Nearly anyone can take a handful of crappies by haphazardly chucking a minnow and bobber to likely looking spots along the rocky dam or in areas where vegetation grows along the shoreline, but to consistently catch large fish the angler must use a more effective and productive method.

The micro-jig system is easy to learn, the equipment is standard and the hardest part is breaking old habits and giving the new system a chance.

The heart of the system is the micro jig itself, a tiny lure that weighs from 1/32nd to 1/124th-ounce. It may be made with a number of different types of dressings, ranging from marabou feathers to synthetic materials.

The micro-jig system calls for using a 5 ½ to 7-foot-long medium-heavy ultra-light rod with a fast-tip and an ultra-light, open-faced spinning reel spooled with 4-pound test monofilament line. The medium-heavy rod and its fast tip lets you feel light strikes while at the same time providing the strength to allow you to control large fish in submerged vegetation.

One of the most important advantages of using micro jigs is that when fished correctly they dont frighten wary crappies. The larger and heavier jigs used by most crappie fishermen splash noisily through the surface and fall so rapidly that all but the most aggressive fish tend to ignore them.

Startling the fish and trying to induce an automatic strike reaction with a fast- moving jig works when crappies are feeding aggressively, but at other times it is much more productive to finesse the fish with a smaller, lighter lure.

Micro jigs work because of their size and their slow-motion descent in the water. A large part of the crappies diet actually consists of zooplankton, aquatic insects and their larvae, small crustaceans and small minnows. Most of their prey is about an inch long or smaller.

Drop a micro jig in the water and it sinks ever-so-slowly, shimmying and listing from side-to-side as it settles towards the bottom in a seductive dance that fish find impossible to ignore.

During the spawn and other times when crappies are on the rocks are perfect times to fish micro jigs. If the fish are in shallow water along a rocky dam face and you are fishing from a boat, cast to the spot where the water and rocks meet, and let the lure sink and bounce down the rocks into deeper water, then retrieve it slowly by bouncing it along the bottom. The jig should be cast into inches-deep water along the rocks and retrieved at a semi- parallel angle to keep the jig bouncing down the rocky damface through potentially productive water as long as possible with each cast.

This technique is a radical departure from how most people are used to fishing the dam face. If they are in a boat, they cast a heavy jig into deep water in front of the rocks and retrieve it back across the bottom, or they jig it vertically in the deep water in front of the rocks, two techniques that place the lure in an area behind fish that are working shallower areas in the rocks.

Anglers on the dam should use a long rod and hop the lure down the rocks in front of them and dance it along the entire length of the dam face at various depths while maintaining complete control over the its location, action and speed, which is crucial to consistently taking fish. A long, ultra-light rod or a 10- or 12-foot-long cane pole works well.

Grassy areas in shallow-water along a rocky shoreline are a good spot to search for large crappie. Cast as close to the rocks as possible and let the jig sink as you move it by turning the reel handle very slowly, retrieving only five or six inches of line at a time. Pause, reel-in another few inches of line and pause again.

Crappies are hard to get to when they hide in submerged weedbeds. But because a micro jig falls so slowly, the fisherman has complete control over it and can make it swim just above the tips of the vegetation where the fish can see it but it wont hang up.

Nows a good time to get a few micro jigs and head for the lake. The weathers perfect for fishing and the crappie are active. The latest Game and Parks Commission outdoor report said some of the spots where anglers were taking crappie were Merritt Reservoir SRA near Valentine, Big Alkali Lake WMA near Valentine, Lake North near Columbus, Willow Creek SRA near Pierce, Medicine Creek SRA near Cambridge, Sherman Reservoir SRA near Loup City, and Harlan County Reservoir near Alma.

Before heading to the lake, you can purchase a 2004 Nebraska fishing permit and Aquatic Habitat Stamp online from the Nebraska Game and Parks Commissions web site at www.outdoornebraska.org, from a Game and Parks office, or any of some 900 permit vendors across the state. With a few exceptions, any angler 16 years old or older is required to have a Nebraska fishing permit to fish in Nebraska. The resident annual fishing permit costs $15, a nonresident annual fishing permit is $45, and the Aquatic Habitat Stamp, required by all residents and non residents, 18 years and older, is $5. Also, pick up a free copy of the 2004 Nebraska Fishing Guide, which has information about fishing regulations and public waters across the state. A vehicle park entry permit is required to enter state recreation areas.