Hey Noslab:

"If it aint working, try something else". Depending on how much cover is in the lake and where it is you may need more cover in different depths of water. They may be feeding at different depths on different parts of the lake too. If nothing is working try something you wouldn't expect to work. This morning a friend and I were doing a little scouting - fishing 15 to 16-feet over some old brush and bamboo that has been producing pretty well lately. The back of my boat happened to swing over a Bamboo Crappie Condo we just put in last week for a spring staging bed and it showed some fish. We raised our bait up to 10-11-foot and BAM we caught 4 good keepers in short order. I would not have expected crappie to be that shallow with the cold water temps and crazy weather we've been having but we found them that shallow in another similar area this afternoon. We've caught crappie from 6-feet deep to 36-feet deep on the same day on different parts of the lake. If there are crappie in the lake and you have plenty of cover at a variety of depths you should be able to find them somewhere if you keep checking different depths. You may have to find the exact depth they are willing to bite for each location. Sometimes 6-inches one way or the other will take you out of the "Strike Zone".

Using real small minnows no more than about one and a quarter inch on a light wire hook so they can swim around some is usually productive.

They always seem to want to be close to deeper water and "deeper" is relative. In a shallow lake a ditch 6-inches to a foot deep may be all it takes to hold crappie nearby. In our deep mountain reservoir a drop of 4 to 6-feet with cover at the top will hold them well, especially if it's on a point or inside bend of a creek channel.

Hope this helps.