5 Best States to Fish for Crappie in the South

If you love crappie, then you’re in luck because there is little doubt that these succulent papermouths can be found in numerous hotspots all across the country. In fact, if bass are king and bluegills are princes, then the crappie fits somewhere in between due to the numerous spots nationwide where they’re plentiful (numbers) and true blue whoppers (2-3 pounds), giving U.S. anglers the best of both worlds in many places between the Mexico/U.S. and Canada/U.S. borders.

To start our best crappie waters tour, the rhetorical question needs to be asked, "Looking for some of the best slab action in the Deep South?" Then look no further, because there is no shortage of road trip possibilities near and south of Interstate 40.

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Anytime you start a list like this, you're going to leave off some worthy spots and get some anglers riled up. I mean, how can you leave off a state holding the world record? Trust us, look for our stories on the best crappie spots in the North, Midwest, and Best of the Rest soon. But for now, these five southern trips should suffice if you’re ready to fire up the peanut oil after filling the cooler. 

1. Mississippi

Growing up in the Mid-South as a kid, I had no idea how incredible the panfish action was not far down the road from my Memphis home. But when my family moved to Texas and I started reading outdoor magazines, it didn't take long to figure out that when it came to crappie fishing, the state of Mississippi had few equals.

That still holds true today, and the Magnolia State takes top honors in this story for the best crappie state in the country. Want quality? The Mississippi state record for a black crappie is a 4-pound, 4-ounce specimen taken on March 19, 1991, by Gerald Conlee as he fished at Arkabutla Reservoir. And the fly fishing black crappie record is pretty impressive too—a 3.02-pound crappie taken by John Brasher at a private pond on May 23, 2006.

How about the white crappie records? While there is no current fly fishing record for a white crappie, the rod and reel record is 5 pounds, 3 ounces,— whopper taken near Memphis, Tenn. resident Fred Bright on July 31, 1957, as he fished at Enid Reservoir. Measuring some 21-inches in length, that fish has stood as the International Game Fish Association All-Tackle world record ever since.

So good is the crappie angling in Mississippi that the IGFA record book is dominated by fish from the Magnolia State. At the time of this writing, in addition to the overall world record white crappie mark, Mississippi has a record listed in each of the remaining categories including All-Tackle Length, a tie in the All-Tackle Length Fly and a tie in the All-Tackle Length Junior.

As for where to go crappie fishing in Mississippi, there are a number of worthy spots, enough that it might be easier to tell someone where not to go instead. But there is little doubt that the "Arc of Slabs," which includes Grenada, Arkabutla, Enid and Sardis lakes and is at the top of the list when it comes to good places to catch good numbers of big crappie. And in Mississippi, a state where 2-pounders are relatively common and barely elicit a yawn, you'll need a 3-pounder or 2 even to get noticed back at the boat ramp. And in a state like that, it's hard to go wrong when you want to catch a mess of giant slabs.

Sitting almost in the shadow of Elvis Presley’s boyhood home, these lakes are flood control reservoirs. Because of that, and combined with annual drops of as much as 70 percent along with low fertility that slows gizzard shad growth and keeps them a viable food source for crappies, the recipe here ensures that crappie in this stretch of the world get big and do so pretty quickly. 

Add in the Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries, and Parks' tight management efforts of these world-class crappie lakes and then some, any angler would be wise to pay a visit to the Mississippi if a limit of slabs is on the mind.

2. Texas

For a state where the largemouth bass are indeed bigger and better than most other places, some anglers don’t realize how grand the Lone Star State’s crappie fishing is. But the crappie fishing in Texas is both prolific and big, giving anglers between the Red River and the Rio Grande the best of both worlds, with many lakes offering both quantity and size.

If record-sized crappie is your thing, the benchmarks in the state are 10-gallon hat-sized because the state record white crappie is a 4.56-pound sweetheart of a slab caught by G.G. Wooderson on Feb. 14, 1968, at Navarro Mills Lake, some 35 miles east of Waco. On the fly rod side of the ledger, William Edney also caught a February slab, a 2.56-pound specimen pulled from Lake Conroe near Houston on Feb. 23, 2007.

What about black crappie? That record is Texas-sized too, thanks to a 4-pounder caught at Toledo Bend Reservoir on Dec. 5, 2002, by Hazel Bolton. On the fly fishing side of the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department record book, Billy Autery landed a 2.02-pound specimen on March 18, 2002, at Fairfield Lake, a former public reservoir that is now privately controlled.

As for where to go, many of the lakes in the state are good, particularly so in the eastern third and northern Red River Counties. In fact, Texas offers a little bit of everything for crappie anglers. 

So, if big slabs are the goal, the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and others recommend water bodies such as Lake Lavon (all around great crappie lake and the home water for Wally "Mr. Crappie" Marshall; Sam Rayburn Reservoir (especially good from May-October on main lake brush piles in 15-30 foot depths); Lake O' the Pines (one of the best in Texas, especially during winter months); Toledo Bend Reservoir (fishes well for just about everything, including big largemouth bass and big bluegills too).

While Lake Texoma often gets overlooked by anglers, it's not only the state's premier striped bass and smallmouth bass fisheries, but it also produces plenty of 2-pounder-plus crappie. Two lakes to the east of Texoma in Fannin County—small Coffee Mill Lake, larger Lake Bonham, and 1-year-old and up-and-coming North Texas fishing hotspot Bois D'arc Lake are all worth giving a try for some great crappie fishing.

