Comes a time each spring that marks the beginning of a period of mourning among Mississippi’s crappie fishermen: the end of the crappie-spawning season. A time that sees many put up their papermouth fishing gear for the year and settle in to wait for next spring, when the dogwoods bloom, the wild turkeys gobble and the “perch” again swim the shallows.

But not so fast! Just because Easter’s over and the crappie have moved off the spawning beds doesn’t mean that you’ve got to stop fishing for them. As a matter of fact, crappie fishing can be good in many parts of the state well into the summer months. Local fishing clubs continue to stage tournaments on state-operated lakes, while the national tournament circuits such as Crappie USA schedule big-paycheck events on the Magnolia State’s largest reservoirs.

To say that crappie fishing during the post-spawn period doesn’t at all resemble the fast and furious action to be had in late March and early April probably won’t spark an argument. During the past several weeks, as springtime’s warming waters prompted the popular panfish to move to shorelines to spawn, anglers able to predict the crappie’s instinctual movements have filled heavy stringers of crappie statewide. Post-spawn crappie catches, on the other hand, may consist of only a few fish at times

But the action’s far from over. In fact, if you know where the fish have gone and what it takes to catch them, crappie fishing in late April and early May can still offer pleasurable rewards.

“The crappie spawning period could last two weeks to two months, depending on water temperature,” explained Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks fisheries biologist Keith Meals. “The spawn begins at 57 degrees, peaks when the water temperature reaches 65, and isn’t usually completed until the water reaches 75 degrees. Water temperature in any one lake could differ from one part of the impoundment to another, so it could take six to eight weeks to move from the minimum temperature to the highest temperature in which crappie spawn.”

In other words, we could be well into May before the last of the bedding is seen, and the spawn typically progresses from the shallow end to the deep end of the lake. Using those facts, you could easily extend your crappie fishing during an exaggerated spawning period. However, Meals added, the stragglers that have yet to spawn at this time are typically small fish pushed aside by larger crappie in the course of the competition for spawning sites that takes place earlier in the season.

Anyway, don’t put up the jigging rods and cane poles just yet. Spend a few more weeks tipping small jigheads with minnows or soft-plastic tube bodies. Suspend the bait beneath a small cork or bobber, and drop it along your favorite shoreline stumps or over a secret brushpile. Later, when you’re sure that the crappie have stopped spawning, make a few more trips onto your favorite lake in late April and early May to round out your annual spring catch of perch.

WHITE CRAPPIE AND OPEN WATER

According to Meals, 90 percent of the papermouths in Mississippi’s reservoirs are white crappie, a fish he describes as “pelagic” in nature, meaning that members of this species are likely to migrate from shorelines to open water only a few short days after working themselves into what some anglers describe as a “post-spawn funk.”

One of the top crappie anglers plying their skills at north Mississippi’s big impoundments, Memphis’ Kent Driscoll subscribes to the “funk” theory. “May is the toughest month for crappie fishing on large lakes because of three factors,” he said. “The fish are stressed out, they don’t want to eat and they’re looking to rest. Basically, they’re hanging out in the shallow water — say, 2 to 5 feet — and suspended, just laying there and trying to recuperate from the rigors of the spawn.”

Driscoll is among a growing cadre of anglers that have taken crappie fishing to heart — and to wallet — nationwide. He and his partner, Terry Byrd, fish the Crappie Masters Team Tournament Trail sponsored by Bass Pro Shops. The pair expects to fish several of the 10 tournaments that remain on the 2005 national schedule between April and September.