Several years when we had our place at the lake right before sunset the crappie would go on a feeding frenzy. The site looked like white bass on the surface chasing minnows to the surface before slamming them. The first few times I witnessed this I used a flyrod with a plain hooked tipped with a minnow. I then purchased some flies that looked like minnows and would cast in the area where I saw the schools of minnows jumping, and the crappie would hammer it. The crappie I caught doing this weren't big, only 9 to 10 inches but none the less still fun to catch.