Gullywasher rains pushed through the upper Mississippi River Valley over the past 48 hours, bringing river levels up over TWO FEET. It is still rising on pool 9, but should crest by Aug. 20 and begin to fall, getting back below action stage by maybe Saturday.

Although the Army Road boat ramp was still open at noon, I expect it to close Wednesday morning for a day or too.

Fishing is tough when the River is in a state of major flux like that–with two notable exceptions.

channel cats will move tight against the shore above snags here there is a moderate current with a sandy bottom, still relating to the same snags/driftpiles they’ve been cruising for over a month.

Crappie have similar movement, typically dropping a foot or so deeper in the snags they have been relating to. Water clarity is the biggest problem. Slabs are never far from heavy cover. With “chocolate milk” you need to hang the lure just over their scaly faces.

Dirty water is about the only time I would even consider using minnows for crappies. usually I attack them with both a vertical & horizontal presentation. One will usually outfish the other by a wide margin. Figure out what’s working and go with it.

Jigging spoons are my fave vertical presentation. Top of this list is the slender flutter spoon by B-Fish-N tackle. Snags are a certainty if you’re fishin’ where the fish are–especially if you use something with a treble hook. I clip off two of the treble’s hooks.

One hook is all you need, cuz you’re in a stiking presentation. Crappies in wood are already staged, ready to make a rattlesnake-quick dash of a couple inches when ‘food’ comes by.

If the slab decides to eat it will be back in heavy wood before you can set the hook. Fish need to be moved instantly if you consistently wanna put them in the boat.

My fave stick is a PSG 102 crappie rod from HT Enterprises. The PSG 102 is 10′ long. HT offers 11 & 12 footers too. The 10′ justs fits better along the gunnel of my Lund.

For line I prefer hi-vis Sufix braid in 30-40 lb. test. Thirty pound braid is stiff. In hi-vis it’s a better strike indicator than the most sensitive graphite.

A 10′ pole allows you to fish directly over the hook. With fish suspended down -36′ over at least 10 fow, there is never more than 4-5′ feet of line between the hook and the rod tip.

This isn’t about a sporty tussle, kids. It’s all about putting meat in the boat.

Of course, when you try to lift a 14″ crappie out of the water her “paper” lip is gonna tear. I taped a fine mesh short-handled trout net to the end of an old telescoping cane pole.

A snap o’ the wrist shoots the net out to full extension under the fish like a spatula with a mesh bag under it. next stop: livewell.