Few freshwater fish inspire as much excitement as crappie, or as much secrecy. Ask a group of anglers about crappie fishing and you’ll get a lot of enthusiasm, but press for concrete details, and there are tight lips all around.
Luckily, Tennessee is home to a lot of lakes where you don’t usually have to work too hard to catch a mess of crappies.
And we’re here to make it even easier as we point you to some of the best places to go crappie fishing in the state.
White crappie and black crappie are each abundant in Tennessee, with the former generally being more common.
Both common crappie varieties regularly weigh about a pound but can exceed 3 or even 4 pounds, which shouldn’t be too surprising in a state that produced the world record crappie, weighing nearly 5 and a half pounds.
Spring is the season that most Tennessee crappie fanatics wait for. As conventional wisdom has it, when the dogwoods are in bloom, crappies are spawning. But while the spring crappie bite can indeed be exceptional, you don’t have to wait for the dogwood trees to tell you what to do.
Winter offers the potential to catch massive slabs from deep brush piles, while summer is a great time to tempt them after dark. And fall crappie fishing on many Tennessee lakes can rival the boom times of spring.
Whatever season it may be, the following lakes and reservoirs are the best places to catch crappies in Tennessee.
Reelfoot Lake
Consistently ranked among the best crappie lakes in the nation, Reelfoot Lake is unlike any other lake in Tennessee, and not just because it produces crappies in astonishing numbers.
At 10,944 acres, Reelfoot Lake is the only large natural lake in Tennessee. An earthquake created Reelfoot in the early 1800s, which caused water from the Mississippi River to flow backward, inundating the low-lying land in the northwest corner of the state.
The resulting lake is fertile and shallow—mostly 3 feet or less and barely 25 feet at its deepest point. It’s an absolute crappie factory, with white crappies being the more abundant species.
Reelfoot Lake consists of four primary basins connected by channels or ditches. Each basin supports excellent crappie populations, though Blue Basin, the southernmost of the four, is the most popular and easily accessible.
Mid-March to early April is prime crappie season here, with fish moving toward shallow spawning sites in vast numbers. Crappies have a lot of cover to choose from, including fallen timber, living cypress trees, lily pad fields, and mile after mile of submerged stumps.
Those stumps can do a number on your trolling motor if you’re not careful, but they’re also where most crappies spawn. There are so many of them that it can be hard to know where to begin.
Stump fields at the north and south ends of the lakes are good places to start, with wind direction being an important factor in deciding which end to focus on. Look for stumps and pre-emergent lily pad stems in 4 to 6 feet of water.
Other prime areas include Gray’s Camp on the Upper Blue Basin and Kirby’s Pocket at the south end of Buck Basin. Walnut Gap and Forked Pond are a couple of good mid-lake areas.
Most times, spider rigging is the method of choice, with double minnow rigs on six to eight rods. When crappies are in the thick of the spawn, casting or “dipping” jigs to isolated pieces of cover can be just as productive.
While spring is the most popular season, there’s also great fall crappie fishing in Reelfoot Lake. Try live minnows in any part of the lake that’s more than 9 feet deep.
Kentucky Lake
Kentucky Lake is a monster. At 160,309 acres, this massive Tennessee River impoundment is the largest artificial reservoir east of the Mississippi River, offering 2,064 miles of shoreline. Crappies, both black and white, are large and abundant.
Where to begin? Long and narrow, Kentucky Lake’s lower end lies in Kentucky, and its upper end stretches about 184 miles farther south in Tennessee. Hundreds of productive creeks and coves notch its sides along the way.
Eagle Creek and the Big Sandy River arm—both near Paris Landing State Park—are quick to warm in the springtime, and Birdsong Creek and Bass Bay are also prime spring spots. That said, knowing where to look within any creek is more important than knowing which creek to fish.
Starting at the mouth of a creek and gradually working your way toward the back end is a good strategy. Crappies shift toward shallows in fits and starts as early as February, but the transition really gets into gear in early March.
Kentucky Lake is an old reservoir with little natural cover. Many crappies won’t be shallow yet in early March, so artificial structures provide essential habitat.
The usual approach is focusing on brush piles and stake beds in and around the mouths of creeks and nearby main lake points. Thousands of structures have been sunk throughout the lake, most by anglers and a few by the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency (TWRA).
The true shallow spawning action starts later in March and extends into April. At this point, crappies move into shallow cover in the backs of Kentucky Lake’s creeks and bite readily on jigs and minnows. In May and June, they’ll gradually head back to deeper brush again.
Charlie Brewer’s Slider Grubs are a local favorite for tipping ⅛-ounce jig heads, and white/chartreuse is a killer color combo. Jigs tipped with minnows are a good choice on slow days.
