On your next trip to the Choctawhatchee River, stop by Marlow’s Bait and Tackle and see Norma. She won’t tell you where to fish, but she will fire you up about how good they are biting.
Norma said she couldn’t keep crappie minnows in stock the past few weeks. If you’re a dedicated crappie fisherman, then you know what she means.
All up and down this river there are plenty of sloughs and lakes that the average fisherman will not go through the trouble to get into. This is where you separate the average Joe from the hard-core bream and crappie fisherman.
Not only will a bass fisherman not try to get into these tight places, he owns a boat that’s too big to get back into the spots he wants to go. In some cases, running up and down the river at 40 mph is more fun than actually catching fish.
But if a fellow is willing to get his boat dirty he stands a chance of catching a good stringer of not only crappie, but bream and shellcrackers.
Don’t forget to take along a box of wigglers or crickets and try tight-lining. Fishing the deep sandy dropoffs and slow-moving deep cuts have been producing some fine bluegills.
Over on the big river, the same is true down around Lake Wimico and the creeks that run into Wimico. Depot Creek on the south side of the lake is well known for its crappie and bluegill this time of year. Even though the water is cold and deep, try slash fishing along the bank the same as you would in the summer.
Most people trying this method say the bream will come up from as deep as 10 feet of water to hit a cricket fished only three feet deep.
The rivers are falling, so give it a try.
