Looking for a little advice

Within the last month or so I've started trying to do a little crappie fishing. Got my old boat cleaned up and running, did some reading and talked to a few folks to try and get a basic concept of where to catch crappie and how to catch crappie. I'm in NC, close to the Yadkin lakes. We cut out of work a few minutes early last Friday and headed to the lake. I wasn't expecting to do much of anything the first time out of the gate. I mainly wanted to ride around, look at the depth finder and see if I could locate something that looked like what I read to be on the look out for or someone told me. I looked for drop offs and bottom structure. I found a little bit of both here and there. I was idling along with the big motor, looking at the graph. When I found a place that looked kinda fishy, I would turn the big motor off and try to spin around with the trolling motor and fish it, sometimes for what ever reason I had a hard time finding the bottom structure again. I figure that will get better with practice however. We tried fishing with minnows and a couple of jigs just to get our feet wet, didn't catch much of anything but like I said I didn't expect to the first time out...gotta start somewhere. My question is this: Until I get a better feel for using the depth finder and locating some fish and some structure on the bottom, would I be better off fishing docks and piers? Also, any other advice or sugguestions for a guy just starting out would greatly be appreciated and welcomed.

I can't tell you whether to fish docks or not on your waters, but my advice is keep doing what you did Friday. That's the only way you are going to learn your electronics and what kind of cover you have there. Get or build some marker bouy's. Keep one right at hand, when you see a spot like you did toss the marker out right behind the boat. That way you will be a lot closer to going back and finding the spot. One you find the spot drop another right next to or on it. Then go back and forth over it. That way you will kinda learn what is down there and you can start trying to pick out whether fish are present or not. Rig you up a pole with a 1/2 oz or 3/4 oz weight, let it down into the cover and feel it through the cover. Give you a little better idea of what it might be. Logs,brush pile, rock structure or planted brush pile. I know you want to go, look and fish but a little research time will make your fishing a lot more enjoyable and productive.

Cray had what I was gonna say pegged dead on.

A lot of us have high spead fish finders that allow us to move right back overtop of structure but, we all started with other models that didn't have these features. Many of us still use bouy markers for visual reference. You can make them yourself out of an older 20oz or 2 liter bottle. Tie some chalk line (or stringer line) to the top neck (next to the cap) and then wrap it around the bottle. Make sure you have enough to get you down to the bottom without sinking the bottle. Tie a weight to the end and you have yourself a cheap bouy that will work well.

Another tip I have is to keep it simple. Many of us want to run out and fish tree tops, stumps, and brush piles but... we also fish weed beds and weed edges. The best advice I could give is to find yourself a good weed bed. Anchor your boat far enough out so that you can reach the weed line while casting. A simple slip bobber setup with a minnow should work just fine. Throw a couple out at different depths until you find what works. I also like to work the weed edge with a 1/16th oz jig tipped with a twister style tail or small plastic shad.

Hope this helps point you in the right direction. Might also be worth getting up with the NC group and ask to tag along.

Thanks for the information guys, I'll be picking up some makers for sure.

The lake I mainly fish during the year I've fished for over twenty years and I have favorite spots during certain times of the year but the one thing I try to watch is where are they staging. As my buddy takes the car to the parking lot I'll turn on the depth finder and ease out over the channel and watch for the fish. Are they up on the flat, down on the slope, or out over the channel? Then when I pick up my buddy and we ease out over a different channel, I'll see if they are staging in the same location. Usually they will. That doesn't mean they'll bite :)