What made a dramatic improvement for you catching them?

[smashdn]

#1 Building and placing my own stuff.
#2 Having electronics to mark other stuff.
#3 Having good enough electronics to get back on top of the stuff and see fish.
#4 Ultra sensitive All Star rod and using 6 lb braid with a fluorcarbon leader. I feel every bite.
#5 Black with chartreuse tail slider grubs and black slider heads.

[gone fission]

retirement

[Donald@CrappieLogic]

I think time on the water and boat control are key

[pab1981]

I think time on the water and boat control are key

Yep, couldn't agree more.

[catchNgrease]

Staying with the same fish and following their movements from Spring to fall/winter and back to spring. I am still learning the cold water stuff. And definitely all of the post and reports and the how to's on here. I think I know how to catch fish in Illinois now but I doubt I ever go fishing that far up. But I still learned.

[chulai1968]

Remembering what does not work for a paticular condition.

[nixon]

Networking with other crappie fisherman. If you have never gone to any crappie camps with the CDC guys...go, you will make friends and contacts that will help you from now on. And they are an absolute blast.

[bakwater]

Confidence, optimism and believing I think are the most important factors to targeting any species of fish. Secondly the measuring of your success is just as important. Have realistic goals and expectations. Catching one crappie is a success and enough to build confidence to carry into the next fishing trip.

For me so far this year I've switched to bobby garland jigs and have had success on each trip and have found conditions and the way they're biting different each time also that they're not all deep or shallow at the same time. So I guess what I'm saying is try different things if ones not working and with confidence you will be successful.

[Crestliner08]

I believe that switching from monofilament to 2# test Fireline Crystal w/fluoro leader, has dramatically increased my hookup ratio and bite detection. Other than that, being here on Crappie.com certainly has benefited me big time.

[MidMsAngler]

Good electronics and finding good topo maps of my home lake. I have made a commitment to treat my home lake as a "new" lake this year. Growing up on a body of water is great but I realized that I was hindering myself by my knowledge. For many years I was diehard fishing but not thinking. Fishing for years without electronics I was lucky enough to stumble on fish, mostly around communinty known spots. So I developed a routine, I fished the same spots in the same order based on my average success at each spot. Regardless of the time of year or mood of the fish it was the same thing, and if I didn't catch fish, well then they must not be biting.

The Navionics App is stellar for my lake. I've spent a lot of down time studying the lake, the depth contours, the flats with deep water access. I immediatly crossed off any of my old community spots but tried to find out what made them so popular then tried to locate other areas with the same features. It's been a long process but a fun one, and it has paid off in dividends!