Summer can be tough, but there’s a resurgence in crappie action in fall. Expect crappies to be tight to cover in brush piles and stake beds around 15 feet deep, especially in Big Sandy and West Sandy.
Lake Barkley
Lake Barkley is one of Tennessee’s most overlooked crappie lakes. That’s mostly because this large reservoir is near and roughly parallel to Kentucky Lake. Though formed by different rivers, the two lakes are often considered siblings.
But Lake Barkley is a crappie powerhouse that produces black and white crappies in equal (and quite impressive) numbers. It’s the first of four major reservoirs on the Cumberland River in Tennessee, stretching 134 miles long and spanning 57,820 acres.
Successful crappie tactics are similar here to those on Kentucky Lake. During early pre-spawn, look for crappies on stake beds and brush piles along the edges of deep water channels and bluffs before gradually shifting your focus into the creeks.
Those stake beds and brush piles will again be stopping points for crappies after they’ve finished spawning in late April. Spider rigging is generally employed to cover water.
But when crappies are at peak spawn, a single long panfish rod with a curly tail grub or Roadrunner jig is more efficient, not to mention more fun. Look for crappies in late March and early April around shoreline buttonbush and on shallow spawning flats.
There are a lot of places on Barkley Lake where you’ll find prime spring spawning grounds. The lower end of the lake is in Kentucky, while Tennessee lays claim to the upper end, which is largely riverine but includes numerous creeks and embayments off the main lake.
Saline Creek is one of the best, and Dyers Creek and Lick Creek are phenomenal areas farther up the lake. Dyers Creek Recreation Area and Lick Creek Recreation Area each provide bank and boat access on their respective creeks.
In summer, when crappies have retreated to deeper haunts, look for them around the bridges that span some of the deeper channels, and try around lighted marina docks after dark.
Douglas Lake
Douglas Lake, a 30,400-acre impoundment on the French Broad River in the Smoky Mountains, is easily the best crappie lake in East Tennessee. It’s gone through major boom-and-bust cycles, but stocking and habitat improvements have helped stabilize the population.
Anglers catch mostly white crappies in Douglas Lake, though TWRA trap net surveys often turn up more black crappies. The likely reason for this discrepancy is that black crappies move around more, whereas white crappies are more likely to school up and stay put.
As in most lakes, spring is prime crappie season. It’s also a season of transition, in more ways than one.
From March through April, Douglas Lake will be warming up. At the same time, the water will be rising after months of winter drawdown. As water levels and temperatures each creep upward, both factors will draw crappies closer and closer to the banks.
The largest crappies move first, and if you hit the lake at just the right time in mid-March, you might catch only big, hefty pre-spawn females. More and smaller crappies gradually join in, leading to faster action but a mixed bag of sizes in April.
A good approach here is to focus on the small points outside of major spawning creeks like Muddy Creek and Indian Creek. Because not all crappies spawn at once, this pattern can produce throughout the season.
Live minnows and Float-N-Fly rigs work well here. With either presentation, suspending your bait or lure 2 to 6 feet below the float is ideal, depending on how deep crappies are holding on any given day.
Summer and fall crappie fishing in Douglas Lake can also be great. Look for deeper brush around channels and creek mouths, and try fishing after dark on summer nights with lights over the sides of the boat to attract baitfish.
Dale Hollow Lake
“Underrated” is a strange word to apply to Dale Hollow Reservoir, arguably Tennessee’s most famous fishing lake. But most anglers who come here do so in pursuit of bass, leaving crappie somewhat forgotten.
Still, crappies are very abundant in this 27,520-acre Obey River impoundment, which lies astraddle the Kentucky border in Northeast Tennessee. Dale Hollow’s crappie populations can be cyclical, but big fish are always available.
Black and white crappies are both in the mix, and hatchery-raised blacknose crappies have also been stocked here successfully. The latter have a recessive trait that results in a black stripe from nose to dorsal fin.
Fishing for crappie at Dale Hollow requires a different approach than most lakes due to its gin-clear water. Successful crappie anglers here generally use light lines and downsized lures.
Perhaps most crucial of all, they fish deeper. Dale Hollow is a true year-round crappie lake if you can adapt to fishing deeper water. Brush piles between 10 and 25 feet deep along the lake’s steep bluff banks are very productive during pre-spawn and post-spawn.
These same areas also offer an excellent fall crappie bite. Don’t expect nonstop action, but from October to December, you’re likely to pick off a crappie or two from each brush pile, and they’re likely to be big ones. Anglers catch lots of 2-pound crappies this time of year.
