Kayak Fishing: Attack Shallow Crappie in Stealth Mode

A Southern angler's heart warms when rising temperatures begin to push fish shallow and make them active. Bass are biting, shad are pulsing in the rivers and trout streams are peaking with both native and stocked fish.

During this time, one of my favorite fishing adventures involves tossing a lightweight kayak in the back of the truck and heading to any of my secret crappie holes. Backwater sloughs, ponds and small public lakes are often ignored in favor of large, well-known reservoirs where spider-rig systems and sonar units ruled the day just a month ago.

Shallow slabs are...