"The new Baby Grappler Shad is about the same size as a #5 Shad Rap and it runs 8 feet deep on 10-pound Super Silver Thread, 6 feet on 12-pound-test, and reaches 12 feet on 6-pound fluorocarbon," he reports. "If you're off on the depth by just a foot, crappies will have a harder time catching the lure -- they'll be barely hooked, and often get off. Shift baits a bit deeper and they'll be hooked securely."

Looper uses spinning tackle when lighter lines (10-pound and less) are called for, favoring Pflueger 6 1/2-foot medium and light power models with President spinning reels. With heavier lines, he uses Pflueger Trion Cranking Rods with President baitcasters. His Minn Kota 74-pound Maxxum supplies plenty of power and runs for days at the 30 percent setting he usually selects.

Drop-Shotting: Todd Huckabee, a crappie tournament competitor from Oklahoma City, has another approach to offshore crappies -- drop-shotting. For the last year and a half, Huckabee has been taking advantage of that rigging to score high in tournaments on Lake Eufaula and Fort Gibson Reservoir.

"In many southeastern reservoirs, crappies hold near deep standing timber in late summer and into fall," Huckabee points out. "The most productive spots are along old creek channels, where the biggest trees have grown. This timber is still thick and you can't effectively troll through it.

"I anchor my drop-shot with a 1/2-ounce weight, to hold it straight down in wind or wavy conditions. I use 10-pound Silver Thread AN-40, to resist abrasion against the tree trunks as you pull crappies straight up through the timber.

"I've experimented a lot with baits, and for the bigger crappies that we need in tournaments, I favor the 2-inch YUM Beavertail. The two colors that have been hot are Carolina Pumpkin with a chartreuse tail, and black with a pink tail. I like a 1/0 light-wire wide gap for this bait, which provides a sufficient gap when the lure is nose-hooked.

"I check sonar before setting the distance between the sinker and the bait. In one tournament at Fort Gibson, we found the big fish just a foot off the bottom in 24 feet of water along a tree line. I set the Beaver Tail at that depth and they ate it up.

"Tie the lure slightly above the level of the fish. Fishing vertically is extremely efficient. I rarely spend more than a couple minutes on a spot, then move on to another creek bend or group of trees. If they're in the mood, crappies bite right away. If not, you probably won't be able to trigger them, so you're better off looking for more active fish."

In contrast to bays crowded with crappie fishermen that typify the spring bite, summertime crappie fishing offers an opportunity to move away from the crowd for what can be even more productive fishing. Along the way, you'll learn a lot about the structure of your local lakes, and discern patterns that may well produce slab crappie for years to come.