Yes sometimes they are eating really small fry and saw someone post on this and say they have cut open crappie that were just full of 1/4" long fry. So normal jig is not going to compete with something so tiny! I believe we should try to get really small in summer. I know a guide that uses 1/32 oz jigs with #6 sickle hooks and will fish that in 20' or more depth of water. He does use a 1/2 Oz weight up the line to get down. I am not sure how he actually fishes it, but know he caught fish here even though he had only seen this lake one time before that and I mean went out and killed the crappie!
I have also used some kind of funny looking 1/32 Oz jigs I tied sometime back that I had a heavier jig below and the little one with Peacock Herl wings sure got bit! I want to try a tiny jig at night too and I would bet that the tiny jig will catch fish that you wouldn't have on a larger jig!
Skip