HOW TO CATCH DOG-DAY CRAPPIE WITH ROGER GANT

Editor’s Note: Roger Gant of Corinth, Mississippi, has fished Pickwick Lake on the Tennessee River for more than 40 years. Gant guides on Pickwick more than 200 days a year and consistently catches limits of slab-sized crappie. Most crappie fishermen don't catch large numbers of fish during the "Dog Days" of summer, but Gant does.

"When the weather's really hot, I fish for crappie around an area with the largest amount of submerged wood I can locate," Gant says. "Pickwick Lake, where the barge traffic and the current help oxygenate the water, doesn't have a well-defined thermocline. For this reason, crappie will hold between 15- and 25-feet deep in warm temperatures, especially during July, August and the first half of September." To reel in Dog-Day crappie, Gant prefers to fish with 8-pound-test line and a 1/4-ounce hair jig. "A 1/4-ounce jig is more effective in hot weather than a 1/16-ounce jig because the weight of the 1/4-ounce jig will put it in deep water, and it will stay there when you troll with it," Gant comments. "At the depths that I fish, the water is dark, and the crappie can't decide the actual size of the jigs. They just attack the baits because they easily can detect the movements of those heavier jigs. Four-pound-test line probably will get more bites than 8-pound line will. But, I like to fish with 8-pound-test line, because I often catch crappie that weigh more than 2 pounds, and the 8-pound line holds the bigger crappie better than the smaller line does."


To learn more tips and tactics for catching crappie in the spring and summer check out “Crappie: How to Catch Them Spring and Summer”, available in both eBook and print formats. Be sure to click on look inside feature to see table of contents and read 10 percent of the book free.