Slab crappies are meat eaters—sure enough minnow munchers. They take artificials well at times, especially jigs—but big crappie will turn their noses at even the best of the best crappie lures.

A simple crappie tactic for cold weather, made famous by "Mr. Crappie", pro-crappie angler and tackle-maker Wally Marshall, is "dock shooting". Basically, it's turning a spinning rod into a bow to ...