Some help with crappies?

Hey all. i've been fishing for as long as i can remember and i'm fairly good at it. I finally got a boat. Problem is, i cant seem to get crappies for the life of me, and i want to bad. same with perch, unsucessful. i catch walleye, bass, pike, gills, catfish no problem. I'm going out saturday, how can i get some crappies? where do i look and what do i use? i'm hitting up big cedar. thanks, tight lines all.

found them tight to the wood cover tonight in the cold front, starting to spawn i would say.

If I was headed North this time of year I would look for a North bay, it gets more sunlight and warms faster. I'd start with a minimite and small minnow or piece of crawler tipped. Start tight to the shoreline (rocks preferred) I mean tight if your presentation doesn't end up on shore once in a while you're to far away. Then work your way out. Above all be quiet.

found some on new body of water in 10 fow and weeds.

I found them in about 10-12 ft of water outside the seaweed casting a jig with a minnow over the weeds and then jigging the bottom.

caught them the same way, and lots were females. they didnt reabsorbed them, they were males. the crappies are no way ready to spawn yet. water needs to get to 60+ degrees. we are still in the 50's here in hayward. give it a couple weeks.

When the traditional fails, try the nontraditional. We boated dozens of crappies up north this weekend in 10-14 feet, bouncing walleye jigs along the bottom. Surface water temp 53. Only 2 had any spawn in them - they either spawned early, or reabsorbed it.

found this crappie tight to fallin trees right by shore in 2 to 4 feet of water along with 11 more. water temp about 52 degrees.

I fish a large Southern WI flowage ALOT for crappies. Spring usually the best bet is shallow boat lifts or wood in back bays and shallow areas. If they are not in shallow yet try staging areas that are nearby such as the mouths of bays, or right on the dropoffs before the shallows. If they are not staging yet then deeper wood usually.

Back to the wood, flowages are good for Crappies. Where you find flooded, standing timber. If it's in a close proximity to deeper water, even better.

I caught a few in Oneida County this past weekend but the fishing wasn't great with the colder temps. I never had to launch the boat. I casted a slip bobber rig with a crappie minnow on a gold #6 hook 10-20 yards from shore into some scattered wood structure. The depth is around 3-4 feet. I usually do well there in spring.

i am going to hit up little or big cedar this week ill let you know how i do and where i went

Big C has a clean shoreline but i'll take a lap and try to find some submerged wood. that rocky ledge may be my best bet. I'm gonna try weed beds on the north side again as well, this coming saturday.

They are a lot like SM in that regard. Find submerged wood, underwater trees, trees that have fallen into the water, etc. They love wood. As a kid, I always used a pinkie jig tipped with a small minnow.

thanks guys, I really appreciate it. i'm gonna try out some small jigs. i noticed all three of you mentioned jigs, that must be a good place to start. Tight lines!

find the warmest water,then find good stucture in the area.a pier that stands in 3 to 4 ft of water or tall weeds will hold them.your eyes dont lie.in the spring i will not anchor the boat until i spot a crappie in the weeds.i use waxxies on small ice jigs under a slip bobber and do well.good luck.