Crappie ,Brim and Bass

Question
HELLO--WHAT SHOULD I USE IN CATCHING CRAPPIE(MINNOWS OR WORMS)AND PLEASE TELL ME HOW FAR MY FLOAT ON MY FISHING LINE NEED TO BE FROM MY HOOK AND HOW DEEP IN THE WATER I NEED TO BE---ALSO IN BRIM AND BASS FISHING. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR ANY INFORMATION-AND HAVE A GOOD DAY.

Answer
Jerry; this is kind of a complex question to be answered in a letter but I will do my best.
Lets start with Crappie.  Crappie are very much school fish bunching up in large and small schools.  To tell you how high to put your bobber above your hook is kind of like answering  the question "how high is UP".  Sometimes crappie are right on the bottom at other times they suspend a few inches below the surface or at any place in between.  The best way to find them is to set your bobber so that the minnow (and yes minnows are far superior to worms for crappie) swims just off the bottom.  If you put the minnow in or near a brush pile, fallen tree or drop off of weeds or in some places around rocks and do not get a bite in a few minutes slide your bobber 6-8 inches shallower and try again.  Keep this up until you find them or run out of water.  If you catch one stay at that same depth until they quit biting then try lifting the bait up or lowering it down.  If no more bites then the school has probably moved off or quit biting.  To find a similar spot and try at the depth at which they were biting before.  They will tend to be close to the same depth over much of the lake unless there is a considerable difference in temperature.
I have caught them at over 30 feet and in 4inches.  Crappie will also bite a small hair or plastic tipped jig, sometimes better than a live minnow.  You can cast a jig with a spinning rod and reel it slowly back letting it pass through different depths on the cast.  If you get a hit try casting exactly the same way to the same place and reel at the same speed and you are likely to catch another and another etc.  Sometimes it is good to just lower the jig to the bottom, crank the reel a couple of times then very slowly jig it up and down only a couple of inches. If no bite, do the same as with the minnow slowly from bottom to top a few inches at a time stopping and jigging slowly every few inches.
If the water is very deep such as my lakes river channels at over 30 feet a bobber is difficult to use.  If I am using a minnow I do it just as I described for a vertical jig.

Next; Brim.  These are completely different from crappie.  They tend to bunch up in very shallow water in the spring to spawn but then seem to scatter.
Sometimes you can find them shallow near weed beds, docks or other cover.  At other times they go deep and can be caught much like crappie except they don't seem to bunch up as much.  Brim will take a small minnow now and then but they much prefer worms or crickets or at times when mayflies are thick they will eat them with relish.  Brim do not tend to suspend much above the bottom like crappie.  They are usually close to bottom in shallow or deep water.  When they are spawning is the time to really clean up on brim (actually all of the sunfish family)  You can see their beds in clear water usually under a foot deep in a cleared out place in the weeds.
I am no great expert at finding brim beads.  I usually find them by the not too spectacular way of watching where other boats seem to be gathered.  Brim will take small jigs and flies too but most people rely on worms or crickets.

Bass; Now that is a different subject all together.  I have fished for bass since I was about 10 years old and have not figured out exactly where to find nor how to catch them with anything like the numbers or consistancy of crappie or brim.
If using live bait a fairly large shiner is often a very good bait.  The shiner should be sized based on the size of the bass in the water you fish.  Some places in Florida and California use shiners as long as a foot but most shiner fishing is done with about a 4-5 inch shiner.
Of course the depth depends on the depth of the water.  Bass tend to hide in weeds, around stumps, docks, logs or any other thing they can find to jump out and grab a meal.  Most of the time using shiners one is fishing relatively shallow water say 12 feet or less.  The shiner is tossed up against a stump with a float about half the depth of the water.  Bass will come up from pretty deep to get a shiner but they have little tendency to go down for some reason.  If you don't get any takers in a few minutes push your bobber down so that the shiner is only 3-4 feet deep even in much deeper water.  Of course if you are fishing in a weed bed that is only 2 feet deep put your shiner about 1 1/2 ft deep.

There are many more ways to fish for bass but you seem to be more interested in live bait fishing so I will leave it at that.
If you want to have me write a more detailed approach to bass fishing using artificial baits send in another question.
Tell me what part of the country you live in and what lakes or rivers you will likely be fishing.  Also let me know anything about how much experience you have had with this kind of fishing if any.
I will be glad to give you as much information as possible to get you started right.  Bass fishing is a lifetime learning thing and I still learn something new every time I go or when I talk to another bass fisherman or go fishing with another bass fisherman.  That is what makes it such an exciting sport and the bass is a tremendous antaganoist making it even more exciting.

Thanks for calling on me to answer your question.  I hope it has been of some help.  Now go out and catch a bunch of fish.  Remember to keep what you can eat but release the rest alive so you or someone else can have the enjoyment of catching him again.

Jack L. Gaither
Lake Seminole, Georgia