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.

Crappie can be a finicky fish during fall. The tasty panfish sometimes bite so light an angler may never know a crappie has taken the bait. Mike McBride of Winslow has a way of dealing with the ...