Today’s crappie lures come in a vast array of sizes, colors, patterns and actions. And that’s a good thing, because you never know where you’ll find these nomadic fish and what will trip their trigger ...

NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — Hang around a gaggle of crappie fishermen for a little while and the subject of jig colors will arise. What is the best crappie-jig color? What color catches the biggest crappie?

Slab crappies are meat eaters—sure enough minnow munchers. They take artificials well at times, especially jigs—but big crappie will turn their noses at even the best of the best crappie lures.

Almost every veteran crappie catcher can recount times when he was catching fish just as fast as he could toss out a yellow jig, when suddenly, for no apparent reason, the fishing went bust. Different ...