3/24/2021 Finding Crappie and White Bass in the Little Tallahatchie River

Took the big boat out of Wyatt’s Crossing on a nice warm, calm day. Pristine conditions really. I launched around 2pm and resolved myself to find new places holding fish. I also resolved to stay in the river channel and run as far up river as I could get my boat. I managed to do and not do all of those. On the way up river, I stopped at sharp bend I had caught a good many fish two weeks ago. They didn’t appear as thick on the livescope but I still grabbed a nice female and a couple of white bass. I then ran almost all the way to highway 7 and caught a few fish where I had scouted from the bank and in my kayak. All in all it was a frustrating day of not too much action and fighting with the dogs and the current. I decided to head back with one crappie and a couple of white bass.

And then I spotted a log jam.

It looked like a deep pool just out of the strongest part of the current where a dry ditch ran into the main river.

Fish were suspended in the junk on the live scope. Gar were hitting nearby. It smelled like fish. I dropped my delicately in twenty different places amongst the flotsam.

Finally, between a forked log no more than 5 inches wide I felt the drug-like rush of the thump and wrestled briefly with a 13” male crappie.

I dropped that jig in the same place four more times and again four more keeper crappie. I then dropped it at a nearby stump closer to the current and caught a few short crappie and white bass. During the heat of the catching truvy got caught on a jig and bit my pole in two different places. I forgave her, but not before a talking to stern enough to get her to do exactly what Dublin was doing (and what I wanted her to do all along) which was sit in the shade and relax and watch birds and snakes and turtles.

I cruised back with a better understanding of potential fish markers and a new spot that would likely be good 5’+ or 5’- for several weeks.

Persistence and advanced electronics won the day.