Anglers needn't put fishing plans into the deep freeze because it's January and there's little or no ice.

With weather conditions ranging all over the map, hard water die-hards like Mike Kuna of the Keystone Crappie Association say it pays to be open-minded about open water.

"Winter fishing is a little more of a challenge than in spring when fish are putting on the feedbag," he said. "On the other hand, fish haven't been heavily pressured [this time of year]. It's just a matter of finding them and offering them what they want."

Kuna, of McCandless, is an admitted ice-fishing fanatic. He and his cousin Bob Griffith of Vandergrift were the only Pennsylvanians to fish in the Ice Team Championship in Minnesota last month, where they placed 29th in a field of 62.

Kuna says they target crappies any chance they get. So sold are they on the popular sunfish - a cousin to the smallmouth and largemouth bass - they founded the Keystone Crappie Association as a way to introduce others, including novice anglers, to their favorite species.

"Crappies are a good fish to get somebody started on, because once you find them, there's steady action," said Kuna. "And it's a lot easier than learning to fish for bass."

In winter, whether fishing through ice or from a boat, Kuna goes to the same spots that were productive in warmer months.

"Crappies will be relating to structure or, if there's none to speak of, they'll be around any sort of deviation, like a depression, instead of sitting on flats," he said.

"There are brush piles at Lake Arthur that I pull fish off no matter whether it's the spring spawn or I'm drilling holes through the ice."

The cold water, however, affects their metabolism.

"What makes it tougher in winter is they're more lethargic, not real motivated to move around much," said Kuna. "They're eating a lot of zooplankton. If you drop a camera down to look, you'll see little white specks floating in the water."

Crappies, like most fish, are opportunistic and will feed on whatever forage is available, said the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission's chief warm-water biologist Bob Lorantas.

"Structure, like brush piles, attracts baitfish when aquatic vegetation is gone from the lake and there's nowhere else for prey to hide," he said.

"Prey organisms, like snails, live on structure. Underwater springs are another place you'll find baitfish, because of the influx of warmer water." (Avoid springs when ice-fishing because they undermine frozen surfaces.)

White and black crappies are close cousins and equally coveted, although white crappies tend to inhabit more murky waters such as Pymatuning Lake. Black crappies are more prevalent in clear-water reservoirs and impoundments such as the Army Corps of Engineers' 1,730-acre Joseph Foster Sayers Lake, located in Bald Eagle State Park.

"White crappies tend to grow bigger faster, perhaps because of the higher productivity of turbid waters," Lorantas said. "They also can be found in the slow-moving pools of rivers like the Monongahela."

Sugar Lake, a tiny, 10-horsepower glacial lake in Crawford County, has some of the region's highest quality crappies, according to a recent survey by the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission.

"The growth rates in our survey last spring showed much bigger sizes than 10 years ago," said the commission's northeastern area biologist Al Woomer. "Predation by bass and muskies has helped keep the numbers down, so the crappies are growing to 10 and 11 inches pretty fast. That's what happens in a really high quality crappie fishery."

Kuna fishes light tackle almost exclusively, both on open water and through the ice, using 8-pound test braided line or 2- to 4-pound test monofilament and a maggot-tipped Mini Foo or maribou jig, or a dropper with a small fly.

"Fur or hackle usually slows the fall, which is what you want in cold water," Kuna said.

"Crappies are pretty good at catching a jig on the drop. How you present your bait and the color and so forth is usually a matter of experimentation."

Slow and small are the keys to wintertime presentation.

"Most fishing is about matching the hatch, which involves trial and error," said Lorantas.

"The other approach is attractor patterns. Ice fishermen and other winter fishermen will find them effective because water is typically clear and unobstructed by vegetation."

In any case, he said, location is critical because crappies tend to school.

"They're not loners," he said.