Spring Crappie
Had hoped to hit the Irish Hills area this weekend for some crappie, but between the winds and the whole idea of fishing in a snow globe, I decided to take a pass. If the warm weather had continued, I would have been hitting my favorite canals and spots on several of the lakes. The crappie would have been moving into their spawn areas and been ready for the spring bite.
I usually take three rods out with me, an ultra light for casting, a light action for bobber fishing, and a pretty whippy medium light that I have for fishing heavier weeds. I have 4 lb spooled on the UL rod, 2 lb for the bobber set up, and six lb for fishing heavier cover ML rod. I can always double up the six lb rod for finesse fishing by adding a leader of 2 lb fluorcarbon line.
The rods all have ultra light reels on them. The newest reels that I have gotten the last couple of years are the new Cardinal 300’s from Abu Garcia. They have performed well so far, thus no complaints. To date I have pulled up a 27″ pike, 3 lb largemouth (Minnesota through the ice) and quite a few good sized crappie and bluegill.
One reason I like spring crappie fishing so much is because I just kick back and relax. Its gets me back on the water fishing after the ice has left, without any pressure from the ice tournaments or the walleye tournies I will be in later on this spring through the fall. Guess its little wonder that I just enjoy using the bobber rods more often than not. I use the fish finder on boat to set my depth and then rig up a slip bobber set up with a number of different sized bobbers to match the weight of the hook/sinker or jig that I have on.
I have everything I need to go bluegill and crappie fishing all organized in one tackle system storage tote. It contains the baits, plastics, leader line, bobbers, tools, sinkers and hooks. Its 
one of the few bags where I dont interchange the plastic trays, so I know where everything is located from year to year.
I have 20 or so little crankbaits in one of the trays. Since they dont dive very deep, they mostly get used in shallow water, like you would find in the canals that hold crappie. With the water temperatures where they are right now, they wont see the water for several weeks.
The last couple of year I have been playing around with these tiny spinnerbaits. Normally anglers would use them for trout fishing, or have used them primarily for fishing trout. They are extremely versitle, some are heavy enough for the light action rod, most work best with the ultra light rod, and others are light enough to be used with 4 weight fly rod. Fish them in 4 or 5 ft of water or as deep as 10, just let them sink a little before starting your retrieve.
Light weight bugs are a lot of fun of a fly rod. Both dry and wet flies work, as do little panfish poppers. The dry flies work best in the shallower waters, wet flies in deeper water because they sink, and the poppers work anywhere under the right conditions. Fish can be caught shallow or deep, depending on fish location, weed growth and eating activity.
I use both plain lead jigs and those tied with maribou dressing. The lead heads can be tipped with a minnow for deep water crappie, or with plastics for casting and retrieving. The hair jigs seem to work in either situation, but best either retrieved slowly after a cast or drifting over a known weed bed.
Have a good Easter, good luck.