A good starting point for looking for the perfect ledge: a submerged channel. Although a channel's sides may slope gently for hundreds of yards, the channel will at some point make a bend, and at that point you're likely to find a nearly vertical drop. The best ledges break sharply, and have a good bit of additional structure like stumps, brushpiles or rocks along the break. The depth that the fish will hold at may well vary with conditions; begin probing somewhere in the 15-foot range.

The colder the weather, the tighter the crappie will hug the ledges. On a warming trend, other techniques may prove more appropriate, because the fish get more active, and thus more willing to move to hit a bait. But when the thermometer plunges, crappie are in no mood to chase anything, and have to be coaxed to the hook.

Boat control is the cardinal skill for bottom-bumping that gets results. The bait must be presented in exactly the right place -- because the old fishermen's adage about having to "bump them in the nose" to get a bite is absolutely true for winter crappie. When conditions are tough, you have make these fish an offer that they won't want to refuse.

At Weiss, achieving this exacting presentation requires the use of a simple yet extremely effective dropper rig. The rig consists of a 1/2-ounce bell sinker tied to the end of the main line, with a No. 1 gold Aberdeen hook on a dropper line approximately 18 inches above the sinker. A snelled Eagle Claw hook simply tied on the main line above the sinker works just fine. Depending on water clarity and the fish's willingness to bite, line anywhere from 6- to 12-pound-test line will work. If conditions allow use of heavier line, fewer rigs will be lost to snags, as it will often enable you to free a snagged hook with a slow, steady pull. But, if the fish are biting tentatively, lighter line may increase the number of strikes.

For bait, a standard crappie minnow can't be beat, but if true slabs are your prey, go with a larger minnow. Big bait will generally mean big bites, and large minnows -- up to 4 inches long are good, if you can find them -- will virtually eliminate strikes from fish smaller than the lake's 10-inch minimum length for papermouths. Hooking the minnow through the eyes results in both livelier bait and more hookups, since the crappie have a harder time stripping the bait without revealing their presence.

To bump bottom properly, the dropper rig is presented vertically along the ledge with the weight just ticking the bottom ever so often. Any stumps or other bottom features should receive extra attention, since the biggest fish often claim these prime areas as their own. The key is boat control. Presenting the bait over a very specific target in deep water requires some boat-handling skill. Get off target even a few feet, and the number of strikes will decline sharply.