Terpe says that during February the water temperature on Conroe will be in the 50s. And that can cause the crappie to be a bit sluggish.

'It can be a very soft bite, so you have to use ultralight tackle and be on point at all times,' says Terpe. 'I'll usually use 8-pound-test line with both jigs and live minnows.'

Terpe has developed what he calls a drop shot rig for crappie. He ties on a 1/2-ounce teardrop sinker to the end of his line. About 18 inches up the line he'll tie on a 1/0 gold Aberdeen hook with a loop knot. The weight is used to get the minnow down to where crappie are feeding. He'll hook a minnow through the bottom lip to the top so it will live longer and wiggle more.

When jigging, he prefers a white marabou jig fished about 12 inches below a split shot. He'll use just enough weight to get the jig down to the crappie.

'You want to fish the jigs on a tight line with enough action to fool sluggish crappie,' advised Terpe. 'You can't feel the bite on a loose line.'

Terpe also says that not all pilings are the same. Some seem to always attract crappie. Those are the ones you want to fish. Some anglers sink brush around pilings. That's why Terpe uses a depthfinder to scope out what's been sunk around pilings.

'I've got a lot of brushpiles on the lake,' he said. 'A few are around pilings at the bridge, but most are along the San Jacinto River channel. The best producers during the cold water months are in 20 to 30 feet of water at bends in the channel.'

You can use all sorts of brush to attract crappie. But Terpe says his best brushpiles are a combination of yaupon, oak and sweet gum.

'Willows are good, but they can be tough to find at times,' says Terpe. 'I see a lot of fishermen sinking Christmas trees, but they are difficult to sink and keep in one spot. Plus they are sappy and lose their needles. Yaupons are easy to sink and provide lots of structure. I'll freshen up my brushpiles quite often. To keep crappie on the brush you've got to maintain them. It takes a lot of work to build up numbers of brushpiles, but once you have them going, the fishing is worth the effort.

It's important to have multiple areas to fish for crappie. The 1097 bridge pilings are a winter favorite. And there are lots to fish. As Terpe says, you never know where crappie are going to be from one day to the next. That's why it's important to move around a lot until you find the hot hole. But if your favorite hole doesn't give up any crappie, it's best to hit it at different times of day.

'Some spots will always hold crappie,' says Terpe. 'But they won't always be feeding. That's why it's best to hit your hotspots at different times of the day. You never know when they are going to turn on. And there are days when live minnows rule. I often use them to get crappie to feeding, then switch over to jigs. When they slow up on jigs, I'll go back to minnows.'