Photo by Matt Sutton.

When I was a youngster learning to fish for crappie, my uncles taught me that versatility often translates into success. If jigs enticed crappie, all was fine -- jigs it was. But if jigs didn’t produce, it was time for another come-on. I learned that crappie are enticed by a wide variety of lures that nail slabs nearly as often as do minnows and jigs. To make the most of your crappie outings, give these lures and power tactics a try this season. Your crappie-eating friends and relatives will thank you.

CHARLIE BREWER
WEEDLESS CRAPPIE SLIDER
When properly rigged -- with the hook point of the special-made jighead buried in a grub -- the Crappie Slider does exactly what Charlie Brewer intended; it eliminates the aggravation of constant hang-ups in dense cover. The Slider -- available in a wide variety of colors and sizes -- has become one of the most popular crappie lures of all time.

Power Tactic: When spawning, crappie nest around stumps or logs in shallow water.

To catch these fish, use a fine-wire, double-armed spreader rig such as the ones made by Culprit and Eagle Claw. Snap a 1-ounce bass-casting sinker to the bottom of the rig and replace the crappie hook on each arm line with a Slider.

The sinker allows you to feel the bottom and find stumps, while the weedless jigs lessen snagging.

While wind-drifting or slow-trolling with an electric motor, work the rig vertically beside the boat, using a lift-and-drop action. When you feel the rig bump on a stump or log, raise it up and over.

You must be constantly attentive, raising or lowering the rig with your rod tip in order to maintain feel and keep the rig bouncing across cover objects without hanging.

JOHNSON BEETLE SPIN
The Beetle Spin is an incomparable crappie lure. Snap on the safety-pin spinner and use it to fish all sorts of cover and structure. The 1/32-ounce model is ideal for catching lots of crappie, no matter what their size. But when trophy fish are what you want, don’t hesitate to try the 1/8- or 1/4-ounce versions, too. The crappie you hook are likely to be huge.

Power Tactic: It’s difficult to fish a Beetle Spin at the snail’s pace often needed for sometimes-lethargic February crappie. But you can combat this problem -- and target suspended fish -- by rigging a sliding bobber above the spinner.

Place a bobber stop on your line at the depth you want to fish. Then add a bead below the stop, followed by the sliding bobber. Finish the rig by tying the spinner at line’s end.