Jon, back & to the TFF! You couldn't have picked a better time to get back into fishing in this area. I went to Palestine this afternoon around 2 & fished with jpenwell till 5 & we had 23 in the box. The morning bite has been phenomenal the past couple weeks! I rarely can fish in the morning so I have to go when I can. Check out Jason Burton's Guide Service posts lately as he has been tearin the crappie up! In fact, he has a Christmas Special goin on right now so if you want to just sit back & let Jason put you on the fish, now's a great time. If you want to hit it on your own, just head for the Hwy155 bridge and fish dark jigs early in the 12' to 14' range around the middle three columns. As the morning wears on, go deeper, till around noon if you haven't caught your limit yet, you'll probably be fishing just off bottom? Feather jigs in purple & chartreuse or black & chartreuse or several other combos are working well. Every fish I caught today came on an all brown jig some guys call "Joe Dirt". Anyway, good luck to you & no kidding, you outta give Jason a call. He's really got them dialed in right now.

Im not the original tier. There was an old gentleman named Val that created a whole line of Finesse jigs (Val's Jig's) in sizes 1/32oz, 1/48oz & 1/64oz and sold them from some small shops around Ft. Worth. Some time ago, Val passed away & his line of jigs disappeared but a couple of guys held on to a small assortment of the jigs and guarded them like they were gold. I was offered the jigs (ON LOAN) & the priveledge of trying to reproduce them. The "Joe Dirt" wasn't even among the group but the guy's described it to me & I gave it a shot. They said my version was a pretty good copy. Yesterday, I was fishing tandem jigs with 2 GIANT version's of the Joe Dirt, a 1/8oz on bottom & a 1/16oz on top. The crappie seemed to like them both.

Pepop, I havearound this forum for a while and joined today specifically to thank you for your post(s). I had a day off yesterday and spent the morning under the bridge, left with 23 in the box at 10:45. I didn't have a "Joe Dirt" but I did catch every fish on the smallest dark colored jig I had. All caught at 16 feet in 25 feet of water on the middle columns. Exactly where you said they were. I normally would have been fishing something bigger and brighter, just off the bottom, which I saw others doing with little success. So many times on here and other forums it can be hard to figure out even what lake someone is on, and I understand that. But it was a treat to find such detailed and useful intel, and even better to put it to use and fill up a cooler. It was well worth the tank of gas (I normally fish Lavon, but every ramp on it is closed). Thanks again for sharing your knowledge.

Welcome to the TFF.
Keep lurking and you'll find this is one family to be proud to be a part of..
Jigum

Pepop, I have lurked around this forum for a while and joined today specifically to thank you for your post(s). I had a day off yesterday and spent the morning under the bridge, left with 23 in the box at 10:45. I didn't have a "Joe Dirt" but I did catch every fish on the smallest dark colored jig I had. All caught at 16 feet in 25 feet of water on the middle columns. Exactly where you said they were. I normally would have been fishing something bigger and brighter, just off the bottom, which I saw others doing with little success. So many times on here and other forums it can be hard to figure out even what lake someone is on, and I understand that. But it was a treat to find such detailed and useful intel, and even better to put it to use and fill up a cooler. It was well worth the tank of gas (I normally fish Lavon, but every ramp on it is closed). Thanks again for sharing your knowledge.

Every fish I caught today came on an all brown jig some guys call "Joe Dirt".