LINN CREEK, Mo. — Dale Parrish has been waiting months for a day like this.

Spring finally was showing itself at Lake of the Ozarks. The dogwoods were blooming, the turkeys were gobbling, and the woods were glowing with new growth.

But best of all, in Parrish's eyes? The crappies were spawning.

"For a lot of fishermen, this is the best time of the year," Parrish said as he pulled into a cove in the Linn Creek arm of the giant reservoir. "When the crappies move shallow, everyone's fishing.

"It was so crowded in here (a recent Wednesday), it looked like a weekend. I thought, 'Doesn't anyone work anymore?' "

Parrish paused and laughed. He still works, running his own heating and cooling business with his son. But when the crappies are biting at Lake of the Ozarks ... well, let's just say that he arranges for a little time off.

"When the crappies are biting like they have been, I'm going to figure out a way to get out here," said Parrish, 58, who lives in Roach, Mo. "I fish for crappies almost year-round now. But I still like this time of the year as well as any.

"When they move shallow to spawn, you can really catch 'em. You can stock up the freezer in a hurry."

Parrish proved that Thursday.

As he pulled up to a seawall where he had caught crappies a day earlier, he whipped a cast to the shallows and slowly began to retrieve his pink, white and chartreuse tube jig. The lure didn't get far before the line grew heavy.

That's when Parrish found himself fighting a sure sign of spring — a big female crappie.

"That's what we're looking for — these big females," he said. "They're usually out a little further from the bank.
"They don't stay in. They wait until things are just right, then they move shallow. They make the males do all the work (preparing the nest, etc.)."

Parrish paused and joked, "I wouldn't make a very good fish."

Ah, but he knows how to torment those fish. On any given day in the spring, you might find him in a cove, casting to a gravel bank that looks as if it could attract spawning crappies.

And lift the cover on his livewell and you'll usually find a healthy school of fish thrashing around.

That certainly was the case Thursday when Parrish and two partners — Jim Divincen of Osage Beach and I — spent the morning fishing.

We started catching crappies early and we experienced few lulls. By noon, we each had a limit of 15 crappies, including some fish weighing more than a pound.

An unusual day? Not for Parrish.

He is accustomed to catching limits of fish at this time of the year.

Even though the water at Lake of the Ozarks is murkier than it has been in recent springs — the result of heavy rains and releases from Truman Lake — the fishing still is outstanding.

"It really got good about a week ago," Parrish said. "And it's stayed good."

Parrish started off fishing mostly for bass when he moved to the big lake in 1975. But when he broke his back about 20 years ago, he switched to something a little less strenuous — fishing with an ultralight rod and reel for crappies.

Today, he's about as avid in his pursuit of crappies as anyone at the lake. He will fish the big lake hard in the winter and spring months, then he will move on to Truman Lake once summer arrives.

"I let the tourists have the lake once Memorial Day gets here," he said.

But Parrish isn't the only one who gets spring fever once the crappies start to spawn at Lake of the Ozarks.

Rob Shonfelt, a guide at the lake, also welcomes the days when the fish are concentrated in the shallows. He, too, gets out several times a week and already has caught some impressive stringers of fish, including some up to 2 pounds.

"I'd say the size of the fish this year is better than we've seen it in several years," he said. "I had the best March I've had in some time.

"We were catching big fish before we had all the rain and the water got murky. But even now, it's good. Usually, the spawn is about over by now. But I think it's just getting started.

"We had a long, rough winter. But this spring fishing is making up for that."

Not only are the crappies providing plenty of fishing action, they are feeding plenty of fishermen such as Shonfelt.

"I love eating them," he said. "I found 19 big morels the other day and had a limit of crappies.
"But they're gone now. They don't last too long around our house."

LAKE OF THE OZARKS

* WHAT: A 54,000-acre reservoir, it has more than 1,150 miles of shoreline — more than the entire Pacific coast of California. It was built in the early 1930s, and remains one of Missouri's top fishing and recreation lakes.

* WHERE: In central Missouri. The Osage Beach area is about 170 miles southeast of Kansas City.

* CRAPPIE FISHING: Don't waste much time. Early May is when you want to go. The fish are in the shallows, spawning and they're biting. Use tube jigs with chartreuse and black, red or white in the murky water, and work gravel banks or brush piles in the shallows.

* EQUIPMENT: Most fishermen use an ultralight rod and reel, with 4-pound test line. One-sixteenth-ounce tube or marabou jigs or minnows are the most popular baits.

* MORE INFORMATION: Call guide Rob Shonfelt at 573-372-6369.

* ABOUT THE LAKE: For information on lodging, campgrounds, boat rentals, etc., call 800-FUN-LAKE or access the Web site www.funlake.com