Living two blocks from the train tracks was a natural draw for my buddy Tim and me. Our love affair with the tracks started when we were seven, maybe eight. Everything was fascinating.

Our first long adventure took us a mile north of our humble beginnings. Walking the trails, we looked down and saw a brush-lined pond. Fighting the thorns and pitchfork thistles, we made it to the water.

Fish were everywhere. Schools of big bluegills were spawning on the pea stone, ripe for the taking. How we wished we had our fishing rods! Following the pond, we found a road. The road led to Eighth Street. The pond later would become Windmill Island.

We were excited beyond belief. The very next day, we packed up sandwiches made with Goober, a peanut butter-and-jam mixture. I grabbed my old steel fishing rod with a clip-on red-and-white bobber. A can of worms and a stringer were all balanced onto my battered Firestone, one-speed bike.

It’s comical to think back on that adventurous day. Our bobbers were the size of silver dollars, maybe even larger. I can’t remember whether we were using old Dacron line or the cheapest, fattest mono line available. 

Back in those days, we were clueless about what constituted a good-sized ‘gill. If it fit into our small palms, it went onto the stringer. And a daily limit of fish meant, “How many fish can I fit onto a stringer?”

Riding home on our bikes was more challenging when balancing a stringer of fish. Car after car would pull alongside us and yell, “Hey, kids, where did you catch that mess of fish?” Our stringers were bouncing off the road and leaving a trail of scales.

Looking back at my logbook from the past 30 years revealed some interesting things. The same occurred when I reached out to all of my bluegill angler friends. A large tackle box is not required.

Slip bobbers are a must. With a slip bobber, you can fish spawning beds, fish suspended 20 feet down, or for fish creating rings on the surface. You need to balance a slip float. Add enough sinker weight so that 60 percent or more of the float is underwater. Thill and Stans offer floats with the designed weight painted on the float.

As adults and early in our stages of bluegill fishing, we fell in love with glow-in-the-dark teardrops. To this day, decades later, this is the only lure that some of my friends use. Year-round, glow-in-the-dark teardrops. I often say that if it doesn’t glow, it doesn’t go! 

Then I fell in love with foam spiders. I would fish these flies on the surface for spawning fish, then down deep on a tight-line rig. I added the Bully-style foam spider. This spider slowly sinks and is deadly for suspended fish along a weed line or over deep water during the heat of summer.

Spiders are not just a springtime fling. We use them from ice-out until freeze-over. From the surface down to the bottom in 30 feet of water, they work. Try some glow or UV legs.

Perch Pounder-style rigs became very popular with us over the past seven years. After much use, we determined that a size 8 hook will land us triple the fish as a size 6.

You can also buy Sabiki Rigs with a size 10 hook. These rigs really work, and feature both a glow-in-the-dark bead egg and use fish skin and Flashabou. Instead of using a sinker on a tight rig, use the Hali jigging spoon. 

Whenever we are fishing for suspended or bottom-hugging fish with a tightline presentation, we use the Hali instead of a sinker. They make a huge difference. 

I met Denny maybe ten years ago, and he got me started using mini-‘crawler harness rigs. You can cast mini-worm harness rigs, or do like Denny and troll. Denny starts trolling once the ice moves out and continues deep into November.

Trolling spinners is fun, a fairly lazy way to go, and productive. Early in the season, a split shot might suffice; but later in summer, use a drop shot or pencil weight a few feet in front of the spinner.

The last bait we’ve had success with is the Charlie Brewer 1-inch grub, or the Stopper Lures Whip R Snap. Both of these plastic baits cast well. Casting plastics, flies, or bully spiders for suspended fish is what I enjoy the most. There is something special about fishing a weed line or a suspended school of fish with a rod in hand.

Letting the lure sink down to the level of the fish and just slightly popping it back is both exciting and fun. Try this on a light rod. We use a 3-weight fly rod with a spinning reel.

With six rods spaced out across the front of the boat, my buddy and I bundled up, looking like we were prepared for a walk to the North Pole. We were fishing ice-out crappie with a technique called spider trolling.

Crawling along at .3mph, rod tips all set just inches from the water surface, we cruised back bays and shallow waters. Most of the hits were indicated either the line moving sideways or the rod tip rising an inch or two. Crappies feed upwards; keep that in mind.

On other ice-out, early-spring days, you might find us staring at a slip float, fishing some warm channel, cove, or backwaters that warm up fairly quickly. Our best locations would be home to muskrats and turtles.

Some days, our lines almost reached the shore. Crappies were feeding on minnows and smaller insects, all in the warmer parts of the lake. The northeast side of the lake usually warms up faster than the main lake.

By the first of May, we will be counting down the fall rate of our small jigs while casting to cabbage weeds, pencil reeds, and maybe some wood, be it stumps, logs on the bottom of the lake, or flooded brush.

There’s nothing quite like the light tap-tap-tap of a crappie inhaling a jig rigged with my favorite plastic body.

In any scenario, the lures that we use are just basic tools of the trade. Finally, after years of accumulating stuff, I only use a few select baits throughout the season. So, I downsized my tackle box, focused on the styles and patterns that I enjoy, and caught more fish.

At ice-out, a jig and minnow combination is just plain deadly. We use either the marabou/pinky-style jig or a jig with rubber legs. We  tip the jig with a minnow and fish it under a slip float. This setup works from a foot of water to suspended fish at 20 feet.

All season, suspended fish fall for this rig, and starting in late October, it’s once again the best rig going. Marabou or the Pinky-style jigs work best during cold-water periods.

Slip floats should be a part of any angler’s arsenal, regardless of the species. They can be fished under any situation, all season long. On days with some breeze, cast on an angle upwind, and let the wind provide your action and movement.

Charlie Brewer Crappie Grubs are hands-down my favorite plastic baits. With decades of record keeping, there has not been one year in which the Brewer Crappie Grub has not come out on top.

This lure looks like a minnow when you reel it in. The slim paddle tail moves with almost no effort. We mostly use chartreuse, yellow, or light blue with chartreuse tails. That covers our top colors.

Action tails along the lines of the Mister Twister battle a close second to the Brewer Grub. The Brewer’s tail excels in the spring and fall and holds its own during the summer. The Twister-style tail excels from the peak of the spawning season until late September.

Jigheads in the 1/32-, 1/16-, and 1/8-ounce sizes are best. We use Brewer crappie jig heads nearly 100 percent of the time. The wide gap of the hook ensures a good hookset, and the plastic can be rigged weedless or with the hook point exposed. It will slide over and through weeds without hanging up.

There is one additional lure to mention, which broadens our approach: the Road Runner/pony-head-style, jig-spinner combination. Picture a standard jig head with a small spinner blade, offering a new tactic.

We purchase jigheads without any marabou or plastic. This way, we can add the plastics of our choice. We throw the spinner with a plastic tail when the fish are really active, stacked in the weeds, or in dingy or muddy colored water.

This year, I plan on giving Tube Jigs and an honest effort. 

Using just a few select lures and an organized tackle box makes crappie fishing simpler and more successful. Keep your panfishing trips simple and without excess clutter.