The ice on my fishing hole broke up this week, but there are still some chunks good-sized floating around, so I'm going to wait one more weekend to start chasing crappie. Steelies are the target tomorrow morning.
Most of my crappie fishing is on shallow lakes (10'-12' at their deepest). Next weekend I plan to hit the deepest spots first slow-trolling a crank and a tube. If that doesn't yield any fish, it's off to the outside edges of the weed beds at the North end of the lake. Depending on wind, I may work E - W or W - E. Mostly looking for sun-warmed water or warm surface water that has been blown into an area. I'd slow troll until I find fish then start tossing jigs.
That's my game plan for ice-out crappie this year.