There are guys who target crappie, called sac-a-lait here in South Louisiana, all year. These anglers follow the fish through their annual cycles, and during certain stretches, will target them 20 feet or more below the water’s surface.

I’m not one of those guys. During much of the year, the fish are too finicky to hold my attention, and there are better options, for me, in the coastal marshes.

But in the late winter, sac-a-lait get the urge to propagate, and move shallow, humming Marvin Gaye and looking to get it on. That’s when even casual crappie anglers like me can have great success targeting the fish.

So every February and March, I put down the speckled trout and redfish rods, and pick up ultra-lights and jigging poles. Rather than bomb-casting marsh edges, I push way back into swamps and rivers, flipping micro-jigs toward lily pads and bulrush stands.

The effort is always worth it for the peace and solitude it provides, but also because nothing in the piscatorial kingdom tastes even half as good as sac-a-lait. The fish’s delicate fillets make beef tenderloin seem tough, rubbery and bland by comparison.

And best of all, it’s almost impossible to target sac-a-lait without bumping into some other tasty freshwater denizens, like bream, catfish and small bass.

So with a two-hour time limit, I make a quick jaunt onto the river near my house last week in search of my first sac-a-lait of the season, and didn’t have much trouble finding them, along with some catfish.

Afterwards, I took viewers into my kitchen to show them a great way to prepare the fish with ingredients every cook likely has in the pantry.

For all the details, check out the video below.

Like the video? Please give it a thumbs-up, and subscribe to the Marsh Man Masson channel on YouTube. Also, leave a comment below. Do you also get the sac-a-lait bug this time of year? If so, what are some of your favorite lures? Do you fish them exclusively under corks, or also tight-lined?