Roy Logan, TWRA Wildlife Officer and crappie fishing guide on Reelfoot Lake.
photo by Richard Simms
Game wardens have a special manner about them. I think it's issued along with their gun and badge.
Unlike traditional law enforcement officers however, game wardens have an easy-going mellow demeanor. Oh, they can certainly pull out the bully stick when they have to, but generally they'll come across as "good ol'boys."
Roy Logan from Obion County wears that hat quite well, right down to the can of Skoal in his back pocket.
But when I met Roy Logan, he was wearing his other hat. When he's not game wardening, Roy guides crappie fishermen on the world-famous Reelfoot Lake. He's not sure which he likes best.
"It depends on if the fish are biting," exclaimed Roy with a grin.
I've been to Reelfoot Lake several times … photographing eagles in the winter, and on a couple of waterfowling forays. I had never been on Reelfoot during crappie season. That is until last week.
My wife and I rolled along Highway 22 out of Samburg, peering in between the massive cypress trees and out across the lake. What we saw were boats, and more boats, and then more boats -- boats so thick it looked like you could stroll across the lake bow-to-bow and never get your feet wet.
"It's not any problem to sit and count 200 boats in the main basin this time of year," said Roy.
The main basin comprises just a smidgen of the lake that stretches 12 miles long and more than 4 miles wide. You will never imagine the lake is that big however because much of it is hidden beneath cypress swamps and lily pads. It is a picture everywhere you look.
Reelfoot Fishing Photo Gallery
"You won't ever find anybody that comes to Reelfoot that doesn't say it's just as beautiful a lake as they've ever seen," said Roy.
Most folks know that Reelfoot was created by a series of earthquakes in 1811 and 1812, when legend has it that the Mississippi River ran backwards. The floodwaters settled in a shallow river-bottom basin. The lake averages a mere 5.2 feet deep, which means many areas are much shallower. Even the so-called "open water" areas of the lake are not really open. Virtually every square inch potentially harbors a cypress stump. And each one of those harbors a crappie, or several crappie.
And according to Roy, there is only one way to effectively catch them. It's called a spider rig.
"It's mainly just habit… but spider-rigging is just the way people fish here," said Roy. "You can't see these stumps. You've got to spread yourself out and cover them as best you can."
"Spread yourself out" means you put out eight, 12-foot crappie poles off the bow of the boat. Each one carries a 3/8th-ounce egg sinker and double-hook crappie rig. Usually your minnows aren't more than two or three feet under water, and you slow troll across the stumps.
"Boat control is everything," said Roy. "I usually fish eight poles but I've had days when they're biting good that I've had to take up poles because I couldn't keep up with eight. And it works in every lake I've ever been in."
Over the course of the day I watched dozens and dozens of boats. I never -- and I mean never -- saw a crappie fisherman pick up a rod and actually cast.
Except me, of course.
I put three crappie in the boat in short order casting a 1/16th ounce grub. Roy kind of stared back at me like I was committing some sort of sacrilege, but he told Barbara, "we may have to put on a grub."
Point being, I believe you can catch crappie on Reelfoot throwing jigs, but when in Rome, do as the Romans do.
The Romans in this case slow troll -- and I mean VERY slow troll with their spider-rigs. Eyes are locked on the eight rod tips just waiting for one to bob slightly.
Roy's eyes were tuned in. Ours were not. It wasn't unusual for Roy to reach across the bow in front of me, yank a rod from its holder and lift a crappie in the boat -- a crappie I never knew was there.
His spider-rig covered the water like a Hoover vacuum cleaner. With 16 minnows on 12-foot rods off each side of the boat, he was sweeping a 30-foot swath through the stumps. It is an effective way to put meat in the cooler.
Roy is 34 years old and he grew up prowling the Reelfoot swamps. He says he's seen a lot of changes over the years.
"There's not any secrets anymore," he said with a bit of a frown.
Reelfoot Fishing Photo Gallery
One big recent change is that the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency outlawed commercial crappie fishing.
For decades Reelfoot was the only lake in Tennessee where commercial fishermen could legally string nets to catch crappie. Roy says the practice was eliminated about 4 years ago, and people know it.
"The perception of Reelfoot has changed since the commercial fishing went away," said Roy. "Whether you are for it or against it, you can see that. There's simply a lot more people fishing here since the commercial fishing went away."
Roy happens to be one of the few who really wasn't opposed to the commercial fishing. The commercial anglers had a maximum annual limit and some argue that there are so many crappie in Reelfoot, you need to take some extra ones out to give the remainder some growing room.
But Roy says the massive influx of anglers certainly has its benefits.
"It's good for the economy. This lake is the economy down here," said Roy. "This is it! All these docks down here, motels and stores that depend on this time of year. The bluegill fishing is good through May, but after that it dies down, so they've got to make hay while the sun shines."
We made our hay while the sun shone. That evening Ross Malone and I put the filet knife to 25 hefty crappie. We threw back a lot of dinky little fish far too small for the knife. Roy says no matter what people think, game wardens don't really know exactly where all the deer and fish are all the time.
"I've proven that today," he laughed. "I don't know where every fish in the lake is. I wish they'd teach us that. Or maybe I slept through that class," he added with a laugh.
There are a million places to rent boats on Reelfoot. But Roy says bring a trolling motor and an anchor because most of the rental boats have neither. Remember, he says boat control is everything.
Of course you can bring your own boat. There's no shortage of public ramps, although if you get there after 7 am there may be a shortage of parking spaces.
Roy says if you bring your own boat, "don't come here with an aluminum prop. The lake is about a foot above normal so we're missing a lot of stumps right now. But later in the year you can sure destroy some equipment."
There are some respectable crappie, but don't expect many monsters. Reelfoot is a "quantity" crappie lake, not "quality." One biologist says that the average weight of Reelfoot crappie is just under 8-ounces and that 53% of the white crappie there are between 9 and 10 inches long.
If you want to catch big crappie, stay right here on Chickamauga Lake.
However if you want to see some new sights -- some incredible cypress-studded sunrises -- and wild river bottoms the way nature intended them to be, pay a visit to Reelfoot Lake.
Reelfoot Fishing Photo Gallery