There are also those who would argue winter is the best time to catch Dale Hollow crappies. Some of the biggest slabs of the year come during winter from brush piles sunk from 25 to 50 feet deep. Try tipping your jigs with a Crappie Nibble when the bite is slow.
And let’s not forget about everybody’s favorite season: spring. Crappies head shallow here in March and April, just like any other lake, with creeks like Ashburn, Ill Will, and Irons Creek being hot spots.
Around the spawn, adjust your approach depending on the water level. During a high water spring, crappies will be right up in the water willows in the backs of the creeks. If the water is low, look for them in grass and submerged vegetation.
Honorable Mentions
Old Hickory Lake
A Cumberland River reservoir that spans about 22,500 acres just northeast of Nashville, Old Hickory Lake is a very popular fishing lake. Though proximity to Tennessee’s largest city means significant fishing pressure, it’s still an excellent spring crappie fishery.
It’s also more of a numbers lake than a slab factory, but Old Hickory can easily produce limits of respectable 1 to 1.5-pound fish. The lake is long, meandering, and usually somewhat turbid, with numerous bay-like creeks off the main river channel.
The main lake area around the Route 109 bridge is excellent during pre-spawn, and any of the creeks can be productive during the spawn. Spencer Creek is one of the best, but other large lower-lake creeks like Drake, Cedar and Station Camp are great, too.
Old Hickory Lake is highly developed, and many crappies are caught by “shooting” jigs under its hundreds of boat docks, especially docks where homeowners have sunk brush nearby.
In winter, there can be great fishing in brush and trees along deep channel banks.
Old Hickory Lake also is one of the better spots in Tennessee to catch landlocked stripers.
Percy Priest Lake
North-central Tennessee’s Percy Priest Lake is a 14,200-acre reservoir on the Stones River. It’s an excellent numbers lake, though if the 3-pound lake record white crappie caught in 2022 is any indication, it can produce big ones, too.
Spring and early summer are prime times, with crappies biting readily on brush piles and stake beds.
Percy Priest Lake often has an excellent fall crappie bite, too. Focus on the uplake area, targeting brush piles in 8 to 10 feet of water with jigs and minnows.
Crappies may be a little less aggressive in fall, and a slow, steady retrieve typically works best. But at times the fall bite can be nonstop when crappies key in on shad and follow them up into the creeks to fatten up before winter.
Percy Priest Lake is notable for its excellent and abundant bank access. Developed bank fishing sites at Vivrette Creek and Stewarts Creek are great options for shore-bound anglers.
More: Complete Guide to Fishing at Percy Priest Lake
Fort Loudoun Lake
Fort Loudoun Lake spans 14,600 acres on the Upper Tennessee River near Knoxville, and this long, snake-like reservoir supports an excellent crappie population, with white crappies being dominant.
Bridges are key structures here. Crappies must pass under them on their way into spawning creeks in early March and again on their way out in late April. Bridge pilings can hold crappies at various depths in any season.
Bridges in and around the Turkey Creek and Stinking Creek area on the north shore of Fort Loudoun Lake are great starting points.
The lake also has innumerable docks and boathouses, and dock fishing can be excellent, especially lighted marina docks on summer nights.
Woods Reservoir
South-central Tennessee’s Woods Reservoir is a very rural lake with a largely undeveloped shoreline. You’ll find a tangle of fallen timber around the banks, and the upper end of the lake features acres of stumps beneath the surface. Both attract crappies like magnets.
At just 3,660 acres, Woods Reservoir is relatively easy to pattern, and it’s small enough that kayak fishing is a great option. The water is often stained, especially at the upper end of the lake, so try something with some flash, like a Beetle Spin or Roadrunner.
Spider rigging and long-lining around stump beds and just outside of spawning coves is a good starting tactic and will help you cover water until you pin down where the crappies are hanging out.
Chickamauga Lake
Though Chickamauga Lake is arguably best known for bream, it also offers some of the best crappie fishing in the Chattanooga area. Either black or white crappie may be the dominant species, depending on the success of the spawn during any given year.
This 36,200-acre Tennessee River lake offers phenomenal crappie fishing from February through April. This season, crappies use creek channels like highways as they gradually work their way into Wolftever, Soddy, Possum and Grasshopper creeks.
The period when they’re truly shallow is brief. But anglers can catch them for months along the creek channels by trolling or drifting minnows and jigs. Fish attractors along the channels are productive in fall, too.
More: Complete Guide to Chickamauga Lake Fishing
Catch More Crappie
New to crappie fishing or need to brush up on these brush-loving panfish? Check out our simple guide to crappie fishing, covering techniques, lures, baits and other tips.