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.

Crappie are biting fair, reports Jon Conklin, fishing guide. Anglers report catching lots of small crappie with minnows or jigs around brush. Crappie must be 10 inches or longer to keep at Beaver Lake ...

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.

Some 20 years ago, on any given summer day, you would've found me along the bank of a Virginia farm pond or waist-deep in the James River. More than likely, my T-shirt was balled up in the back of my ...