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Fill Up Fast: Crappie Season Has Arrived

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By FRANK SARGEANT

Tribune correspondent

Published: December 14, 2008

Fillets by the gallon bucket? Ice chests full of fish? A fish fry to feed the neighborhood? There aren't many species of fish left in Florida that permit such prodigious harvests, but the black crappie, also called speckled perch, is one. And December through April is speck time.

State biologists say the liberal 25-fish-per-person-per-day limit on specks will do populations no harm because the species is so prolific and so widespread. Schools of hundreds amass offshore in most larger lakes throughout the winter, and these fish swarm grassy shorelines from March to April to spawn, drawing armies of "speckaholics" who couldn't care less about catching any other species than this silver panfish.

Special boats are rigged just for specks - the pontoon boat is the classic - and some are rigged with so many rods they look like a spider in the center of a web. Dropping numerous baits is the key to dredging up a limit of specks in short order. When the boat drifts over a school, five or six rods are likely to dip at once.

Finding specks is usually easy on prime waters, and there are several productive lakes within a few hours drive of the Bay area. Panasoffkee, Harris, Griffin, Toho, East Toho, Hatchineha, Kissimmee, Istokpoga, Okeechobee, Monroe, George and Crescent are standouts, among many others. The lakes in Tenoroc Preserve northeast of Lakeland can also be excellent, but special rules there preclude taking large numbers of fish - the limit is 10, with a 10-inch size limit, on most of these lakes.

Of course, no matter what the quarry, there are "an awful lot of places where they ain't," as an old fish camp operator once told me. Finding where they are, in December, January and early February, is best accomplished with a depth finder. Just motor over water 8 to 14 feet deep and look for baitfish schools - clouds of dots - near the bottom. If there is a lot of bait, the specks will be nearby, so this is where you begin to troll or drift. A GPS simplifies things; after you make a good drift or two, simply follow the electronic track on the screen to repeat until you have your limit.

Speck fishing welcomes crowds, and fishing four to six anglers in a boat is no problem, as it would be in bass fishing. Most anglers either drift or slowly troll; casting is rare, and since the fish average less than a foot long, there are no extended fights to threaten tangled lines.

It's a great family sport, too. No special skills are required. You simply watch for the bobber to sink or the pole to bend, and haul up dinner.

Gear can be as simple as it gets - a 10- to 14-foot cane pole, a similar length of 6-pound-test monoflament, a tiny split shot, slip cork and size 6 hook are all it takes. Many serious crappie fishermen invest in "Bream Buster" graphite poles, which are lighter and more sensitive but serve the same function as a cane pole - there is no reel. Live Missouri minnows, 1 to 3 inches long, are the favored bait. They are on sale at all freshwater baitshops at this time of year.

For trolling, most anglers use light spinning gear, tipped with 1/16- to 1/32-ounce jigs such as Hal Flies, white or yellow bucktails, or any sort of tiny swimmer-tail jig. The smallest minnow-shaped swimbaits are also effective. Some anglers tip a small hairless jig like Doc's Goofy Jig with a minnow.

Presentation is typically at walking speed or slower - too fast and crappies will ignore it. Also, if the offering runs too shallow, the fish won't see it in the typically tannin-stained lakes where they thrive. Most catches are made within a couple of feet of the bottom.

The game changes in late February and on into April as the crappies head for the shoreline to spawn. Then, the fish will be found in water 2 to 6 feet deep, always within a foot or two of lily pads, bullrushes, maidencane and other water weeds. Anglers push their boats deep into these weed beds, then drop minnows or jigs straight down and attempt to pull the fish straight up before they can wrap around the cover.

Specks are tasty in all the usual fish recipes, but it's best to simply gut them, remove the heads and scales, dust with flour and deep fry them whole. Old Florida folks even eat the fins and tails, which taste like fishy potato chips.

There is no size limit on speckled perch in most lakes, but a freshwater license is required.

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