Jackson has fished Toledo Bend most of his life. He was a competitive bass angler early in his career, qualifying for the 1982 Bassmaster Classic in 1982 on the Alabama River.
On Toledo Bend, he guided bass anglers until 1996.
Now a longtime crappie guide, Jackson has honed his experience with catching this very popular panfish species.
“I will mainly use artificial jigs in the late spring until summer sets in,” Jackson said.
One trip last April is a good example: Jackson and a few clients were fishing on the southern section of the lake near the Housen area.
“We were fishing over some shallow grass, just casting and winding on light spinning equipment,” he said.
The waters were stained, and Jackson was casting Mr. Twister’s 2-inch, Tri-Alive Hot Curly Tail jigs in the black/pearl/chartreuse silver flake color on 1/32-ounce jigheads.
“On this one patch of grass, the crappie were stacked up in good sizes and numbers,” Jackson said.
And with Toledo Bend’s generous 25-crappie limit, each angler had their hands full for a couple of hours.
For Toledo Bend’s late-spring and early summer crappie, Jackson chiefly uses Mr. Twister plastics in the shallows. His choices include Tri-Alive Hot Curly Tails, VIE Shiners and Tri-Color Mini Tubes.
As for colors, Jackson lets water quality dictate his offering. He uses darker color combinations when fishing stained or dark waters. When waters are clear, he matches the color of the prey in the area as closely as possible.
When casting and winding, Jackson’s tackle is light and simple, consisting of 6 ½-foot light-action spinning rods and reels spooled with 8-pound Stren monofilament.
“When using a float during shallow-water fishing, I use a 1/64-ounce jighead instead of the 1/32-ounce size,” he said.
The angler will also chunk and slowly wind his offerings under that float, especially when Toledo Bend crappie are suspending right above the submerged grass beds.
