Summer Crappie Fishing with Billy Blakley

August 19, 2025

Summer Crappie Fishing with Billy Blakley

Phillip Gentry

 

According to B’n’M pro-staffer and fishing guide Billy Blakley, so far this year the areas around western Tennessee and specifically Reelfoot Lake have received more rainfall than from all of last year. The result has been not only higher water levels as compared to the typical drought drawdowns that occur during the summer, but substantially cooler water as well.

“It’s kept our crappie up closer to the bank than they normally would be this time of year,” said Blakley. “Instead of having to go out to deep water to find them, they’re right there on top of the stumps not too far from the bank.”

That’s good news for both Blakley’s clients and anyone else looking to catch a mess of slabs this time of year.

Spider rigging minnows using B’n’M jig poles is a time-tested crappie fishing tactic on the “Earthquake Lake.”

Blakley’s typical go-to for crappie fishing on Reelfoot is spider-rigging live minnows. He said he may or may not have his forward-facing sonar unit on because the cooler water conditions make finding fish much easier and he doesn’t have to use forward sonar to locate fish.

“In a normal year, we’d be finding crappie out deep and near the bottom, but with all this rain, they’re hanging out right at the top of the stumps in 6 – 7 feet of water,” said Blakley. “That’s about as easy to target as you’re gonna find anywhere.”

Unlike most lakes, copious amounts of rainfall do not make Reelfoot Lake muddy. The guide said the water color may change a little on the upper end but on the south end of the lake, the water is still very clear.

Bluebank Resort is a great summer getaway for crappie anglers.

“It’s been like post spawn fishing all through the summer,” he said. “Most of these crappie are just 50 – 75 feet from the bank and I just put out a spread of 16-foot BGJPs and go.”

Blakley pairs the B’n’M poles with the B’n’M double hook minnow rigs using either a 1/4 oz or 3/8 oz weight. While this rig is highly touted for targeting fish at two different levels, Blakley said he removes the top hook on each rig to try to hold down on the number of snags that can happen in water that is as full of stumps, blowdowns and other woody cover as Reelfoot.

“I just set the rig out where I think the weight is gonna be right there at the top of the stump,” he said. “I don’t troll real fast, maybe half a mile an hour. I just want to move the rigs over the tops of the stumps.”

Catch rates have been really good for the charters he’s done from Blue Bank Resort on Reelfoot over the whole summer. He said limits are pretty common and the sizes of the white crappie he’s catching range from a pound and a quarter all the way up to two and a quarter pounds. He also explained that he’s using small minnows, most are in the inch and a half or smaller range, to catch crappie.

Guide Billy Blakley said the summer crappie fishing has been as good as he can remember.

“Not only is the fishing much better than you’d expect during the summer, but they’re biting the best through the middle of the day,” he said. “We don’t have to be up and out on the water before the crack of dawn like we normally would. We can usually catch a limit between the hours of 10 am - 1pm.”

For bluegill anglers, Blakley said the cooler water temps have got the big ‘gills fired up too. He’s finding a lot of bluegills moving back and forth between their bedding grounds up in 3 – 4 feet of water and the same stumpy areas where he’s catching crappie.

“I’d say this is so far one of the best summers we’ve had here on Reelfoot since I started guiding,” said Blakley. “There’s not a whole lot of anything else to do, so you might as well come catch some of these crappie and bluegills.”

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To book a guided crappie or bluegill fishing trip with Billy Blakley out of Blue Bank Resort, contact the resort at 877-258-3226 or visit bluebankresort.com.

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

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