As a rule of thumb, the best times to catch crappie are dawn and dusk. You’ll want to start fishing at dawn until about two hours after sunrise, then fish two hours before sunset until just after sunset. nnThere are a couple of reasons for this. The first is that crappie, like most fish, rest during the hottest hours of the day. You’ll find you won’t get a lot of action if you’re fishing in the middle of the afternoon - from crappie or much of anything else.nnThe second reason is that crappie excel at low-light hunting; they tend to be better at seeing in low-light conditions than their prey. This means they’re particularly active when the sun is just rising or setting.nnWhile the schedule described above is common for most of the year, things change when it’s cold outside. During the winter and even some of the spawning season, crappie will be most active in the afternoon, when it’s warmest outside.nnFor those of you who want a bit of an adventure, fishing for crappie at night can be very rewarding. You can use a light to attract crappie; they’re great low-light hunters but pretty terrible at hunting in the darkness.n