In the spring every year, big slab crappie abandon their deep-water haunts, and move up to the shallows to enjoy the company of the opposite sex and produce next year’s crop of crappie. It’s the one time of year when even casual crappie anglers can load a cooler with the tastiest fish in all of North America.

Jeff Bruhl is one of those. The Covington angler targets bass, speckled trout, redfish and more throughout the year, but when the white perch, as he calls them, move up shallow, Bruhl breaks out his jigging poles and ultralight cork rigs, and beats the bark off the stately cypress trees that line the Tchefuncte Riveer.

He let me tag along with him last week, and gave pointers on how to successfully harvest the fish using jigging poles. I’ve been targeting sac-a-lait, as I call them, all of my adult life, but always with pegged or sliding corks. Tight-lining with jigging poles is an entirely different game, and certainly takes some getting used to.

Fortunately, though, we had ideal conditions, with a light southeast wind blowing around 70-degree air, and really clean water, thanks to a couple of weeks without significant rainfall in the region.

We dropped down white and popsicle-colored micro jigs teamed with 1/16-ounce jigheads, and Bruhl kept his tipped with Berkley Crappie Nibbles.

For all the details, and to watch us load up the livewell, 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 target crappie this time of year? If so, what are your favorite techniques? Do you use jigging poles, or simply ultralight cork rigs?