I recently became obsessed with crappie fishing too.

My go to list...

6' micro light rod, cork grips
1500 or 2000 series reels (spool is about the size of a 50 cent piece)
1/16 ounce heads, sickel hooks
6 pound test
Best depth finder you can afford. Down scan changed the game for me.

kalins 2" tripple threats, I use a lot of darker colors, but I've done the wild card thing (picked random jig) and caught many that way too.
bobby garland baby shads

to me, unless you have no choice, it's not cost effective to pour your plastic. This us just my thoughts on my fishing needs. $2.50 a pack for tails sounds like a deal to me.