So, you wanna put a few miles on the trailer and pull a few crappies from beneath your boat before the lakes up north shed their ice. There’s no better way that taking a jaunt to Mid-South reservoirs in March and April. Using some of the tactics mentioned in our March issue in the feature Catching Spring Crappies Before They “Come In” here are some mighty fine places to go to catch the early spring bite for slab crappies.

Most folks don’t want to waste a lot of time driving east-west when they head south, so here are some lakes that, depending on your point of origin, shouldn’t be too far off your north-south heading.

Missouri—Truman, Lake of the Ozarks, Smithville, Table Rock, Pomme de Terre, Stockton

Arkansas—Bull Shoals*, Norfork, Beaver, Dardanelle, Piney Creek, Conway, DeGray   *shared with Missouri

Oklahoma—Eufaula, Thunderbird, Grand, Tenkiller, Texoma

Kentucky—Kentucky, Barkley, Cave Run, Taylorsville, Percy Priest

Tennessee— Reelfoot, Kentucky, Barkley, Chicamauga, Center Hill, Wautauga

North Carolina—Harris, Jordan, Wylie*, Waccamaw   *shared with South Carolina

South Carolina—Santee-Cooper, Clarks Hill, Hartwell, Murray

Texas—Toledo Bend*, Sam Rayburn*, Lake Fork,    *shared with Louisiana

Louisiana—Poverty Point, Caney, Verrett, Bistineau, Grand Bayou

Mississippi—Grenada, Sardis, Enid, Enid,Arkabutla, Ross Barnett,

Alabama—Weiss, Wheeler, Wilson, Eufala, Millers Ferry, Pickwick

Georgia—Sinclair, Oconee, Clarks Hill, Walter F. George

And the winner is…based on numerous sources and polls, Grenada Lake in northern Mississippi is considered one of the best places to catch a 3-pound crappie, along with a whole bunch of “measly” 2-pounders.

Dave Csanda has enjoyed 40 years in the fishing communications industry at In-Fisherman, Angling Edge and now, as editor of MidWest Outdoors. He is an inductee of both the Minnesota and National Fresh Water Fishing Halls of Fame.