From the Michigan DNR
There two types of crappie in Michigan: black crappie and white crappie. They are members of the sunfish family. This illustration by Joseph Tomelleri is a black crappie. This is a white crappie. It has five to ten vertical bars that look like stripes. Illustration by Duane Raver.
Crappie are among the most difficult pan fish to pattern because of their tendency to suspend in the water column, except in the spring. During this time, crappie move to shallow water – sometimes in water only a couple feet deep – to spawn, so there isn’t a lot of water column to suspend in.
Crappies like both minnows and jigs. The easiest way to fish for them is to suspend the bait under a bobber, halfway between the surface and the bottom, around any sort of cover – weeds, brush, dock pilings … whatever.
Anglers who prefer a more active approach can cast with jigs and swim them back or fly fish with minnow-imitating streamers. Just think shallow in spring.
