Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Bundle up and go
Winter is angler’s crappie season at Lake Sequoyah.
Mike McBride’s tackle box gathers no dust during winter. An occasional snowflake might kiss the lid when he’s out in the cold catching of a fine mess of crappie.
“Winter is my favorite time to fish for crappie, except during the peak of the spawn,” McBride said.
It’s easy to see why. The reward of fishing on a 40-degree drizzly morning finned in his boat’s livewell at Lake Sequoyah, the 400-acre reservoir in southeast Fayetteville. Ten crappie were in the box when McBride lifted the lid to toss in another.
A fine mess of crappie, indeed, that included slabs of 13 and 14 inches, and one giant 16-inch crappie. Three largemouth bass in the 2-pound range were bonus fish that McBride, of Winslow, didn’t expect to catch.
Most anglers couldn’t think of worse fishing conditions than the ones McBride faced this dark Friday morning on Feb. 1. Water temperature was 38 degrees.
“There was ice here yesterday,” he testified. Water was the color of hot cocoa minus the marshmallows. His jig vanished after it sank one foot.
McBride had a couple of aces up the sleeve of his warm jacket. For one, the 50-yearold has been fishing at Lake Sequoyah since he was 9. For another, he’s fished through so many winters, he knows what gets cold-water crappie to bite.
Light is the key word. Light line and light lures put light-biting crappie in his boat. The only thing heavy are his winter clothes.
“They bite so light in the winter sometimes you can barely feel them,” he said. The way he holds his fishing rod is one reason he can feel subtle takes.
The angler grips his spincast rod so the index finger of his right hand touches the rod, not the handle. He holds the 4-pound test fishing line between the thumb and forefinger of his left hand. McBride can detect a tiny tap this way.
There’s little casting involved. He positions his boat close to underwater timber and lowers a jig vertically over the side of the boat. There’s no bobber on the line and McBride moves the lure ever so slightly. On this day, crappie bit four to six feet deep over 10 to 12 feet of water.
“You get fewer bites in the winter, but they’re from bigger fish. The big slabs seem to bite better for whatever reason,” McBride said. “They also seem to taste better coming out of this 38-degree water.”
Crappie gather around brush, branches and logs. There’s plenty of timber stacked up against the pilings of the one-lane bridge that crosses the lake, and at the old White River bridge near the Lake Sequoyah dam. The reservoir is located where the main fork and the middle fork of the White River come together.
Anglers at Lake Sequoyah can look forward to good crappie fishing in the years ahead, no matter what the season. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission studied the lake’s crappie population last fall. Kevin Hopkins, fisheries biologist with Game and Fish, said results indicate the
“You get fewer bites in the winter, but they’re from bigger fish. The big slabs seem to bite better for whatever reason. They also seem to taste better coming out of this 38-degree water.” Mike McBride, angler
crappie spawn last spring was good.
They trapped and released 936 crappie in nets from October through December. Good numbers of young crappie were in the mix, Hopkins said. By age 3, crappie at Lake Sequoyah average 11 inches long.
The research didn’t reveal high numbers of those 3-year-old crappie that were spawned in 2015, Hopkins said. Two big flood events at the lake in 2015 could have caused a poor spawn.
“I think there are pretty good numbers of 11-inch fish there,” Hopkins said. “We just didn’t get them in our nets.”
McBride tends to agree, especially when that big 16-inch crappie got him wide-eyed.
“This lake is plum full of these, and there’s some bigger than this,” he said, unhooking the trophy fish.
Crappie fishing isn’t the only attraction for anglers, McBride said. Bluegill bite well. So do largemouth bass.
During spring and summer, grass and lily pads grow in the lake. Work a buzz bait or other top-water lure around the vegetation and bass strike so hard it’s scary.
“There are some lunkers here, but there are tons of 15 and 16 inch bass,” McBride said.
“I still think this is one of the best catfish lakes. They catch some 50 and 60 pound flathead catfish here every year.”
All three catfish species — flatheads, channel ‘cat and blue ‘cat — swim in the lake. Use live bluegill to catch flatheads. Go with liver or shad for blue and channel catfish.
As for winter crappie, McBride doesn’t worry about catching cold, just fish.