Okay so I've only been trying to really focus on catching crappie for the last month or so. I have a large selection of jigs and beetle spins, slip bobbers and such.

So far, I've managed to catch a grand total of four black crappie, but the fishing where I am here in south Louisiana has been very very tough for just about everyone for the last few weeks.

After another trip today where I got skunked, I had a sudden revelation... I have two gallons of small frozen shad in my freezer. There are literally no bait shops in my area that sell live shiners, and I figured since shad is the primary food source for crappies, that it would be a good idea to try to use them as bait.

Any thoughts?