 WINTERTIME
CRAPPIE FISHING AT WEISS LAKE
What is Crappie Unlimited
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.
Crappie Unlimited started here at Weiss Lake, and next
year there will be a similar program on Kentucky Lake.
We hope that the Crappie Unlimited philosophy will be
adopted by crappie fishermen throughout the nation.
Every year, guides and fishermen who belong to Crappie
Unlimited on Weiss Lake sink brushpiles and build stake
beds in the lake to increase the habitat for the crappie
and the bass. In an average year, we’ll put out
300 to 500 stake beds and brushpiles. Each of the locations
of these stake beds and brushpiles is marked as a waypoint
on a GPS (global position system) receiver. The fishermen
who have these waypoint numbers can use their GPS receivers
to go to this underwater cover and fish. When you join
Crappie Unlimited, you get the GPS  coordinates
for the brushpiles and stake beds in Weiss. Then when
you fish on Weiss Lake, you’ve got several hundred
brushpiles and stake beds that you can check for crappie,
and you have as good a database of underwater structure
as any guide on the lake. By joining Crappie Unlimited,
you’re also helping us improve the habitat of
the lake and create more habitat for more crappie. Then
more fishermen can fish here successfully.
On Alabama’s Gulf Coast, each year for the last
two years, the boat captains have held a Red Snapper
World Championship, where for a $5 entry fee you have
the opportunity to win thousands of dollars worth of
prizes. That $5 entry fee has been used to build over
500-artificial reefs to raise more red snapper and other
species for saltwater fishermen. A year after these
reefs are sunk, the locations of these reefs and their
GPS coordinates are put on the Alabama Marine Resources
web page. The anglers who fish in salt water and participate
in the Red Snapper World Championship are using their
dollars to build more habitat and have more fishing
spots. This philosophy is the same one we’re using
at Weiss Lake to build more underwater reefs for crappie,
bass, bream and the other species that will use that
habitat each year.
When we build stake beds, each bed will have 50 to
100 stakes in it. When we put out brushpiles, there’ll
be two or three hardwood tree tops bound together and
sunk along the edges of creek and river channels about
100-yards apart. We also put brushpiles on underwater
humps, drop-offs and ledges. These brushpiles will last
up to 6 years, and most of the brush is in 6 to 12 feet
of water. We also put out brushpiles that are ideal
for winter fishing as well as spring and summer fishing.
To get more information about Crappie Unlimited, you
can call J.R.’s Marina at (256) 779-6461.  One
year’s membership costs $35 per year, and you
get a choice of a fishing cap or a t-shirt, a Crappie
Unlimited decal and the GPS coordinates for the brushpiles
and stake beds. To become a lifetime member, the charge
is $150 initiation fee and $50 per year after that.
To learn more about how to become a member and all the
benefits of being a member of Crappie Unlimited, visit
www.crappieunlimited.com.
We’ve been asked why did we start this program,
and the answer is simple. When the power company draws
the lake down 6 feet every winter, the brushpiles and
stake beds will begin to dry rot. Then in several years,
all that structure will be gone out of the lake. If
no one puts any new cover out and creates new brushpiles,
when that cover’s gone, so are the fish. What
we try and do is have new brushpiles being built every
year to not only keep the crappie population we have,
but also to try and grow the population by enhancing
the habitat and providing more cover for the crappie
and the baitfish on which they feed. A byproduct of
building these crappie brushpiles is that bass and any
other species of fish will hold on to them too.
As I’ve said earlier, one of the reasons why
people come from all over the country to Weiss Lake
is the size of crappie we have here. Three years ago
our lake produced a crappie that weighed 5-pounds, 1-ounce.
A lady caught this fish in Cowan Creek while fishing
a minnow off the dock at Pruitt’s Fish Camp. The
10 crappie, all caught in 2-months time during Feburary
and March, in our display case here at J.R.’s
Marina weigh from 2-pounds, 13-ounces to 3-pounds, 14-ounces.
Two to 2-1/2-pound crappie are fairly common on our
lake, and a 3-pounder isn’t uncommon. My biggest
crappie weighed 3-pounds, 12-ounces, and I had a  customer
catch one that weighed 3-pounds, 14-ounces. Weiss Lake
crappie get so big, so quick, because the water in the
lake never gets too cold, the crappie at Weiss can feed
all year long, three river systems flow into Weiss that
bring a lot of fertility to the lake, and Weiss Lake
has plenty of shallow-water flats and drop-offs. The
lake is overpopulated with shad, so the Weiss Lake crappie
don’t have to wonder if and when they’re
going to feed. They simply open their mouths. All three
river systems, the Little River, the Chattooga River
and the Coosa River, come into Alabama from Georgia,
and when they leave Weiss Lake, they flow together to
become the Coosa River system.
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.
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