WW Fall23web

Fishing
& FamilySarah Rein
As a writer, you are sometimes asked to
write about topics that are familiar to you.
The questions come easily, the verbiage is
not new. And then, occasionally, you find
yourself writing about a world that is
completely foreign to you.
On the subject of crappie fishing (which I
initially mispronounced and left my husband
snickering at me), I am quite the novice. But,
if you ever find yourself researching unfamiliar
territory, I hope your guides will be as
patient and informative as Dan and Hayden
Jeffries were to me.
After I began some initial digging into the
sport, it did not take me long to realize that
this father-son duo from Brandon is a big
deal. In fact, their names were plastered across
most of the sites I clicked on. Though not as
well-publicized as bass fishing tournaments,
crappie trails can be found at the state level
from Oklahoma to Ohio to Florida to our own
Mississippi. And that’s not to mention the
national level trails boasting grand prizes in
the tens of thousands.
Unbelievably, in the six years since a
friend took them crappie fishing for the first
time, Dan and Hayden have won twenty-six
tournaments, including four state championships.
Hayden, a twenty-two year old with
a calm demeanor and pleasant smile
shares, “I have been fishing almost
since I could walk. But once
we were introduced to
crappie fishing,
MISSISSIPPI Woods&Water 15