You will get a lot of advice on here but it is hard when you are just starting out and you learning how to use your new boat and fish for crappie, that is a double whammy. If you want a leg up, it would be really worth the money to go fishing a guide on the lake you like the best. You will learn how they handle the boat and get a years worth of learning in a day's trip. Other wise is it a lot of fishing all day and learning from what the crappie tell you. Remember early in the year a lot of days the crappie really turn between 4:00 and 6:00 and bite like crazy up to dark. Good luck. I have to be somewhere or I would type out some fishing tips for you.