Question:  Brad, what is it about oxbows that make them so appealing for winter time crappie fishing?

Taylor:  When these lakes are right, you can slow troll minnows over the top of submerged structure or find some crappie that are relating to baitfish and they will eat. One day last winter we were out there and caught 40 white crappie that weighed between a pound and three quarters and two and a quarter pounds each.

Question:  Why do you prefer the winter time for oxbow fishing to other times of the year?

Taylor:  Spring floods usually make oxbows hard to fish because of fluctuating water levels. Then during the summer, the water may tend to get really hot plus there’s a lot of rough fish like gar and catfish that rob your bait before it gets to a crappie. Winter time is more stable on these oxbows because of the frozen water up north. However, it’s a good idea to keep tabs on the water levels of the Mississippi before heading out to an oxbow because the true oxbows that are connected directly to the river by a ditch or canal fluctuate with the river levels. If the water gets too deep coming in from the Mississippi River it will scatter the fish out and make them harder to catch because there’s deep water everywhere and not just in the main runs.

Question:  How do you pattern crappie on a typical oxbow situation during the winter?

Taylor:  There are two patterns--one for white crappie and one for black crappie. The river specks will be down in the brush--most of which is man made stuff that’s been sunk along the edge of the oxbow channel. Ideally I wouldn’t look any shallower than 12 feet deep and occasionally specks will be found as deep as 30 feet down in the channel. These fish will almost always be right in the brush or at least around the tops of it. Specks may be hard to find in some of the oxbow lakes, but if you stay in the brushpiles, you’ll catch mostly black crappie. It’s pretty common to get 20 - 25 fish in a day’s fishing and they’ll be big healthy green-tinted black crappie. A pound and ½ speck is really something to see in a black water oxbow.”

Question: And the white crappie?

“The white crappie are typically the better fish and are found relating to brush but nearly always suspend somewhere up in the water column and to find them you have to find baitfish. Get out in that deep water and look for a big wad of shad on your sonar, than follow the bait around and you can catch some big white crappie.

Question: Is there one tactic that works best for both species of crappie?

Taylor: The hands down best tactic when the water gets cold is tight lining live minnows. I use the B’n’M Capps and Coleman trolling rods coupled with the Capps and Coleman minnow rigs. Then it’s just a matter of locating black crappie tight to brush or white crappie suspended under baitfish and putting the boat over the top of them and putting live bait right in their face.

Question:  Which of Mississippi’s oxbow lakes is your favorite?

Taylor:  If I had to pick one winter lake in the state for both size and numbers of crappie, it would be Chotard. Chotard is one of the best hidden secrets in the state. There are some good fish in there--lots of two pound plus fish and plenty of them. Although I have yet to see a three pounder come out of there, it’s nothing to end a day with 15 – 20 crappie over two pounds.

Question:  Last question, does it ever get too cold to fish these oxbow lakes?

Taylor:  I’ve never seen the water get so cold that it shuts the bite down completely on an oxbow. In my experience, the colder it gets, the better the fishing is. I remember back a couple years ago we had a tournament over at Chotard and it was 17 degrees outside. It was so cold the water was freezing along the edges of the boat ramp but my partner and I ended up weighing 7 fish that went over a total of 13 pounds. They just wouldn’t quit.

To find out more about the Magnolia Crappie Club, visit their website at www.magnoliacrappieclub.com.