the boat slip,

but is 5ft too low for crappie to congregate? There are plenty of minnows showing up,

I'm just not too familiar with crappie behavior. Do I still need to set up something under the slip even though its real shallow?

In the spring that would be killer.

I agree. I'm assuming the fish are a little deeper right now

How did you catch all the minnows? I try but those little turds are fast! I also have a light on my slip.

I actually caught those under the blue light of my Jon boat before I set up the flood lights. After I set the flood lights up more minnows showed up but deeper under the surface.

Is blue a better color to attract fish? I have my slip lit up with green LED lights and an underwater mercury vapor light that shows the green color.

But I haven't had any minnows swimming in the slip for the last two weeks and no fish for the last month until today. My wife caught two black bass in the slip today while fishing for crappie but no crappie.

These two black bass were the first fish we have caught in the slip since mid November.

I've heard the green lights are better and am looking to buy some online to replace the blue ones. I only bought them as an experiment when I saw them in the auto dept at Wal-mart. I've also seen those underwater lights attracting ghost minnows this time of year which make good catfish bait in my experience.

For Crappie all the guys at my marina believe the darker the slip is the better it is. we even call the Crappie the vampire fish because they like the dark. I have a slip that catches some sun light and have watched the guys on the side with no sun catch fish after fish with me catching nothing. Mine is brushed out just like there's. Last year I put up tarps to block the sun in the water and this year I added one above the water across the slip to block more sun and am now catching as many fish as them. I fished from 4 pm till 6pm today and caught 36. Yes they are down deep I have 18' of water under my boat and we are catching them 16' down. We even cut trap door in the deck so that we can get under the docks where it is the darkest. The lights will work in the summer we catch sandbass chasing the minnows with the lights on and I use green lights. Just my 2 cents.

crappie are very very predictable yawl ....they like to rest in dark areas during the day
they have lots of rods and few cones .....lots a light jacks their eyes and overloads them lil crappie brains
this is why during the daylight they are in dark brushed up areas
they tend to roam out and forage at dark and return in the morning
they are a I think the word is crepuscular/nocturnal species
this isn't as terribly complicated as some think it is
5 fow may not be to low for the crappie if there is a ton of bait there on a regular basis
it may be midnite or later before they show up though in the dark
and probably wont stay there in the day unless there is lots and lots of shade and brush
of course that just my opinion ....

Cool light! Put a little brush in the slip and you will be set. Come March/April that should be a hot spot and with bait up in there now the crappie could be also.

Thanks for the info Ketchn. Any info is greatly appreciated. I know a few holes where to catch crappie, but they're not currently as easily accesible as they used to be. I'm working at bringing them to me now until I'm able to get back to those honey holes.

if u want to experiment buy some different color chemlights tie them to a string with a weight and lower them down. they are abt a buck each. last all night. no battery or power source needed/

your right on the money bro, when folks start understanding how LIGHT affects crappie they will greatly improve thier catch rate. Ive always believe tha the crappie who bite voraciously in the daytime is because they didnt have a good night feed. when u go to that brushpile in the morning loaded with fish, that wont bite, they are the fat cats that found the shad and are burping and farting . move on to the next pile.

Plus #1.

I wish spring would hurry up and get here. I'm tired of waiting for the crappie to come in.