Slabs, Silver Sunfish
Crappie typically will start to move to spawning around 58deg and spawn is in full swing when the water temperature start to reach the upper 50's. After the spawn, crappie are generally the most active when the water temperature is between 69deg and 76deg. Above 80deg, the activety starts to decrease. In late fall when the water temp dips below 55 the activety falls off again, and below 50deg they feed very little. However, in the dead of winter when the water temps get down to 40 and below, the crappie can actually become easier to catch than any other time. This temp really packs the baitfish together in the deepest points and deep bends in old rivers channels. When this happens, you can go out and realy on your electronics to tell you where they are. Don't waste time fishing until you find the largest bait fish school in the lake, then get down to 20-30 feet with light line and swimmer shad or your favorite jigs.
Food Source
Crappies main diet sourse comes from minnows, and schools of shad in your lake. They can also be found feeding on aquatic insects on the surface during late spring and early fall. They can also be caught on worms, grubs, grasshoppers, and crickets.
Both white and black crappie grow rather slowly compared to the other freshwater game fish. Black crappie live a little longer than whites sometimes reaching 10+ years. To reach 1lb can take from 5 years in the south to over 7 years in the north.
Crappie may be one of the most aggrevating fish to chase. You may catch 150 fish in a single hole on Saturday and when you hit it on Sunday, you catch 10 and they are all tiny. Crappie move around the lake more than a lot of species. They also tend to be much more affected by the current weather patterns. Barometric pressure and the moon phases really seem to have more affect on Crappies.