It's February. I'm cold and thinking about how much money Valentine's Day is going to cost me. But there is hope on the horizon; the little red-and-white bobber at the end of my fishing line just bobbled, a sure sign that a hungry crappie has discovered a live minnow suspended about 23 feet below the water's surface

My cooler is already holding several fat Lake Conroe crappie, and with a few more will be enough for a family fish fry. Believe it or not, February is one of the best months to catch crappie in Texas -- and Lake Conroe, between Houston and Huntsville, has been a top producer of crappie for years. In fact, I've been fishing this particular lake since it filled up in 1973.

Conroe covers 20,118 acres and is located on the West Fork of the San Jacinto River in Montgomery and Walker counties. When the lake first filled, a high school buddy and I fished there virtually every weekend. Fortunately for us, his grandparents had a house on the lake.

We fished from a 14-foot johnboat powered with a small Mercury outboard. Our only problem was generating enough money to buy live minnows from a local marina. During the cold-water months of January and February, you could find us soaking minnows under the FM 1097 bridge, at just about the middle of the lake. The many pilings attracted lots of crappie, and still do.

Our classic tactic was to rig up and fish live minnows under a slip-float. It's still a very good way to catch crappie under the 1097 bridge. If you're a crappie-fishing junkie like me, you know these fish will hold at very specific depths. Once you determine that depth, it's important to fish in that exact zone. A few inches one way or the other can make a big difference.

A slip-float can be rigged to fish at specific depths. What I like to do is use a Bobber Stopper. It can be slipped onto your line and reeled up on the spool. When placed 20 feet up the line, you simply feed out line until the Bobber Stopper hits the float. Then you know you're fishing at the right depth on every drop. Another option is to use a small piece of a rubber band about 1/4-inch long. Use a slip-knot to attach it to the line.

Lake Conroe guide Butch Terpe has been putting anglers on crappie since 1988. During the warm water months, Terpe will be using live minnows over brush to catch plenty of crappie. But during the winter months, he'll use both minnows and jigs to catch black and white crappie under the 1097 bridge, and over brush in water that's 20 to 30 feet deep.

'You never know what depth crappie are going to be feeding,' says Terpe. 'But during the winter months, especially February, they will most likely be holding tight to structure in 20 to 30 feet of water. When I'm fishing around the concrete pilings during February, I'll start with a live minnow at about 20 feet and work my way down. Once I locate them, I can switch to jigs and save the live minnows for another spot.'