Black crappies are known as eager biters and a much sought-after food fish, and are found in most lakes in our region, except the extreme northeast. Male blacks develop dark black heads and front halves during the spawn, which makes for easy identification. They spawn in spring, when water temps approach 60 degrees, on shallow flats scattered with reeds or brush. Spawning fish are easy targets, as large schools can be spotted and fished for from a distance. After spawning they vacate the shallows and move to nearby deep water, forming tight schools suspended around the primary break. They stay here throughout the day, and can be difficult to locate without the aid of electronics. As evening sets in, these huge schools move into shallower, brushy areas such as beaver feed piles around lodges to scarf down shiners, dace or whatever the primary native forage may be. In the winter, black crappies usually suspend in deep water and are easy targets for the ice angler who knows how to find them. Once you locate crappies, you'll catch a bunch if you can stay on the school.

  Here is a side-by-side comparison of a black crappie and a white crappie.  The black crappie is on the right. 

Relatively stupid, black crappies aren't spooked by continually hooking and pulling crappie after crappie from the school. Some old, cagy crappie anglers would slap thier cane poles on the water and cause a big commotion, luring crappies in that took thier splashing for a crappie feeding frenzy. If you just can't find the school, give this a shot. The looks you'll get from your fishing partners will be well worth the effort, and if it works they will think of you as some kind of slab-finding guru. A lot of people swear by live "crappie minnows" beneath some kind of float for crappies, and this rig works quite well. However, I've always found that a small tube jig or streamer fly works just as well, and you don't have to dig around in the minnow bucket after each bite. A clouser minnow works well, as you can count it down to the level of the school, and its' profile is attractive to larger fish. Hooks tend to rip out of the crappie's paper-thin mouth, so a flyrod or very limber spinning rod is best. Small spinners and crankbaits also work, especially if you're after real slabs. Always experiment with lure color, as crappies are curiously more color-selective than most other fishes. Keep a few for the pan, as crappies are delicious and make a great sandwich, but harvest selectively and release the big ones to add thier superior traits to the next generation. 

Crappies are a favorite target of ice anglers. They are delicious, easy to catch, and abundant. But most heavily-fished lakes rarely produce large crappies anymore, mainly due to the ease with which the largest fish can be culled out of the lake in the wintertime. To catch crappie in the winter, find a deep hole and fish in the middle of it with crappie minnows or waxworms. Electronic sonar allows anglers to pinpoint the fish easily, as they suspend well above the bottom and show up as conspicuous marks on the sonar.