if i am targeting black crappie my bait wont be larger than about 1.75 inches long , and it might be in the 1 inch range sometimes .
white crappie seem to take larger baits more frequently though , but to be sure you can ketch some big black crappie sometimes on larger baits .
on the big lakes here with the big blacks you might ketch a real large black on a big bait ,seen that a time or 2 .
to better understand the species i suggest you read up on them . in this part of the world some of the main forage items for black crappie are ghost shrimp and EVEN large plankton .
white crappie tend to target shad most of the time .
sum kawl me tha outlaw ketchn whales"G" LIKED above post
I often use the curly tail arkie soft plastic that looks like the little fish baits. They are probably at least 3 inches. Much bigger than the other curly tails. There are times they out catch every other curly tail I have on and I think it is because they are much bigger and catch their eyes first. I have also caught several crappie on my alabama rigs when pulling for stripers. 4 inch curly tails on 1/4 oz heads pulled at 2.5 mph, so I am not sure you can get too big within reason at the right times.