I'm just getting into fishing and I love it so far. I'm wanting to bring fish home to the table and want to try some Crappie. Any advice in targeting and bringing them in would be most welcome.

Minnows and bridge pilings. Great place to start.

Fish the shady side of structure, whether its timber or docks, or whatever. I fished both minnows and jigs when I started as a youngin', till I got the hang of jig fishing. Nothing like feeling the THUMP!!


Gman

to TFF and the THUMP addition
If you can afford to hire a guide, do so....let him/her know your wanting to learn and ask questions!!!!
Keep a watch here for open backseats.....They come by once in a while and are great ways to learn more.
Here's my 3 key rule for jig fishing
#1 - LOCATION - if your not where they are, don't expect to catch fish....if you have a boat and a graph with downscan, Sidescan is a bonus, spent as much time as you can just idling around marking locations holding fish;
#2 - Color - Crappie can be very picky about what color they bite if they are not aggressively feeding.....local knowledge on the lake your fishing can be very helpful;
#3 Presentation - Non-active fish can be made to bite with the correct presentation, be it deadsticking, shaking your rod slightly, slow fall or pitching your jig out and letting it swing thru the depth fish are holding in.....Always change what your doing till you figure out what they want at the moment

Read everything you can and spent as much time on the water as you can

GOOD LUCK

Thanks for the advice! I'll see what I can find!

What Todd said is the way its done, plus one of the most use things is offer your back seat to someone who crappie fish's and just watch how they do it. The big thing to crappie fishing is do a study on what they eat and learn its habits. crappie will always be near food.

Yep, this one!

Try and soak up as much knowledge as you can from these GREAT forum guys and get out there!There are some Crappie Wizards on here also that make DY NO MITE jigs that will help increase your catch rate.USE EM!! to the addiction

I'm pretty new to crappie fishing as well. We were able to hire Tommy Ezell, he posts on these forums, he was a great teacher during the guide and even after if I have some questions on fishing! Would highly reccomend if you can afford it.

He's unlike most guides in the fact he doesn't just bait your hook and cast it for you. He will actually tell you the strategy and how to find fish yourself, electronics, shade, brush, etc. I've hired guides in the past for random fishing adventures and Tommy was by far the most knowledgable one I've worked with.

JW,welcome to the forum! Its all been said,only thing we need to know to help even more is,are you bank fishing or from a boat? if i missed this i apologize.Either way go get'em!

Start with light tackle. Crappie corks, shot weights, gold color crappie hooks(they'll bend on retreval, when caught/snagged on a branch)can be bent back with less line breakage and tackle loss. Hook the minnow just behind the dorsal fin, in the green shaded upper body or up through both lips, they'll live longer. The tackle will be light enough for fresh minnows to pull the cork around a little. Crappie have tender mouths & will hold minnow in their mouths for a bit. Be patient and giving some slack, watch the cork start moving around and slowly dip under the surface up & down then deeper. Draw the line tight(don't yank) and help the crappie hook itself, gently tug it and reel in. When netted, grab the lower lip. Get a hook remover to get out the ones that are in back of mouth or you'll tear up the ones you release. This is just scratching the surface, have a good fourth & good luck.

Thanks guys! Ya'll are a big help, I don't have the finances to hire a guide, I wish though. I just have basic fishing stuff that doesn't even fill up a small plano box. I am working on it though. I am mostly doing Bank fishing as I don't have a boat, but I have gone out a few times borrowing a buddies kayak. I plan on working on getting a Jon boat by next spring.