Photo by Ron Sinfelt.

Springtime in Oklahoma is a delightful time. As temperatures warm, trees and grass begin to display brilliant green hues, and chirping birds greet most dawns. For outdoors enthusiasts, April signals the beginning of a month-long trifecta: turkey season in full swing, morel mushrooms growing near decaying timber along creek banks -- and, for anglers, prime time for crappie!

Now's a great time to test your angling skills against the scrappy crappie, which is indigenous to all state reservoirs, and found in most rivers and streams. Below is a run-down of some of the top crappie spots in the midstate region. So read on -- and maybe you can try some of the waters in your locales and experience some spring crappie fishing at its finest!

ARCADIA LAKE
One of the crown jewels in Edmond's recreational resume is Arcadia Lake. Built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as a water-supply lake, this 1,820-acre lake lies just east of Edmond, 15 miles north of Oklahoma City. It's easily accessed by taking I-35 north from Oklahoma City and then exiting east at either the 15th Street exit or the Edmond Road exit.

I spent time there one April morning with Oklahoma Department of Wildlife Conservation fisheries biologists Kurt Kuklinski and Gene Gilliland, who were conducting a crappie netting survey to assess the growth trends of the lake's speckled game fish. Their findings confirmed that while anglers will find above-average numbers of crappie in Arcadia, their catches would probably be below average in length, measuring 6 to 7 inches.

Gilliland said that anglers should focus on the long ODWC brushpiles, which are clearly marked by orange-and-white buoys. "These areas," he said, "are good staging areas for spawning crappie, which sometimes congregate there for weeks at a time."

Carl Jones -- featured numerous times in Oklahoma Game & Fish -- fishes the turbid reservoir often. He meets with success by using a pair of his own jigs and a slip-cork. Jones has caught crappie in Arcadia over 3 pounds.

Bank-fishermen can do equally well casting small jigs in the 1/64- to 1/8-ounce size range in bright fluorescent colors. The addition of a slip-cork can help anglers cast the lightweight jigs more efficiently and control the depth of lure presentation. Though the fishing can be good all day, the best periods are generally the first few hours of daylight and the last few hours before dark.