3. Florida

Called "specks" or "speckled perch" by most Florida anglers, the black crappie is king in the Sunshine State. And as our Outdoor Sportsman Group sister publication Florida Sportsman reports, the average size of black crappie in Florida ranges from 8-12 ounces with 1-2 pounders being fairly common. And while not near the world record mark, no one in the state will sneeze at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's certified state record, a 3.83-pound fish caught at Lake Talquin by Ben Curry, Sr. back on Jan. 21, 1992.

In Florida, a state with lots of shallow, freshwater lakes, crappie often spend their time offshore, although the spring spawn lures them to the shallowest spots. Cane poles rigged with minnows or even spider jigs, light spinning tackle with jigs and even fly fishing are good bets to target Florida's black crappie.

Where to fish for the state's prolific black crappie species? Because Florida has so many freshwater spots to fish, it's almost easier to tell an angler where not to go. But according to FWC, lakes and rivers scattered throughout the state like Lake Talquin, the Kissimmee Chain lakes, the St. John's River, and famed Lake Okeechobbee are all good spots to try things like spider rigging, wintertime fishing, trolling and more.

You might not catch the next biggest crappie record story, but odds are you won't care when you're working the filet knife on a pile of crappie from a Florida water body!

4. Alabama

If northern Mississippi proves to be southern king of crappie waters, then northwest Alabama isn't far behind. And as longtime Game and Fish Magazine contributor Frank Seargeant wrote a few years back, there is no shortage of crappie angling hotspots in the land of Roll Tide and War Eagle.

Don't believe us? Well then, listen to Mr. Sargeant, a veteran southern outdoors writer: "Alabama offers a whole lot of choices when it comes to crappie fishing because just about every wet spot in the state has either black crappie or white crappie, and many have both."

Up north, Pickwick—whose waters actually occur in Tennessee, Mississippi and Alabama—is a great option for slabs. The 43,000-acre reservoir is a part of the Tennessee Valley Authority waters is particularly good to crappie anglers in the spring, even though limits can be found throughout the calendar. 

Move further east, and 30,200-acre Weiss Lake is a good spot to stop, bearing the moniker "Crappie Capital of Alabama." And if you get your limit of crappie here, don't be afraid to take a day or two to sample the nearby Coosa River for some great spotted bass fishing, some of the hardest fighting fish anywhere.

Then there's Guntersville, one of the nation's top largemouth fisheries. But a reservoir that some claim is the nation's overall best bass fishing hotspot—see local B.A.S.S. pro Randy Howell's dramatic last-day Bassmaster Classic win in 2014 thanks to a nearly 30-pound final day bag limit as proof—is also home to some pretty good crappie fishing thanks to its numerous creeks and voluminous threadfin shad numbers.

Head to the southeastern corner of the state, and there's little chance you'll want to drive past 45,000-acre Lake Eufaula, one of the most storied lakes in southern bass fishing history. Situated along the Bama and Georgia border, this legendary water body is a good numbers lake for those looking for quantity over quality.

While we’re not sure who will win this fall’s Iron Bowl, the gridiron grudge match that effectively divides Alabama, but we do know they’ll all pretty much agree on the state’s great crappie angling possibilities.

5. Louisiana

In the bayou state of Louisiana, home to the Cajun name of "sac au lait" for crappie, there are plentiful crappie options too.

Out on the western border with Texas, 181,600-acre Toledo Bend takes top billing, and for good reason, because it's one of the best lakes anywhere in the nation. With numerous creeks—just look at a topo map and try and decide where to go first—there are also plentiful stumps and deadfalls just waiting to have a crappie jig or a minnow dipped in the vicinity. And if there is plenty of natural cover, the Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries has placed a number of artificial reef structures in the aging lake that will attract both black crappie and white crappie.

Don't overlook Caney Creek Lake, a spot where both black crappie and redear sunfish can grow to good sizes. This might not be the best spot for big numbers of crappie in the Pelican State, but it is a great bet for slab-sized sac au laits, and of course, some big old shellcrackers (redear sunfish). Use your electronics, find the preferred underwater structure and/or angler-placed brush piles, and you should be in business. 

Then there's the Atchafalaya Basin down south, arguably the best crappie fishing action in Bayou Country. A vast swamp south of Interstate 10, the tremendous number of trees and structure in the basin supports large numbers of crappie. And when annual flooding takes place in upper Basin spots like Bayou Benoit, Two O’clock Bayou, Half Moon Bayou, Bayou Fordoche and Bayou Courtableau, there can be good numbers of freezer-filling crappie as well as some true blue slabs. 

While Louisiana is a state with some certainly well-known waters, sometimes, the smaller and or lesser-known venues can also provide some great crappie angling. To see proof of that, look no further than the Louisiana State Fish Records. You'll see T-Bend and Caney Creek on the Sportsman's State's "Top 10" list for both white and black crappie, but you will also see lesser-known spots (to out-of-state visitors, that is) like John K. Kelly Grand Bayou Reservoir, Poverty Point Reservoir, Lake Henderson, Bussey Brake, Bundick Lake, Williams January, Lake Verrett and Lake Bistineau.

So if you've got a craving for sac au lait filets hitting the peanut oil, head for Louisiana, home of the Bayou Bengals at LSU, the nation's original crawfish boils, and land of the legendary beignet donuts and chicory coffee from New Orlean’s famed Café Du Monde.

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