I go crappie fishing in lake tawakoni, but it’s been tough the past few weeks – to catch anything. Can you recommend some good spots there?

I hate to be the one to tell you this, but Lake Tawakonie is far from being the best N. Texas lake for crappie. I grew up in Dallas, and have fished every lake in Tx., and I can tell you from experience that Lake Tawakonie may be the absolute worst place to find crappie in the whole state. While there are small populations of crappie in the lake, they are vastly outnumbered by LG Bass, Stripers, Hybrids, White Bass, Bluegills (which are much tougher and more aggressive), and especially catfish. They have to compete with all these other fish for a limited amount of cover and spawing sites, and just barely hold their own. Flooded timber, which crappies need, is not abundant in Lake Tawakonie, and what there is, is usually occupied by bass. The areas of timber are widely scattered across the lake, interfering with the crappies normal migratory habit of moving along lines of cover. Aquatic vegitation is limited as well, although it does increase a bit after lake draw-downs. When water levels increase, plants such as smartweed form dense cover in places, but they become occupied by bass and catfish in short order. Bass and catfish have no trouble dining on wayward crappie when they can find them. Humps in the lake attract stripers, hybrids and white bass, who also will chow-down on any crappie they find crossing their path. All these factors combine to make life hard for crappie in this lake. When I fished Lake Tawakonie, the only places I ever caught crappie with any regularity was around bridge pilings and marinas., brush piles and sunken timber. You might try these areas. If you are dead-set on crappie, you are not too far from one of the best lakes for all warm-water species in the state…Lake O The Pines, in Gilmer, Tx. 3-4 Lb/ crappie in this lake are not uncommon, and it is so fertile that there is a snake in every tree! It has large populations of virtually every warm-water species of critter in the US, including bowfin and nutria. The only thing it doesn’t have is alligators, although I have heard stories…… Happy fishing!.