Yeah, I agree with dedduk's post. I only got in to crappie fishing last year, and my first crappie was caught on a 2" white curlytail grub and jighead rig. I probably caught 25 in a few hours on that combo that day, but it hasn't been nearly as effective all the other times I have fished. I've also caught bass and bream on this little rig... 6" smallmouth on a crappie jig is quite a feeling, but still. I've heard tubes and other low-action baits work best in the spring, with the curly's and other HIGH action baits working best in summer, but I've not tried that yet, just heresay.

Yes, live bait usually works when nothing else will. The disadvantage to minnows is that, when you get in a pile of crap's that are biting hard, sometimes that wait between baiting after each catch is frustrating :D. With artificials, you rarely run in to this problem.