Any advice?

So if a complete newb who had just started crappie fishing after many years absence and was still trying to learn, was to come from out of state for a one time shot on upper Marion in mid March. And he wanted to dunk maybe minnows or single jigs or both... Would he be best to spend his time in the “woods” of Stumphole or in the shallows along the shoreline instead?

Had some success here in WNC last Spring with jigs on 11’ BnM dropped straight down in shoreline blowdowns. So that’s about all I know.

Also, any Shellcrackers being caught yet? Too early?

The shallow bite has been slow here lately but should explode at any time. Stumphole would give you your best shot of finding fish quicker, but any creeks shoreline cover could hold fish as well. There’s just so many trees that you could fish you entire trip and never find the right ones.

That’s kinda what I’ve been hearing, still not moved into the shallows.
Up here I’m finding them in Creek mouths suspended over the tops of shoreline blowdowns on steep banks in pretty deep water. But our water surface temps are 46 to 50-ish. They’re pretty lethargic and the few I’ve caught I barely felt the bite.
I Love Stumphole, what few times I’ve been there, and I know Crappie get back in there but there in lies the mystery to me; out of several hundred thousand trees, which ones hold fish? Lol. Anyway the weather is too pretty to pass up & if I can drag my carcass out of the sack early enough I’ll drive down for the day. I don’t care what I catch and if I get skunked I’ll enjoy puttering around in the swamp.
Thank you for the reply Inkdabber!

Trust your electronics. Fish where your graph shows something there....be it bait and/or fish. If you aint seeing anything on the graph then move on.

As a follow up. I went down on Saturday (as well as a million others,lol) lots of people in Stumphole but I observed not much catching. Also a bunch of big motors flying up the river. Beautiful day!
As mentioned above, it’s been slow and consensus is among the few I talked with briefly, a bit early. Most said people just showing up a few here and there.
I did manage a couple really nice Shellcrackers and a big slab 2 pounder Crappie all I dragged out from a mass of floating weeds and trash. Literally let the jig down in a 4” hole and dragged up that Crappie!
Funny thing, I caught that Crappie and in two minutes there were three boats pulled up in the weed mat within a few yards of me and a forth close by. Bless their hearts, they thought I was on to something. So did I. But 2 hours of doing the same thing in that area produced nothing.
Thanks for the advice.
Maybe another week or two & things will heat up.

There were two big tournaments on Saturday, 175 boat bass tourney and a Crappie USA event. Along with crappie, striper and shell crackers are beginning their spawning runs. The influx of locals and tournament fishermen explains the increase of boat traffic. Jigging grass mats is a great technique, only issue is there is very little grass left. Santee Cooper has been trying to remove invasive species of vegetation. While doing so, they’ve killed all the grass.

Well I reckon that explains the number of people back in there. I never saw so many & the public landing at Stumphole was full. They were parked up in the grass. I imagine that's what it's like when the Shellcracker spawn gets going full swing. I've heard the roadways are lined with parked vehicles/trailers.

Man...those guys in some of those bass boats flying along. Scares me to death with all the stumps & junk under the water.