Mar 25, 2017 4 min read

It’s about time, I thought, as I made my way up the path leading to my favorite crappie fishing spot at Cross Creek Lake.

While the winter wasn’t all that cold, it seems we had an awful lot of rain. When it rains hard or long, the creeks become discolored and high.

The lake at Cross Creek is fed by a stream and it doesn’t take long for the waters to turn brown. Under those conditions, it is difficult to catch many crappies.

As I write this, many anglers are sorting out gear in preparation for the upcoming trout opener. That anticipated day is still a couple of weeks away, but the tasty crappie should be hitting now.

Beside that, even if your primary fishing is done during trout season, a day seeking crappie will take the kinks out of the line and reveal what is needed for a day of fishing.

I know the tackle is not exactly the same but the rod, reel and line are as close as it gets. The rod should have a light action and the smallish reel should be filled with a line no heavier than 6 pounds. I prefer 4-pound line because it casts so much better but the common 6-pound line is adequate.

There are other items of use seen along the shores of Cross Creek Lake. A bucket is a handy thing and if you are old like me, you appreciate the versatility of the bucket.

Do well and the catch can be carried back to the car in the bucket. The bucket can be used to carry bait to the fishing location then turned over and used for a seat.

While discussing Crappie fishing the other day, it was mentioned that the crappie has a huge mouth for its size, while the bluegills’ mouth is tiny.

This means a much smaller hook should be used when bluegill is the fish of choice.

For instance, a No. 6 hook might be O.K. for crappie fishing. But most bluegill might not be able to get such a hook in its mouth.

This fact can be frustrating because these two fish seem to be in the same spot in the spring.

Another little fact about these two common panfish relates to what they bite on. When fishing for bluegill, I prefer a small red worm or a wax worm. When seeking crappie, the live bait that works best is a minnow.

A good way for the beginner to fish the shoreline of the lake is to travel light. Leave half the junk in the car and move along the shoreline, stopping every 10 yards or so and test the waters with a few casts and retrieves.

If a school is located, stay put until they quit hitting. If you’re like me and carry too much junk, you will hesitate to move.

While finding where the school is located is important, there is another important location to be found – the depth.

Just how deep are they? Sometimes the fish can be hovering in six feet of water and a lure can be brought by them at two feet and they won’t move that far to hit the thing passing a couple of feet over their heads.

Change it up try a bobber then try without.

• The harvest of deer during archery season has jumped extraordinarily.

As I see it, we could be watering down the gene pool of our better bucks by hunting them during the rut.

Joe Wilcox of Taylorstown received an email answer on that subject from the Pennsylvania Game Commission I found interesting enough to share.

“The biggest or the oldest bucks don’t breed the most does and are not the most dominant buck in the woods. Genetic research has shown that most males sire only one fawn per season,” the reply said.

Since there are far more does running around the woods than there are bucks and since he can only sire one fawn, the majority of them must be frustrated.

I always thought the most common birth of whitetail deer was twins, yet our big guy has but one?

George H. Block writes a Sunday Outdoors column for the Observer-Reporter.