Very good thread! Lots of good information. I am one of those that just "does OK". And, It's my fault, I ONLY fish timber and timber only, a few of you guys have shared some BP spots with me and I know where some are, BUT, I just don't like to fish them.
Like most everyone said...spend time on the water, take lots of notes, ask people and dont be afraid to try different things. A few weeks ago I was at the boat ramp and someone had dumped some yellow grasshoppers at the ramp, I picked a few up and gave them a try......guess what? They worked!

"Find a job you love and you'll never work a day in your life."
-Confucius

I am new to crappie fishing but in general I believe that the quality days on the water are really what separates people. I can learn a little when I do not catch a thing, but on a good day you can learn how to fish different techniques. Those are the times when I will try different lures and bait combinations because you know the fish are there.

Like has been said time on the water is one of the best teachers out there. Some of the other things I think are critical are learning how to read your electronics no matter what kind they are. Side imaging has really helped me find tons and tons of spots that would have taken much much longer to find with conventional 2d sonar. Put in the time just looking for brushpiles. there are tons of piles on most lakes that are either natural or have been put out by people and all it takes is making yourself spend the time idleing around and looking for them. Once you find a few you will learn the areas to look for more. most people that sink piles on lakes are very predictable and you can find piles fairly quick once you figure it out. one of the absolute most important things I think that seperates good from really good fishermen is boat control. I've had several friends of mine want to go crappie fishing and we have a big group so we use two boats. I usually mark the piles for them to fish and we fish seperate piles. lots of the places I fish on cypress for instance there are more than one pile in the general area and I will mark one for them to fish and one for my boat to fish. After watching them fish the pile for a while with limited success and us catching lots of fish we will sometimes swap piles to prove this point. I notice that they can't hold the boat precisely in one spot on the pile and they are wandering all around the marker in circles. It is absolutely critical to be able to control the boat well enough to hold in one little spot on a pile most of the time. I have seen fish on a pile that is the size of a boat be in one spot on the pile the size of a 5 gallon bucket and you have to be in that spot to get bit consistently. One of these trips the difference in my boat and the other was 75 to 14 and the next was 40 to 1 and I'm convinced boat control was the key in the difference.

It's definately NOT what I do everytime.

YOU NEVER KNOW WHAT YOU DONT KNOW, BECAUSE IF YOU DID, YOU WOULD KNOW IT.

Dang straight brother. "Even a blind hog finds an acorn every once in awhile!"

Time on the water with and without experienced fisherman will help tremendously.

Lakes are different and so are people, some lakes you can sink several small piles and they will produce fish while others you need to make bigger piles for them to produce. On my home lake I have found that small structure such as PVC or bamboo condos don't hold fish as well as the trees that we cut and drag into the right spot. Palestine has a lot of timber and natural structure so fish have lots of options so you have to put some thought into where to build a pile and put it in a spot that will attract and hold fish. A lake like Athens is just the opposite, it has no natural structure so you can basically throw a small condo out anywhere and catch fish off of it after only a few days.

