Louisiana has some of the best crappie fishing in this country. I lived for several years in the New Orleans area so I can't help you much about the Shreveport area. I personally would fish the smaller lakes as the crowds will be much worse on the more popular well known lakes. I would suggest that you purchase a map of the lake, choose a small area of the lake and learn it well before moving on to another section of the lake.

I have the Bass Buggy DLX 18 with the Mercury 40hp Bigfoot on it. It is a good crappie fishing rig unless you are into the hit and run bass fishing mode. The pontoon does present a large surface area when the wind is blowing, especially if you have the top up. I recommend buying the largest trolling motor you can afford for it. When I bought the salesman insisted I only needed a 12v, 50# thrust for it but I insisted on buying a 24v, 80# unit. I quickly discover that unit could not control the pontoon on a windy day. I now have a 36v, 112# unit which has done a great job so far.

I have just bought the same Garmin unit you have along with the Live Scope transducer. So I'm also new on it and am learning to use it. Don't know if Live Scope will improve my catching but it is fun to use. There are a lot of good videos on Youtube about the Plus 93sv unit so I would suggest watching them to help you get started. Also watch SK Crappie Fishing Adventures on Youtube for some good tips on crappie fishing.