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.

Anglers who've been fishing most of their lives sometimes learn a lesson. Mike McBride hadn't made more than four casts when a crappie the size of a dinner plate nailed his small jig. His first fish ...