Lot's of good info here. Time on the water, quality time on the water, time catchin, time not catchin, look for brush, look for timber, fish tournaments, etc. And I agree with all of it and I'm also aware that there are alot of very good and experienced crappie fishermen that haven't chimed in so far. Which means there is a ton of wisdom that you may have to go back in the list of threads to find but is there.
I'm of the opinion that it is about LOVE as opposed to like, want as opposed to need. There is a song I think by Tim McGraw. "How bad do ya want it?".
Some people just decide one day that fishing is going to be their new hobby or past time. They spend the cash to buy equipment, boat, poles, etc and never even hear of TFF. They spend a summer out fishing and then the boat sits in a garage or in open storage until it dry rots. Some of those people actually do find the TFF, make some good friends, even join CAT, and start to learn to catch fish on a fairly consistent basis. They fall in love with it and don't want to do anything else. IT becomes what drives them. They ask questions and hang on evey word of the answers given. They read every piece of material they can get their hands on and save it all to go back to at different times of the year. These people will become good fishermen because they will not settle for anything less.
Then you have those people who are born to be outdoors and it is as much a part of them as the blood running through their veins. They don't fish tournaments for whatever reason, but tend to fish their home lake 3-4 times a week even when they aren't catching alot of fish. For them it is about being there as much as it is about catching fish. They know they will catch fish, maybe not today, but they will catch fish. They may have caught fish yesterday or day before and have those fish either ready to fry or they ate them already and have fish in the freezer. They wake up in the middle of the night setting the hook and dreaming they can see the fish in that 5 gallon bucket sized spot all just waiting for a jig to drop in there. They plan and plan some more. They will look at their maps, depths, temps, pressure, sun, clouds, journals, or whatever they have in order to decide where they plan to fish today. Remembering that not everyone has the top of the line equipment, but does have equipment that worked yesterday before that new stuff came out. Which still works by the way.
Some fish too fast, some not fast enough, and some too slooooowww. IT takes time to learn the difference between your jig rubbing against structure, and a bite. I probably see more of this than anything else. Alot of hookset in the wood. But, that is okay too. You have to be willing to lose a bait or several in order to really learn the difference. Working in feeling a thump with watching your line consistently takes time and trial and error. Going from bass fisherman to crappie fisherman has a certain learning curve. Crappie are not the AVON lady. They ring once most of the time. In other words you get the ding, and not the dong.
Learning how to eliminate water is a really big factor. When it is 105 deg out, and the surface temp is 90 deg, chances are you won't find alot of fish in 10 ft of water. You may find a few, but the time wasted looking in this depth, could be better used at 15+ft of water with better results.
And, if you are able to read this post, along with all the others, you are on the right track so far. You can go back to this date a year ago, and see what was working. You can see what certain fisherman were doing and what was working for them. Maybe even look at the lake that you intend to fish, and gather some hints that might help today and make it a better trip that it would have been had you not done your research. There are years and years of shared experience here. Take advantage of it.
I still think it comes down to how bad do you want it. Will you do ANYTHING for it? Anything? Cause that can sure be the difference. Anything, may mean gettin up really early, fishing all day, fishing in the sun, rain, cold, moving alot, a little, fishing fast, slow. But fishing, the more I fish, the more fish I catch. Remember "Anything" has to include being safe first. Small boats and high wind do not work well together. The sun and will kill you, sometimes slowly. Wear sun screen. Also remember. When you fish in the wind "anyway" wear PFD's. It won't hurt your street cred. It may save your life. In the cold be aware of the issues there. The cold will kill you. Not maybe. Every year, I see someone die just because they were bound and determined to fish "no matter what". Well, they didn't take the wind, cold, or whatever into consideration and went "anyway". While I appreciate the desire, I have to warn against allowing it to overwhelm your common sense. Not one fish in the water is worth your life. Not one.
How Bad Do You Want IT???

Good post Mike.

I believe Heath Taylor put his finger on my biggest weak spot -- Boat Control. With the wind we had this spring, boat control was hard for everyone. Fishing with your line at an angle doesn't produce results. I can remember several times that placing my jig in the exact same spot caught multiple fish, one after another. I think I'll spend more time marking the spot in the future.

Yep, I had heck with that Sunday when we were out.

I sure wish the I-pilot would hold in a 2' circle. Open water with a 10 mph wind is tough.

Very helpful thread, indeed...
Lots of great tips...Like many in here, I've learned a lot from thread like this. I am no PRO, but gladly accept a position of "above average" when it comes to crappie fishing.

There are countless variables, but here I some in which I think are fairly important besides what we have read so far in this thread.

