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I am struggling with the crappie here in a reservoir. I have caught 2 ,10"ers and think I see them on my finder. We can't use live minnows. I have tried some jigs, dropper stlye fishing and worm and packaged minnows.
How deep of water do I need to find as the water temp now is 44 deg. This res. is low and where I have been fishing it averages at 20 ft. I believe up res. I can find deeper water.
I fish from a kickboat so at times anchoring would be difficult.
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my experience with crappie is, target 12-25 feet except in cannals where depth dosnt realy matter..
crappie will come in from just a couple feet below the water to a foot or three above the bottom...
jigs work well crappie candy works, for packaged minniows I like Josh's whole minnows, minnow heads or tails work well on jigs.
wax worms work equaly as well if you can get your hands on them this time of year..
4 pound test line, or at least a foot long 4 pound test leader will give you your best results..
If you catch a 4 pound crappie you will have to post a pic here, the best I have ever done was a 3 pound 17 inch crappie...
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You will probably find the Crappie moving deeper as the water continues to get colder. Maybe try smaller jigs, like the Gizzy Bug from Maniac Custom Lures.
Good luck!
James
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Thanks for the info
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The Crappie in our local lake are hanging in 40 to 50 ft.
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Here in Northeast La. we don't have trout.
One lake that I fish has two bridges and you could walk to the bank with all the boats under it. The lake has a 20-30 ft. channel and that is where the crappie are usually stacked up. They are usually 10-15 ft.
The other lake is man-made and has a lot of structure and also has a channel where they stack up. We have pulled some nice slabs out of there.
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that is how they act here in the morthern midwest states as well, stacked up, 10-15 feet tippicaly but are often caught between 5 and 25 feet...
we catch them on tear drop jigs in the winter with wax worms or set lines with live minnow...
it is always a thrill to set the hook on crappie, I have a special rod just for crappie on the ice.. When jigging we never know if we have a big gill or a crappie, unless it is a big crappie, and we have lots of trobles with bass latching on as well...[cool]
set lines you need a rod that will bend a good foot or two, if the crappie feal the hook they will let go, but if they move a foot or so then you can set the hook...
we avrage 10-11 inchers, but I hook in to the biguns up to 17 inches on ocation...
Jigs, crappie candy, wax worms, flies and minnows dead or alive work well.....
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In Illinois at one time it was unlawfull to use artifical lights for fishing at night.
reason is because it works to well...
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[cool] We don't get cold enough for ice fishing, as a matter of fact it was 29°F yesterday morning, by afternoon it was 71°F.
I like to jig fish and add a minnow or a crappie nibble on the jig.
I can't think of any place around here that sells wax worms.
It is nothing like feeling that thump on a jig pole.
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I have been doing well by Dropshotting 3 inch white Berkley trout powerworms over schools in thirty feet of water. Very little movement, in fact seems to work better with the rod in a holder. Sometimes I use a trout sized Crocidile spoon with the hook removed for the bottom weight. With this setup I can actually see the rig down there on my finder. Its a blast to watch the little arcs swim over to your worm!
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] The crappie in a couple of our lakes is 10 - 15 feet.
] 
] But, let me ask you this.......... Are there any bridges where you are fishing? Crappie love bridges. If you can tie off under a bridge at night and drop some floating lights in the water, you're sure to snag some crappie. Infact, regardless of the time of year, this tactic has never failed me. The thing is, I don't do it very often because the bodies of water that hold crappie around here, I don't know very well. And I'm kinda funny about navigating unknown waters at night. [cool]