Originally Posted by crappster
Hey, crappster.....I'm a bit out of your territory, but in my area cypress trees are a favorite place to target crappie stageing in and out of spawning beds. I cast a Bill Dance crappie spin, which is a little larger than what you might envision for our favorite fish, but I do target the larger ones. I use a number of colors, white being my favorite, then chartruce, and a gray/white combination. With any of them, the first thing I do is substitute the swivel w/a sampo ballbearing and clip to be able to change blades, a size larger for shallow, smaller for deeper, and very free spinning. Look for a drop or channel with cypress trees adjacent in 3 to 6 ft of water. I cast past the trees, let it helo down 2 to 4 seconds, then begin a slow retrieve. If they don't hit it in the shallow, let the lure drop deep just inside the channel edge. If you find them deeper in the channel, go to a smaller blade and cast parallel to the edge fishing deeper, still working slowly. If they are slow to hit, try another color, or down size the lure. If you catch all males, the majority of the females either haven't come in, or have already spawned in that area. If you want the bigger females, find cooler water (as in shaded south banks w/ deep water close by) and try there. Hope this works for you crappster, and good fishing!