Another spot to keep in mind, particularly if water is flowing into Lovewell Reservoir, is the inlet canal, which is a popular hotspot. "When there is water flowing in, that can be a really good spot for catching fish," Waters noted, "because those fish move up into that moving water."

Most folks prefer using minnows, but a few of the more serious anglers opt for jig-fishing, which Waters says ranks as the best springtime technique for catching spawning crappie. "What we saw last year," he noted, "was it was really good during the last part of April, and then the entire month of May was excellent, and definitely the time to be there. It got really crowded on weekends. And there would be a lot of boats stacked into some of those coves. So if an angler can go during the week, that would be better."

Waters reports that apart from a 50-fish creel limit, no special regulations are in force for crappie fishing at Lovewell.

MARION RESERVOIR
Most anglers think of walleyes or catfish when they think of Marion Reservoir. But that may change, as the 6,160-acre impoundment in central Kansas has also ranked high in recent years for substantial populations of crappie.

"Marion has been a hotspot for the last three to five years," said KDWP fisheries biologist Ken McCloskey. "It's had higher densities before, but it's got a lot of big 10-inch-plus fish."

McCloskey thinks that fishing success for crappie isn't as high as it could be. Most of the fishing pressure in the spring, he points out, is down around the dam and in the Cottonwood Point Area, while few anglers look farther up the reservoir, where standing timber and coves with promising structure can be found.

"It doesn't have much structure in the lower lake, so that's a difficult place to catch crappie," he said. "Most of the fish I see are in the upper end from Durham Cove on up and in the river."

Structure is the key to finding spawning crappie, as they usually associate with some sort of flooded vegetation or brush. McCloskey advises anglers to investigate areas of the river above the reservoir in the spring and to concentrate both on the shoreline areas for spawning fish and on the edge of the river channel for fish during pre-spawn.

"I'd look at the outside bends and look for downed timber in the water," McCloskey said. "Don't sit in one spot for a long time. And if you catch a couple of fish and that's it, then it's time to move."

While live bait is always popular with anglers out for spawning crappie, McCloskey takes another approach when he fishes. "Someone that knows how to really work a jig can do just as well as they can with minnows by bouncing it along in the timber," he asserted. "I like some kind of weedguard on my jig, but if you don't know the difference between bumping a limb and a fish hit, then it's going to be tougher."

One area that's a popular fishing locale with many anglers is also one that McCloskey would advise you to avoid: the Broken Bridge area of the river. "It's really accessible and that's where everybody goes," he cautioned. "They never get a buildup of crappie there, because as soon as a crappie stops in one of the brushpiles along the edge, somebody catches him. So everyone catches two or three fish, but you don't catch a nice mess of fish. Your best bet would be to fish above or below that Broken Bridge area if you want to catch more fish."