Many anglers have an approach/avoidance conflict with aquatic weeds. They know submerged vegetation is a magnet for baitfish and provides shelter for many species of gamefish. But weeds can be a royal pain to fish -- they cling to your line and hook, making both live bait and lure presentations difficult or impossible. And they're often so prolific, it's hard to tell exactly where the fish are hiding in them.

I've noticed over my 30+ years as an outdoor correspondent that crappie anglers seldom mention fishing grassy areas. Maybe that's because they find them too frustrating to fish ... or, could it be they're trying to keep one of crappie fishing's hottest secrets under their hats? I asked two veteran crappie guides who spend hundreds of days a year probing grassy lakes to share their knowledge of how crappie relate to weeds and the tactics they use to catch fish from submerged vegetation. If your favorite crappie hole is clogged with grass, what you're about to learn will mean more fish in your livewell.

Benefits of Aquatic Vegetation
Before you start cussing out the mats of milfoil and coontail that have overtaken your favorite crappie haunt, here are some facts fisheries biologists tell us about aquatic vegetation:

• Weeds filter sediment from the water, which enhances water clarity and purity.
• Weeds provide food and shelter for both gamefish and forage species.
• Weeds produce oxygen through photosynthesis, thereby creating a healthier environment for fish.
• Weeds provide predatorial "edges" that concentrate forage and provide excellent hunting opportunities for gamefish.

By now you may be thinking, "Sure, you can catch bass, pike, bluegills and muskies around aquatic weeds, but what about crappie?" A fair question, especially since most crappie anglers know this species relates strongly to wood cover.

Tennessee guide Jim Duckworth understands your skepticism. "I used to make a point of avoiding weedy areas when targeting crappie, but not anymore," he said. "Once I started experimenting with weed-based presentations, I realized I was onto an untapped crappie opportunity."

Duckworth isn't reluctant to reveal his weed-fishing secrets because he's totally convinced the weekend crappie crowd will steadfastly refuse to bother fishing grassy areas, regardless of what he or any other experts have to say about them. "Most anglers view weeds the same way they do high winds, as a frustration to be avoided," he said. "But just as you can use the wind to your advantage when fishing, you can target weeds and catch slab crappie that other anglers overlook."
     
Jim's Strategies
Duckworth guides on several Middle Tennessee reservoirs; weeds are a factor on Old Hickory Lake, a river-run impoundment north of Nashville. "Milfoil begins to appear on my graph in late April, when the surface temperature of the lake reaches around 65 degrees," Jim noted. "New grass gives the bottom a fuzzy look on your graph. Once the water reaches around 75 degrees, typically by late May or early June, milfoil will be growing to the surface in shallow bays and coves. If it gets extremely thick, the Corps of Engineers will usually spray it to allow lakeside homeowners clear access to their docks."

In lakes further south, crappie will spawn in grass, Duckworth said. "At seminars I've given, I've talked to many fishermen from Florida who catch spawning crappie in grassbeds in lakes like Kissimmee and Okeechobee. But on Old Hickory, the crappie spawn is usually over by the time the milfoil has proliferated. Here, grassbeds are primarily a summer haunt for crappie."

Crappie relate best to large masses of shallow grass that commonly occur in the back-ends of tributaries, and in quiet, sunlit coves off the main river channel, the guide indicated. "The more abundant the grass, the more likely you'll find crappie holding in and around this cover," Duckworth said. "Crappie are opportunists, and they instinctively know that grassbeds attract a great deal of forage, especially schools of small minnows. More important, the grass concentrates forage into a tight area. There can be more minnows swimming in and around a single grassbed than in acres of open water."

Duckworth, who also guides for bass, draws clear distinctions in the way both species use weed cover. "In hot weather, I'll catch largemouths by pitching a tube bait into the thickest mats of milfoil I can find, then shaking it repeatedly until it slithers down through the vegetation to the fish holding below. But I'll catch crappie from the same weedbeds by keying on the open holes that are riddled throughout the main mass of grass, as well as on the outside edges of the bed. I don't believe crappie will bury down in thick grass the way largemouth bass will. Rather, they appear to hold in the thinner stuff to conceal themselves, then dart out into open water to feed when a minnow swims by."

Any combination of shallow grass and wood cover you encounter is a sure-fire crappie magnet, Duckworth said. "I have some holes on Old Hickory that run 4 to 8 feet deep where milfoil has grown up around a submerged tree or stump -- these are killer summer spots. A little wood cover in a weedbed is like gravy on meat loaf -- it makes a good thing even better."

The guide often sight-fishes crappie that are chasing schools of small minnows around the edges of weed mats. "The water is often real clear around milfoil, and the crappie can be spooky. I'll back off the bed to where I can just barely see little clouds of minnows working along the edges, then cast a small Slider grub or Whirly Bee spinner grub near the school, swimming it back with a fairly fast retrieve. I wear Solar Bat Polarized sunglasses to cut down the glare when sight-fishing."

When crappie are holding in holes in the grass, Jim employs a slip float rig. "I rig a live minnow on a #1 gold Aberdeen hook, pinch a 1/16-ounce split shot 6 inches above the hook, and set the slip float at about 2 feet. I fish this on a 7-foot medium-action Berkley Lightning Rod with a Cardinal spinning reel spooled with 6-pound Trilene. It's a no-brainer; just cast into the open hole and if there's a crappie there, you'll get bit in a hurry. This is fast fishing; I like to move from one hole to the next quickly."
     
Steve's Savvy
Steve McCadams is well known as one of America's top crappie strategists. This guide believes grass is a force to be dealt with on sprawling Kentucky Lake. "We have abundant supplies of Eurasian water milfoil, pondweed and water willow, all of which hold crappie," he indicated. "The amount of weed coverage varies from one year to the next, due to water conditions, weather factors and the level of spraying. Clear bays normally have the most coverage."

Black crappie seem to be more prolific in grass than white crappie, McCadams said, adding that blacks acclimate better to clear water and are less structure-oriented. Grass beds offer a safe venue for shad and gamefish fry, while providing a comfort zone for predators, the guide continued. "Crappie will get under matted grass, especially in mid-day, for shade and concealment."

McCadams says Kentucky Lake's crappie will spawn in weedbeds. "Just as they like dense brushpiles for spawning, they gravitate to the thicker weedbeds, probably because the amount of leaf coverage allows them to broadcast their eggs more easily. I'll catch spawners on a curly-tail grub or tube bait rigged on a 1/32- or 1/16-ounce leadhead. I'll either swim it around the top and edges of the grass, or rig it on a slip float and fish it with a jerky stop-and-go retrieve. The float helps keep the jig from sinking down too far into the grass and getting weeded up."

Shallow weedbeds often attract male crappie in post-spawn, McCadams added. "These fish move into the grass to cannibalize emerging schools of crappie fry. I'll catch 'em by running a small crappie spinnerbait past the weedbed, just like when I'm bass fishing. If I find a good concentration of sizable crappie, I'll back off and probe the bed more intensely with a grub or curly-tail, keeping the hook point imbedded in the lure's body to make it weedless. If the grass is really thick, you can use a rake to clear a hole in it, then come back later and fish it."