CRAPPIE WHEN IT SIZZLES

More Inside Ledge Tactics

EDITOR'S NOTE: Although skeptical about the possibilities of catching crappie in 100-degree weather, I had to believe what Phillip Criss of Adger, Alabama, a fishing guide who always had produced crappie year-round, said. He promised if we had hot weather, a clear sky and a current running through the lake that we would catch more and bigger crappie than we ever had taken in our lives. And what I learned completely changed my mind about hot-weather crappie fishing.

Phillip Criss and I anchored the boat at the point where the creek channel intersected the main river channel."Throw your line upstream, and let your bait drift with the current to the lip of the break," Criss said. "Crappie will start ganging-up around the stumps. We'll catch as many as you want." I always had believed that the worst-possible crappie-fishing conditions included extremely hot weather, bright skies and little or no wind. But on 12-consecutive casts, my quill sank as my bobber drifted by underwater stumps on the edge of the break. Each time a 1- to 1-1/2-pound crappie fought its way to the surface.

As I questioned Criss about why crappie held in this particular place on this specific day, he explained, "when current is being pulled through a lake, the spot where a creek channel intersects a major river channel with stumps and trash on its edge provides everything crappie need - highly-oxygenated water, cover and baitfish. The baitfish will run up and down the edge of the creek channel and the river channel, concentrating where the river channel and the creek channel intersect. The crappie can rest on the up-current side of the creek channel just under the lip of the break and attack baitfish swimming along the edge of the break. If you understand where baitfish concentrate during the summer, you can locate good places to fish for crappie." I also learned from Criss about other honeyholes for hot-weather fishing.

TOMORROW: LAYING TREES