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.

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?

In this Jan. 2, 2014 photo, Hunter Sommerhauser, 16, ties a bucktail jig in the basement of his home in St. Paul, Minn. They produce their own fishing videos, hawk their brand with shoe-leather savvy, ...

Jan. 10—Trout fishing has been active in the area. Crappies have also recently been hitting on hair jigs. While the bite for crappie has been hard the finesse presentation of hair jigs have broken ...