I have never specifically targeted crappies at night. I've done a lot of striper fishing at night and caught shad/herring at night for stripers but never tried for the crappie while doing it. I wanted to take a couple of buddies I played ball with in high school and one of them is always asking me to take him for crappie. With the spawn wrapping up I was wondering if late May/early June is a good time to target them at night? I was planning on going to Clarks Hill and fishing SC Little River or Soap Creek because that's where I have experience catching crappie in the daytime.
The place I was thinking about trying is near the creek mouth on the edge of a big channel bend. It drops from 25 down to 45 there. In the area are several isolated pockets of standing timber that come within 10 to 15 feet of the surface that tends to hold a lot of crappie in the fall...don't know about May. But my guess is they would be there because there is a ton of bait there. From some of the things I have read on here I should set up near the trees but not right over them...Correct?
For lighting I have an old green hydro glow submersible light that I bought from a guy selling his striper gear. Will that light work OK? Could it be too bright? What kind of spread of lines do I need to put out? I was thinking one cork rod about 5 feet down at the shadow line and another 5 or 6 rods set in rod holders straight down from 10 to 20 feet down. Is there any point in dropping a jig down and slow reeling it up like I do over deep brush in the day time?
Will it hurt anything if I put out 3 more rods with live herring for the hybrids? How much does water clarity matter? SC Little River can get pretty stained but not as much in mid May or early June. Would I be better off to just tie up under the bridge in Soap Creek? I worry about a little too much current under that bridge when they are pumping back into Russell at night. It's amazing how much current those pump backs generate.
All advice is greatly appreciated.

