So I'm pretty new to the whole crappie thing. I've bass fished for years but late last summer we bought a toon and my wife and I fell in love with crappie fishing. So I'm looking for advice on where to hunt these tasty morsels down at. I've places a few brush piles I built back in February and put them in migration routes in hopes that they will make the piles their summer homes.

If anyone is willing to help either in the open of the forum or send me an IM on how you go about locating crappie on any particular day. Do you just start dropping jigs or minnow on tress, or go to the bridge piling and start there? Do you have piles of your own or community holes you go start on and check out? Do you concentrate on long points with a break off the end of them? Just looking for how to find them.

My granddaughter is coming to for to fish for the first time this weekend so I sure hope I can locate a pile of them for her to play with.

That list in your questions is a great start.....I will say keep an open mind, what they'll eat and whe they'll be one day don't mean that's where they'll be or what they'll eat the next day.....
That's actually what has me addicted to chasn'um.....
Welcome to the addiction....

You can almost always catch some on bridge pilings just gotta figure out the right depths.

Don't know what lakes you're fishing but the state has placed fish habitats in a lot of lakes. As mentioned above, bridges can be a good place to start as they offer shade. Look for places that you would put a brush pile and chances are there's one there already....before long you'll have plenty of waypoints to choose from. Try this....https://tpwd.texas.gov/fishboat/fish/recreational/lakes/fish_attractors.phtml

First two things you must have are a strong trolling motor and a 7 inch or larger fish finder that has down imaging. Side imaging is very helpful, but costs more money. You may already have those things. If so, you can just spend a day or two idling around, cold beverage in hand, in 15 to 30 feet of water while watching your fish finder. Mark a waypoint every time you see a brush pile. You will probably find fifty or more piles in an afternoon. They love shade, so there is always a fish or two to be caught underneath docks, boat houses, and bridges. Lately, my brother has been catching fish by shooting jigs horizontally about ten feet underneath boat houses. I think Big Crappie.com uses pontoons. Hiring them for a half day would be a great investment.