Absolutely. hooked up two or three fish a day for five days. the guides knew just where to go.

Several years ago, a group of eight of us from Arizona went to Costa Rica to fish for tarpon on the Rio Colorado (Atlantic side). We took a small plane from the airport in San Jose and flew at tree top level to Archie Field's lodge, carved out of the dense jungle. When we pulled up to lodge, there was a huge sign on top of the roof "Bow to the King". To calm our concerns, they immediately told us it just meant to lower your rod tip if the "King" leaps from the water, to lessen the slack if they spit the hook, an 8-inch white and red pencil popper with three trebles. You definitely didn't want that coming back at you at 100 MPH.
Side note: At the time, Noriega was running Nicaragua and there were machine gun embankments all along the river, manned by teenage boys in oversized American military clothes. Thankfully the guides knew them all and we got free passage.

if you google slip bobber rigs there are a number of variations, but the simplest one has a slip bobber, a bead, a stopper, and a hook. you can put some weight above the hook, but not necessary if bait and hook are heavy enough to pull the line through the bobber.

use a slip bobber rig to get your bait close to the bottom, but not into the rocks. you will probably have to make a few test casts to get the bait where you want it. your bait and hook must weigh enough to pull the line through the bobber. I've used this method off the pier in Santa Cruz, CA, using a huge bobber and the bait fish caught on Sabiki's at the pier. I've used double hook set up as well, with squid as second bait.
CAVEAT: wind and current can be a major force to reckon with if using bobbers, big or small. Again, it may take a few casts to determine how much movement there will be from the original splash point.

https://www.fishusa.com/Wordens-Wobble-Glo

in addition to live worms, we used these when fishing the Colorado River at Marble Canyon in far north Arizona. used both orange and pink with a small treble hook behind it.
to get best action, use a lead weight (we used lead line from a spool-about an eighth of an inch in diameter- with surgical tubing to keep the weight on the line, and would just cut the length of the lead to fit the current) (also split shot) so that it "bounced" along the bottom rather than sunk into the rocks. when you do it right, you can feel it bouncing so that it rarely gets deep enough into the rocks to get hung up. if it does, just cut back on the lead line or use a slightly lighter split shot. also helps to do a very flat cast (sidearm) so that the lure always stayed ahead (downstream) of the weight.
in the alternative, if the depth of the water is steady, you can use a slip bobber adjusted to depth and current.

good buddy just got back from there. caught tons of fish. drum, sea trout, etc.

use a zig zag pattern as you troll. that will raise and lower the lure for better action.

Dixieland Jazz.

yeah-sorry about that. I thought I was only replying to the one post. that said, Geaux Tigers!

In Arizona:
for crank baits my go-to was the Rapala "Fat Rap". it outfished every thing else 10 to one.
we captured a one pound bass years ago and put it in a big aquarium all by itself. we fed it worms (Canadian crawlers), minnows, salamanders (waterdogs), and crawdads. they definitely preferred the crawdads and would eat them until it couldn't hold any more in its mouth. dont know if its the same everywhere, but in AZ lakes, anything that mimics the "scooting" action or foraging of a crawdad works. usually in the shallower bumpy bottom water where the crawdads live and eat.

I was born in Baton Rouge when my dad was student at LSU on the GI bill. We moved to Florida when I was about 6 or 7, so my memories are from that age, but I will never forget seeing the live tiger and hearing my dad cheer on the "Chinese Bandits", which I think was the nickname for their defense. Also remember the Billy Cannon days after we moved to Arizona and listened to the games on my dad's shortwave radio from a hilltop outside Casa Grande. My bayou bengals are suffering a little lately, but I'm sure some day soon "they'll be having big fun on the bayou".

my father-in-law taught me a neat method. at night you capture minnows by floating a light on top of the water. when they come to the light, use a small mesh net to put them in a floating bait saver that keeps them alive.

when it's time to fish (2 lb. test), hook them up 5 feet or so below the bobber (slip bobber).

100% capture rate if the crappie are in the area. keep the crappie alive if possible because I've been told it's always best to eat fish within an hour of their heart stoppage.

IYDM, can you please fill us in on the details? where, what lures/bait/method of trolling (zigzag, shore parallel, etc.)

It's a toss up for me, but fresh crappie beats out stream or lake trout, smallmouth bass, walleye, and largemouth bass, assuming all are eaten within an hour of fish's heart beat stoppage. The ambience at the eating site is a major consideration. For crappie, that usually means a lakeside campfire or cabin, both of which enhance the taste.

we had to squeeze lemin juice and load up our Mrs. Paul's fish sticks with tartar sauce back in the day. But now, I agree totally. If the fish is relatively fresh (i.e. kept alive until about an hour before cooking), with a sprinkle of any seasoning, (a dash of lemon/malt vinegar, etc.) the natural oils in the flesh will still be there and that's are all the taste you need, INMO. I also dont use mint jelly with good lamb, or catchup (or A1 or Heinz 57, etc.) on a good steak.

get a second pole, a long one, and hook up a Sabiki rig to catch bait fish around the pier. hook one of the bait fish onto the the Ugly Stik-15 lb line should be plenty-using a sinker with the bait about 18 inches above it. sinker has to be heavy enough to stay on bottom. All kinds of stuff works on piers. check out what the others are using and join in the fun. live bait is best, but shrimp, anchovy, squid, etc. also common. I used some "gulp" strips recently and was surprised that it worked pretty good. almost everybody "bottom" fishes off the piers, so cast out as far as possible, tighten the line and wait for the action.