Winter time can be a tough time to fish period. Its mostly a battle just to mentally get out of the nice warmth of home and go sit in the wind and weather. Once you get out though it seems to get much easier with the prospect of actually catching fish. Crappie are still active in the cold, the bite seems to be lighter but they will still bite and you can still put them in the boat. They seem to slow down significantly when the water temperatures drop and like a very slow presentation which makes slow trolling quite an effective way to catch them. 
The crappie tend to group up in the cold and if you catch one you tend to catch several in the same spot. Sometimes they like a smaller bait and almost always a slower presentation. They tend to follow the water temperature changes pretty readily when the water is shallow and the surface warms. They go from deep early to shallow if the sun beats down on the water and warms it during the heat of the day. It seems in the winter they can focus on a single color or color combination with more intensity than at other times of year as well.
Crappie in winter are a wonderful table fare, their fillets grow very firm and they make almost any fish recipe "pop" There are few fish that are equal in fresh water. The water I fish tends to hold quite a few yellow perch and bluegill as well which are both very tasty, but crappie are by far easier to fillet.
Proverbs 25:13
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