I was same as you just a few years ago and have slowly been making the crappie crossover. Being young and newly married I can't afford to buy a bunch of new stuff. I bought a 14' crappie combo from gander then used a 6.5' spinning I had alread and dug around at home to find a 5' spinning bluegill rod. Set them all up with twister tails of different colors and started experimenting with long line trolling. Before I knew it the fish were stacking up in the freezer. It helps to have better gear I'm certain but it can be done with less than awesome gear. Come summer time I put hi vis line on a few spare bass rods, hooked up some bandits and trolled them. Absolutely wore them out in August. Didn't even know they could be caught that time of year but I was sure wrong.