Depending on where you live in the South, February conjures up different images. For some, things are still extremely cold, with temperatures at or below freezing; along the Gulf Coast, it feels more like springtime. And in the middle tier of states, the weather's somewhere in between.

Regardless of the weather, many anglers in this part of the world equate February with crappie fishing. If we're not already catching big tubs of crappie, we're preparing for it -- or, in some cases, dreaming about it. Even where ponds and small lakes are frozen, we're getting our tackle ready and, if we're smart, scouting our favorite lakes to see where the fish are and what they're doing.

Like the weather, crappie are in different stages, depending on the latitude. In the colder climes we talked about, crappie may still be locked in winter patterns; in other, milder regions, they might already be starting to spawn.

On the other hand, February is a transitional time throughout the South. Weather conditions in early February are much different than they are in late February, but the changes are so subtle that you might not immediately notice them. You do feel them, however, and you get a little more energetic and peppy as the month goes along.

Crappie are like that, too: They go through a very predictable reproductive cycle that heats up with the pre-spawn, peaks with the actual spawn, and cools with the post-spawn. The amount of daylight and water temperature influence the timing of this cycle significantly, but the spawn follows the same pattern everywhere. It ain't rocket science, as they say -- but it is biological science, and it follows some robust rules. If you understand how to pattern the key periods of the spawn, you can catch crappie anywhere this month, anytime.

Although crappie are easiest to find and catch during the spawn, many anglers overlook the fine fishing available during the pre-spawn, when crappie begin concentrating in deep staging areas as they prepare to move to the shallows. This is a great time to catch a lot of fish, because as they prepare their bodies for the rigors of reproduction, the slabs are gorging on minnows. Dedicated crappie anglers, many of whom maintain extensive brushpile installations in their favorite waters, pay close attention to crappie locations and feeding patterns during this time. Fish concentrate first around brushpiles situated on deep structure, and gradually move shoreward.

Before they move to the bank, however, crappie suspend in deep water near prominent main-lake and main-river structure. On lakes and rivers, the best places to find them are along main channels near big concentrations of baitfish. Because baitfish move around so much, the crappie move with them, so yesterday's hotspot can be barren of fish today.

Electronics will be the thing for finding papermouths at this time, and the graphic shape made by the sonar signature of a big school of crappie will be unmistakable: It'll clutter your screen. At big lakes, crappie often suspend pretty much in the middle of the water column. If you're in 50 feet of water, the crappie generally will be at 30 to 35 feet. If the maximum depth on your lake is 20 feet, look for crappie at 8 to 10 feet, and so on.