Crappie fishing on Barnett Reservoir in Jackson couldn't get much tougher than it has been the past few weeks.

It's bad enough that late spring, which means the postspawn, is one of the hardest times to decipher crappie.

Add in the strong south winds that blew up the lake recently, and the heavy boat traffic that prevailed over the Memorial Day weekend, and, well ...

Yuck.

But, better times are ahead. Soon.

Once the transition (from shallow spawning to deep water) period ends, and the summer brings its consistent weather patterns, Barnett's waters will be generous with the popular game fish.

"Crappie are best described right now as scattered in transition," said Rabbit Rogers. "It's nothing unusual for May and June. They are always hard to find in any numbers."

One of the best known and most respected crappie fishermen on the lake, Rogers smiles when he talks about the months ahead.

"You let summer get here and, man, the fishing won't get any hotter," he said. "In 30 years of fishing for crappie here, I've come to the conclusion that the best fishing is from June 15 to Sept. 15."

Science is the key, meteorologically and biologically.

"One reason is that the weather and the water conditions are so consistent," Rogers said. "Heck, the weatherman can take that period off. Once the fish get on their summer pattern, they don't change until Sept. 15."

That summer pattern has the fish seeking the most comfortable water available, and once they find it they stay with it several months.

"Once the surface temperature gets into the 90s and the air temperature is near 100 degrees, I fish as much as I can," said Jesse Thomas of Jackson, another longtime crappie fisherman with 25 years of experience on the lake.

"Fish are pretty easy to find, at least the depth that you need to be fishing is pretty easy to figure.

"I got a biologist to explain it to me. He said crappie only have about a two or three-foot comfort zone on Barnett in the summer, when the lake is stratified. Deep water is cool, which crappie want, but it is poor in oxygen. The hot surface water is the most oxygenated. At some depth, usually between 10-13 feet deep in 20 feet or more of water, there will be a layer that offers the best mix of both."

Ron Garavelli, chief of fisheries for the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks, confirmed Thomas' statement.

"There will be a level about one meter deep somewhere in the water column, usually just above the thermocline after it forms, where most fish will stay," Garavelli said, explaining that the thermocline is defined as the layer of water between the warm surface layer and the cooler bottom that prevents the two from mixing. "You won't find a thermocline in a river channel where there is current, even on the main lake at Barnett.

"The great thing about Barnett is that when the thermocline forms and gets established in the standing timber in the old river lake beds, you have the best of both worlds. You have that constant level where fish will want to be and the cover they want to be on. That's where you want to fish."

But the thermocline is weeks from forming, and until then fish can be caught but will require patience and a lot of searching. Reports put the current crappie situation somewhere between the final stages of the spawn and the first arrival of fish in summer haunts.

"Believe it or not, on the lower lake, I caught both dark males and females with eggs spawning last weekend," Thomas said. "I started deep and didn't catch but a few. I fished up a channel running up to spawning flats and caught a few more.

"When I got to where I usually fish for spawners, I said 'what the heck' and gave it a look. I caught about seven or eight of my biggest fish in six feet of water. I caught some in eight to 10 feet and some as deep as 15 ... I'd call that scattered."

Originally published Friday, June 1, 2007