By no measure would I claim to be an expert on fishing for crappies, but I have been enjoying a pretty good catch rate this spring.

The majority of my fishing excursions are for other species, including my favorite largemouth and smallmouth bass. But crappies are a reliable fall-back when the other fish are not in the mood.

Crappies thrive in Mosquito, Pymatuning, Milton, Berlin, Shenango and other reservoirs in northeastern Ohio and western Pennsylvania. Their populations are healthy and their appetites are big, which makes them a favorite of anglers here in our region and across the country.

They also are not particularly difficult to tease into biting. All we have to do is find their schools.

Locating crappies has been easier in recent years with the arrival of new technology that enables anglers to direct their sonar out in front of their boats. With a bit of practice, anglers can identify schools of baitfish and predators lurking around them.

During several fishing trips this spring, crappies have saved the day for me. The largemouth bass I was targeting seemed to develop lockjaw, so I started scanning the deeper flats for signs of life.

On the screen of my Lowrance Eagle Eye 9, I saw clouds of baitfish and identified the location of crappies that appeared as larger “blips” on the screen. Today’s forward-facing sonar displays in real time, which means I can see the crappies swimming through, over and under the baitfish schools.

The sonar beam reaches out 70 feet and the angler can direct the beam by pointing the transducer and scanning the water column.

Finding the fish is half of the battle. Then it’s up to the angler to trick them into biting.

I don’t stock up on live bait for my fishing trips, as I prefer artificial lures for sport and convenience. I do not rely on minnows, which every crappie angler knows are like candy to crappies.

Instead, when I switch gears from bass to crappie fishing, I bring out light spinning outfits spooled with 8-pound-test fluorocarbon. On the business end, I tie an eighth-ounce jig on which I thread a 3-inch Rapala Crush City Mooch Minnow.

That’s an impressive name for such a humble little bait, but it certainly looms large in my choice of finesse tactics for crappies. The Mooch Minnow also has accounted for some impressive catches of largemouth and smallmouth bass, as well as some dandy walleyes.

In most of our area reservoirs by mid-June, the crappies are off shore in 5 to 8 feet of water and relating to schools of small baitfish. They often mix in with largemouths, bluegills, white bass and white perch.

Like I noted up top, I’m not a crappie expert, but I continue to learn. It is very helpful to have modern sonar technology and some very effective lures to help me zero in on active fish and salvage those trips when the bass are not willing to cooperate.

Jack Wollitz has written this column weekly since 1988. His new book, “The Common Golfer,’ is available at www.tuckerdspress.com. Contact him at jackbbaass@gmail.com.