danny-we used shiners-2 1/2 to 3 inch. had to buy them by the pound at that lake. no limit on crappie, or bream. we filled our ice chest several times with slab-size fish. we also resorted to jigs if we ran out of shiners, and did o.k. with them, but the live bait worked best for us. timber finally died and fell, and now, you have to have a large boat and no wind to fish the lake. when it was young, we fished it in a 14 ft. john-boat. last trip down with my Dad before he died, we watched as 6 ft. waves rolled in at the lanch ramp. turned around and drove back home.

Knife, I will be fishing off a 12' Jon on a lake here in WV. No waves other than from the other boats. Looking forward to trying the night fishing for crappie. I'll try the light and live bait as you suggested. Thanks for the help

i just got a walmart special. $20. works great althought it dont cast to far. but its perfect for what i need. its a 4'6" pole with 4lb test and i just leave the drag set real loose it is a blast catching big blue gills and crappie.