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Color Them "Caught"
Not only are crappie one of the most color-selective fish, but they're fickle about their preferences as well. What they like at 8 a.m. may vary greatly from what they like at 6 in the evening. That's why anglers in the know keep a nice array of hues on hand when fishing for crappie.

Of course, there are some hard-and-fast rules about colors depending on the type of waters in which you're fishing. In cloudy water, high visibility colors like yellow, fluorescent pink, chartreuse and white are quite effective, while black, brown and darker colors tend to work better in clearer water.

When the bites start to wane, experiment with different colors, as that's the best way to get those crappies worked up after staring too long at the previous color.

Mix your colors, tip a 1-inch Berkley Power Tube with a contrasting Gulp! Maggot to stimulate all of a crappie's senses (sight, touch and smell).

Flex Your Flexibility
The true test for an experienced crappie angler is how well he does fishing for crappie in spring. Spring can be an unstable season. Its unpredictable weather can drive fish deep, shallow or somewhere in between. So the real key is to be flexible.

Carry a mix of cane poles and ultra-light gear to allow them to drift open water, work brushpiles, or probe the spawning shallows. Anglers who experience steady success are those who are prepared to handle more than one technique.

Crappie Staging Points
When looking for crappie, the first step is locating their established spawning areas. But if they've yet to arrive at the spawning area or have changed course due to a cold front, then it's essential to locate the staging points crappie use in their travels from the mid-lake to the shallows.

Crappie make the journey to spawning shallows in stages. The length of those stages depend on the weather, while the stage locations depend on the type of water they inhabit.

On a shallow, soup-bowl-shaped lake, the crappie tend to pause at the deeper edge of the vegetation line, along riprap shorelines and marinas with docks. Where reservoirs are concerned, you'll often see crappie stacking up on ledges, channel swings, or drops. If this occurs within a few hundred yards of the spawning site, or if the site has a wood structure, you should check it out.

Pre-spawn or post-spawn, crappie love wood. Anywhere there's a fallen tree, a brushpile, or some brushtop along any section of channel drop, you're sure to have found a major staging point for crappie.

Nailing the Big Crappie
The crappie are a skittish lot?even by fish standards. To find the biggest crappie, you have to be willing to go when and where few dare to follow. If you can swing it, take a day off from work and fish on a weekday. And if the boss is cracking down, night fishing is always an option. For the more pioneering angler, visit national forests and wildlife refuges to fish backcountry crappie waters. Because few take this approach, these waters are the most likely to hold the largest of crappie.