Hi Throwback,
Sounds like we do the same kind of fishing on similar lakes. I troll in about 13 ft of water with a 3/8 oz. weight 18" ahead of my jig. The weight keeps the jig down and also keeps in close to the transom (some long-line trollers will run 75-100 feet of line off the transom...to much for me since I'm on a small lake).
In addition to curly-tail grubs, I've added tubes, minnow-shaped and feather/hair jigs to my arsenal. They all catch fish and I can't say any of them do any better than my original grubs. But the variety makes it interesting. The only time I tried to troll with bobbers my lines got very tangled together. I was probably doing it wrong, so don't write it off as a technique based on my experience.
An inexpensive fish finder can be very useful, just to let you know whether or not there are any fish under your boat. They also help in finding structure that crappie like to hang out at. I got this portable Humminbird 160 for $130 at Amazon.com. It also helps me know the depth of water I'm in so I can know that I have to raise my jigs before they snag on the bottom.
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Have fun!