I would call some of the crappie guides down here (ky lake) and ask about it - they should give you some honest opinions. People that really know what they are doing down here can get into them year round. Dave Stewart has posted the names of some good crappie guides before on here - I don't remember their names. I never have much luck here on crappie - but I fish almost exclusively for bass. I try catching crappie, but start throwing a jig n' pig about ten minutes into crappie fishing. There is no way I could resist throwing a jerk bait in early march. I fished a BFL last year march 15th, and the guy I was paired up with was throwing a small jerkbait and caught two of the biggest crappie I have ever seen. So you can at least convince yourself you are fishing for crappie.