Crappie how to???

[woody]

  If you don't know where the crappies are hangin' and you don't know where the green weeds are but you do know where the deepest part of the lake is and where there is a steep drop-off into the deep and you have a vex do you just keep on drilling holes from shallow to deep until you see fish on the flasher? Do you fish for a while in each hole you drill? How deep is too deep? What is a good searching bait? Minnow, jigging spoon, rapala? I want to catch a big crappie so bad I can taste it. Most of all I want to find some on my own if I can because I'm tired of following the crowds.
  Do the bigger crappie and blue gills hang in deeper water than the smaller guys?
If your on a fairly steep slope where there are little perch might there be walleyes there eating the perch at some point in the day or night? Do crappies school in different size groups?

tks,
w.

[Icenutter]

The lake I fish for crappies I usually stay in one place for a while.  When I first drill holes I may not see any suspended fish.  After fishing the hole eventually the crappies will move in and show up suspended on the Vex.  They usually do not stay long and will move on and I will wait for the next school to move in. 

[fiesty]

lots of questions...take your time, some days you can do no wrong, and some days you do no right...I fish each hole I cut whether I am marking fish or not, especially in clear water.  fish can be hanging just off the side of your cone, and you won't see them.  also, try different jigging presentations until you find something that works, some times it's fast, sometimes it's slow....I start at a new hole fast, trying to get the active fish, then gradually slow down to entice the inactive fish to bite...I also try at least a few colors and jigs....as far as depth goes, every body of water is different, seldom have I caught numbers of craps over deeper water then thirty or so feet, but seldom do I fish over more then thirty feet...like I said take your time...fish each hole as it were your first, think that big slab is there, and sooner or later he will be...

[reelbigfish]

Woody,
  The only way to learn is to ask questions but too many questions for one post is
confusing.  Lurk and learn.  Read the archives as most of yer ?s have already been
answered.
  One piece of crappie knowledge I would like to share is this:  when you find a hot
hole for specks mark it cause they are few and far between.  Different lakes produce
different results.  I lived on a crappie lake growing up with 14" plus fish in the spring
and fall but never found them through the ice.  Last season I found a honeyhole on
another lake where they crappie were schooled tight.  Move 2' and you went fishless.
I think it's got something to do with their daily migrarion route.  Pattern them.  Try
to be smarter than what yer fishin for.

Ted