Knapp: A crappie few days at Moraine State Park’s Lake Arthur to kick off the 2026 fishing season
In fishing, as with many other aspects of life, it’s wise to take our victories whenever we can get them, regardless of their relative insignificance at the time.
That’s the attitude I reminded myself of when I flipped the mini-sized Lake Arthur crappie into the boat. A tiny fish for sure, but the first one of 2026, a notable milestone given the circumstances of a long winter’s period of angling inactivity.
It was a little over a week ago that my buddy Deron Eck jumped in the truck with me and we made the trek west to Moraine State Park, home of 3,300-acre Lake Arthur. Eck had driven past the lake the night before, and though darkness had already set in, he felt the lake was ice-free.
We were greeted with a rippled surface that displayed none of the frozen elements that had sealed if off for the past several weeks after arriving at the lake during the early afternoon hours.
Within minutes the boat was launched. I idled out into the lake, eyes on the sonar display, checking out underwater cover that included brushpiles, bridge abutments, cribs and clusters of stumps along the old Muddy Creek channel.
The quick subsurface survey showed an abundance of baitfish and larger targets on a crib located in 25-or-so feet of water. Upon stopping the boat, Eck dropped the trolling motor and I engaged the stop-lock feature so the motor would maintain the position.
With the stage now set, we lowered tiny plastic jigs tipped with Berkley Crappie Nibbles into the depths. A healthy-sized split shot crimped a few inches above the jighead hastened the descent.
Initially, the crappies ignored the diminutive offerings. I switched to a small ¼-ounce blade bait finished in a sparkly gold hue. Moments later, a slight tap telegraphed a strike, one that resulted in 2026’s first fish.
We hop-scotched from cover to cover for the remainder of the four-hour outing, looking for fish and testing the water when we saw signs of life.
Eventually, the crappies started showing interest in plastic-bodied jigs. The most productive bait was a Bobby Garland Itty Bit Slab Slayer in black/chartreuse. The bait was dressed on 1/16-ounce light wire jig head.
The light wire was beneficial because in many cases, when snagged in the woody cover, it would bend out enough to be freed. The Bobby Garland Baby Shad in Electric Chicken — pink and chartreuse — also accounted for some fish.
By the time we’d put the boat on the trailer we had landed 17 fish, mostly crappies, but a few yellow perch and one decent largemouth bass, as well.
A couple days later, Mark Transue joined me for an afternoon’s venture to the same general area.
Interestingly, many of the spots that were devoid of action during the earlier trip were productive. In addition to soft-bodied jigs and blade baits, we also caught fish on 1-inch Gulp Alive minnows tipped with a Nibble. And while we didn’t land any slabs, Transue did go home with a dozen crappies in the 10-inch range good enough to eat.
The fish we caught that day were in the deeper basin of the lake, holding to cover they migrated toward late last fall.
In the coming weeks, as the water warms and the days lengthen, the fish will move into shallower cover to feed and spawn.
Jeff Knapp is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle.
