I don't get to crappie fish much but a buddy of mine and I had the chance to take a morning trip with Cody Tucker on Ray Roberts last Friday morning. I don't fish minnows hardly at all but was wanting to catch some fish for a fish fry. With that being said, Cody told us that minnows had been the ticket and that plastics/jigs just wouldn't produce as good. Me being my hard-headed self, decided to try a couple of various plastics before switching over to the minnows about an hour after we got started. After we had fished for an another hour or so, I pulled out some plastics I had gotten recently from Thermocline (after hearing about much success here on the TFF). I decided to try a Mr. Fry in the "natural shad" color and was amazed at how well the plastic matched the real thing. I fished that plastic the rest of the morning and although it didn't quite keep up with the minnows, it was pretty close and accounted for a couple of the larger fish.
Thanks Thermocline for making a such great crappie baits! Here's a pic of one of the larger ones and a pic of the plastic compared to the real thing (the picture doesn't do it justice).
