,
we don’t want our baits right at the exact depth
that the crappie are holding. We want the baits to be
a little above the crappie. Crappie look up to feed
because they’re trying to feed on the baitfish
feeding above them - not below them. You want your jigs
to run above the crappie, not through or below the crappie.
To learn more about Jason Tucker, J.R.’s Marina
and the fishing at Weiss Lake call (256) 779-6461 or
visit www.jrsmarina.com.
TOMORROW: WHAT IS CRAPPIE UNLIMITED
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