I�m located in the Northeast corner of the state and have been wondering and looking for Crappie Clubs or small Fun Tournaments to get into. I know CAT has some and but really not looking to travel 3hrs away all the time. Does anyone know of any crappie clubs up in our corner of the state? Texarkana is my local lake and we have Caddo and Lake O Pines close by too. I have even considered wanting to start a �just for fun� Crappie club in the area

Welcome to the forum, I think there is a club on fork, but don't recall name of it. Hope this helps.

Thanks Lazy Ike.
Fork is still just a tad far for a club and I have never been on that lake for Crappie but it is on my list to hit someday. Sandlin and cypress is about as far west I wanna travel or search for clubs to check out. I know CAT is hosting a Tournament on millwood but all the rest are either south or west of our neck of the woods.

CAT is much more than 'just' tournaments. The sharing of techniques, tactics, seasonal info, how-to, equipment knowledge, crappie camaraderie with fellow anglers, making new crappie friends, general fellowship, educational scholarships, junior angler programs, on-the-water seminar, priceless videos from some of the best crappie knowledgeable anglers in the nation and many other activities such as CrappieFest and Extravaganza (this Sunday) far surpasses the club's tournament trail.

CAT wasn't a 'chicken or the egg' poser. It was crappie club first with crappie anglers of all walks of crappie experience getting together to share a common need to feel the 'thump'. The tournament trail morphed from the initial club origins just as the other programs did.

The club on average has 250 to 300+ members year over year. If the tournament trail averaged 35 boats, less than 25% of members participate. So for those of us who want all the benefits of the club and want to compete for bragging rights, fish tournaments too. But by far, most members reap club benefits by simply being a member.

If you could get some local crappie anglers together, I think you'd have fun getting a local group together to hone common experience and to compete if there is interest. Create some general rules, see how it goes, and modify it as needed. Most importantly, not everyone in the group will have the same opinion so respecting each others ideas is paramount to having a good group of anglers, especially in the formative stages.

There are many on this Forum that can provide varied information that can be helpful. Maybe they will chip in. Personally, I would get in touch with Ernest Paty, the Godfather of CAT - he's on this Forum.

Good luck no matter what route you choose.

Thanks for the information UJC. I know several anglers who fish crappie here locally and think it would be fun just have a club in the area for some good old fashion bragging and gathering at the boat ramp to see who had the best fish of the day. I am always looking, asking around and listening for some type of crappie only clubs but nothing has come along so I�ve reached out on here to broaden that search. Maybe some locals will reach out and say they wanna get something going as well.

I�d be interested

What about contacting CAT about the possibilities of starting an East Texas Chapter of CAT? I'm sure there are many fisherman that don't join CAT simply because of logistics.

I'd attend meetings and events, if they weren't 2-4 hours from my house. I've spoken with Lane about this... As a father of two children in elementary, it's too hard for me to travel for meetings, much less events.

I'd love to attend the meetings, but driving from Fork to Carrolton at night with these old eyes just isn't safe anymore.

If someone would like to begin this conversation, go to the CAT website and find "About CAT" on the tool bar and click "Contact us". Send a msg with your ideas.
I'm not speaking for the Board or as a Board member. Just giving a suggestion.

You can sign up for CAT and get on the Facebook group and watch meetings there I believe. I've seen a few online and they've all been useful. As for east Texas they fish about half their tournaments in east Texas. They know where the good fishing is!! Heck they're headed to Millwood this year. Can't get more east than that for a Texas crappie club.

Theres a facebook page called west texas crappie anglers, they are hosting tourneys.

Mill wood isn�t in Texas though

Meetings are recorded. As a CAT member you have access to all videos recorded from previous meetings. This is the very purpose CAT recorded meetings - for those who want all the benefits of CAT but cannot attend due to logistics.

I think it was at the last meeting, CAT began live streaming via FB as Todd pointed out.

FYI - a study was completed 11/04/2009 by CAT based on Y2009 members as of the end of October of that year. There were 280 members at that time. Member's exact address was used in data collection. Excluded from the 280 were out of state (2) and 8 unknowns. The concentric center for the club was calculated as indicated in the pic below.


A lot of analysis was gleaned from this data, including tournament participation by member location, sub divided by Division. Club affiliation(s) was one of the conclusions from the study. Interest inquiries for club affiliation has ebbed and flowed throughout the years.

FULL DISCLOSURE: I am a past director. The above is my personal opinion. It does not in anyway represent the views or opinions of the current board. This information is provided only as FYI.