Uncle Den , The first few things you're gonna need are (1)two good anchors, one for each end of the boat.I prefer the grapple style that dig in good.(2)a floating or submersible light for each fisherman(or woman) on the boat.Walmart has these and you can get a floater for $10.Make sure the battery you're gonna run this on is charged good.I prefer to use a seperate battery for my lights , and some folke use a battery for each light.A matter of preference.(3) A lantern to assist in seeing your bites.Try to hang it high above you but behind you will work also.(4)I use lighted rod tips that you can get at Wal mart also.Some folks paint hte end of their crappie rods with flat white paint.I've heard really good things aboput this but cant bring myself to do it.I would try to find a nice deep dropoff somewhere near the bank , indicating a creek or river channel and anchor just off the deep side of it.Set your lights out and drop lines with minnows right over the side.Use as many rods as you can keep up with , so you can experiment with the depth.I always have one rod somewhere near the bottom and then a couple of 12' rods at 10-12' deep.Once you begin to catch fish adjust your depth to whats hitting.Lake Wylie is a great place for crappie and all the fellas on here are catching bigguns this week.Good luck.Eric.