The most common way to fish for crappie is to use a very light lead-head jig with a plastic hula skirt attached (I like fluorescent green), either cast and retrieve slowly or just drop to the bottom and jig. Crappie are easy to catch during spawning just like any other fish, but in summer they hang out in colder pockets of water. They are also called "paper mouths" because their bite is almost undetectable, and it's easy to tear the hook out of their mouths. Jigging helps to set the hook. Retrieve them slowly and use a net so their mouths don't tear from lifting them out of the water. Sometimes you can catch a lot of them.