Matt Foster – Go Small or Go Home For Lake Wappapello Spring Crappie

May 04, 2026

Matt Foster – Go Small or Go Home For Lake Wappapello Spring Crappie

Phillip Gentry

 

While the adage may sound backwards, B’n’M pro-staffer Matt Foster, from Puxico, Missouri, said he’s learned a lot about Lake Wappapello crappie by watching them on forward-facing sonar. From these observations, he believes that even during the spring, when crappie are known to be more active, a smaller bait gets more bites.

“One thing that has stuck with me that I learned from an old timer a long time ago was that nobody eats steak and potatoes nine times a day,” he said, “but there’s always time for a snack.”

Based on this assessment, he’s increased his catch rates tremendously by decreasing the size of the meal on the end of his line.

Crappie Magnet’s Eye hole jig head is the perfect sized “snack” for Wappapello crappie.

 

Foster said Wappapello is a different breed from most other crappie lakes in the region. Sometimes referred to as “Whop-A-Prop”, the lake is riverine in nature and relatively shallow where the stained water disguises the many tractor tire sized stumps just below the surface.

He explained that the spawn is just heating up at Wappapello by late April so he expects to find the predominately white crappie populations that call the lake home to be suspended 4 – 8 feet deep while staging to move even shallower.

Like many crappie anglers these days, Foster has two favorite methods for catching spawning crappie. The first is his old school, tried and true method of randomly casting 1/32-ounce Crappie Magnet Eyehole jigs under a cork around places that historically have or look like they might hold crappie. Sonar electronics has little to do with this style of fishing and it’s his favorite tactic whenever he’s taking his kids or newcomers to the sport to thrill at the sight of a bobber coming to life, doing a little backward dance, then disappearing altogether.

B’n’M’s TCB spinning rod allows anglers to cast tiny baits on small diameter line with ease and accuracy.

When casting the cork and jig, he generally targets pea gravel banks where crappie will eventually settle in to spawn. He throws the rig on a 6 ½ foot B’n’M TCB ultralight spinning rod using Crappie Magnet’s SOS line that’s a mere 2-pound test. When he says small, he means it, jig, line and especially the bait which is a 1-inch Trout Magnet.

Even the bobber he uses, a Crappie Magnet EZ-Float model, has a purpose in the overall presentation. Foster said a lot of anglers using run of the mill bait shop corks for this type of fishing miss bites because the cork does not properly telegraph when a crappie grabs the bait and continues upward with it.

“My basic retrieve is to cast the rig, then use a twitch, twitch, crank retrieve,” said Foster. “Anywhere in that movement, when a fish takes the jig, the balance of the EZ Float will let you know by flipping over or giving off an irregular wobble. That’s when it’s time to set the hook.”

Foster adds another crappie to the livewell.

His second method is almost entirely sonar driven. He’s using forward-facing, real-time sonar to identify individual fish and using the same B’n’M TCB rod to put the same Crappie Magnet bait on the same 1/32 jig head in its face to tempt it into biting.

The job is made easier because over time Foster has customized his FFS settings to make the jig “pop” onscreen as soon as it comes into view of the transducer cone. He sets his forward range at 120 – 125 feet and targets fish once they get within 45 feet of the boat.

“I set my boat us with plenty of room in the front. The 16-inch Garmin screen is mounted on a Cornfield Fishing Gear bridge mount with a single telescopic swivel mount.  I can see a long way out front and when I identify the fish I’m after, I hit the crappie brakes on my anchor poles, try to get the jig to it as quick as I can, and get the party started.”

**********

Wherever fishing takes you, B’n’M has been there. Visit our website at bnmpoles.com

 

 

---

Also in Weekly Tips and Techniques