CRAPPIE: Lay-down trees are prime targets for crappie

and weigh whatever species they’re studying. Fish are released after data is jotted down.

“In our electrofishing samples, we’ve been getting the most crappie along these steeper banks,” Stein said, arching another cast. His rod tip quivered, but the fish he caught was a bluegill. A pretty fish indeed but not what he was after.

Another lay-down offered up another strike. This time Stein reeled in a spotted bass. Next fish was a tiny long-eared sunfish. Finally he hit pay dirt and welcomed a fine looking crappie aboard the canoe. It went straight into the ice chest. Crappie have to be 10 inches or longer to keep at Beaver Lake. There was no doubt about this one.

“I love catching those keepers you don’t have to measure,” Stein said.

His fishing buddy in the back of the canoe wasn’t doing so hot. In fact, he broke his fishing rod freeing a crappie jig from an underwater bush. Luckily, Stein had a spare.

The little rig was more like a kid’s rod, with a tiny reel the size of a walnut. The rod itself was so whippy it was like fishing with cooked linguine.

But oh, what fun when the next fish bit. This was no dink. It had some size and bent the little fishing rod into a semi-circle. A big fight on this little rod had both men laughing.

When the one-minute battle was through, Stein slid a net under a keepersized walleye. Walleye have to be 18 inches or longer to keep. This one measured 18.001 inches. A fish fry was in the making.

Another lay-down offered up another strike. This time Stein reeled in a spotted bass. Next, a long-eared sunfish bit. Size wasn’t much, but they were catching a good number of fish. When they called it a day at high noon, they’d caught eight species of fish — crappie, walleye, long-eared sunfish, green sunfish, bluegill, spotted bass, largemouth bass and warmouth.

“All that just by paddling a canoe around in a cove,” Stein said when the catching was through.

••• Flip Putthoff can be reached at fputthof@nwaonline.com or on Twitter @NWAFlip

NWA Democrat-Gazette/FLIP PUTTHOFF Small lures work best for crappie, but other fish bite them as well. Good choices include Arkie Crappie Crank crank bait (top to bottom) Arkie Shinee Hinee jig, Roadrunner curly-tail jig and tube jigs with a red or black body and chartreuse tail.

NWA Democrat-Gazette/FLIP PUTTHOFF Lay-down trees are prime targets for crappie. Stein works a jig along lay-down timber April 22, 2016 in the Pine Creek arm of Beaver Lake.

NWA Democrat-Gazette/FLIP PUTTHOFF Walleye were a bonus to catch April 22, 2016 while crappie fishing at Beaver Lake. Walleye and crappie were eager to bite silver Slab Buster jigs along gravel banks.