One constant variable is "change". You need to able to adapt to change. If you are heading out and expect to do great like you did the day before thinking that you will get the same number of bites at the same brushpile or timber or bridge, you are setting up yourself for failure due to disappointment. However, if you are hitting the water and apply what you knew and learned from others, including your past trips, you'd have a more successful and pleasant outing. Look at what you are working against? Water level, water temp, water clarity, air temp, humidity, sunny or cloudy, full moon or no moon, depth, spot pressure (have anyone fished your favorite spots prior to your arrival?), recreational boaters, wind speed, and of course, wind direction...etc...

Stick and move; stick and move. How long to stay on one spot? It depends on how well your technique of covering all aspects of that particular spot. Come back later might not be a bad idea. Have anyone found himself fishing with a more experience friend/guide scratching your head why you aren�t catching nearly the ratio you should? Your jig maybe within a foot from his jig, yet, he is catching and you are not. Try to observe and copy what is working at that moment and remember to apply that very same technique as part of your arsenal when you are alone next outing.

Next, (I started this writing yesterday afternoon, but soon after, we had guests at the house. I�m just now continuing my thought, perhaps, re-iterate points that some may have made) Sweet Spot: Sweet spot is part of being a novice vs. the pro. Ever go back to the same brushpile that you had some much success on a few days before while fishing with a friend who showed you the brushpile? You just can�t get anything to hit? The gurus will find brushpiles on a new lake after spending quality time on that water and catch plenty of fish. The novices are given coordinates to brushpiles and can�t catch but a handful. Often times, an inexperience angler will either give up to soon or waste too much time on unproductive spot. In this case, I am not talking about from brushpile to brushpile or from timber to timber; I am talking about the sweet spot within that brushpile or the pocket within that timber. Learn to maximize your water coverage within a given spot to find the sweet spot, whether it�s the depth or the particular side of such spot. A given brushpile may have fish on top in the morning, but at the ledge of the brushpile in the afternoon. The reason I want to emphasize this particular point about the sweet spot is because while many other factors are important to improve your catch, you would be surprise to understand that the gurus spend SMART time per location to maximize his chance and move to the next location to, then again, maximize his chance. A novice may leave a spot with full of fish down there, and spent time on a �nobody home� spot.

Next, the PASSION: Different angler will have different definition of what a good day out on the water is like. Although we all can agree that being out on the water itself is way better than sitting on the couch. But seriously speaking, would a normal guru in here be happy with his outing if he fails to perform his normal standard? He may smile and admits defeat only to absorb the experience for future gain, his mind is constantly thinking what he did wrong or differently that didn�t yield success. An inexperience angler may have the same result and simple said: �They are just biting today!�
A passion will drive an angler to investigate, and he thinks logically if he is a fish, where would he be. A passion angler will pretend he is a fish looking at a jig, and how would the presentation of that jig provide an irresistible strike. I am sure we all have seen the bumper sticker: �Fish hard! Plenty of time to sleep when you die!�, and we can benefit from that by also saying: �Fish smart! Plenty of time left for the next spot!�

Hope a few pointers among many help contribute to this thread. Once again, I am not a great crappie angler nor a guru, but rather above the average and willing to learn by simply reading threads like this one�

One thing I would add to this topic is attention to detail. Several others have covered it without actually using the term. Things like boat control, how the jig was moving or not moving when you got the bite, location of the fish on the structure, very critical. As Heath said, crappie can be on a brush pile but be very tight in one spot. Or that one spot seems to help present the bait just right for the fish to want to bite it. Ronnie Coleman mentioned in the CAT seminar that he observes people he takes on trips cannot get the jig back to the exact depth they caught the first fish.

I would also add, there are two types of crappie fishing; one looking for numbers and one looking for big fish. The techniques for this differ, sometimes greatly. Learning how to master both types of fishing will certainly make you a better fisherman. Most people start by looking for numbers. If that's your technique most of the time, then try a few times just to catch bigger fish. See how that works. It's frustrating at times but can be helpful in your overall knowledge.