I don't have a lot of experience fishing crappie but for bluegills its as simple as fishing comes! The reason that you will use a bobber is to keep the line above and out of things it could get snagged/tangled on near the bottom, and also an indicator for when something is biting your bait (when you see your bobber go down, "set the hook" meaning lightly pull the rod towards you). Depending on what kind of water you're fishing, that will determine how you need to set up the bobber. For pond fishing, putting a bobber a foot up from the hook will work perfectly. I would then set up a splitshot weight half way inbetween the bobber and the hook. Also, when you don't know the size of the fish in the pond it will sometimes be better to use the smallest possible hooks. At a local pond we have bluegill that are just 2-3 inches long, and if you're using a bigger hook they will continue to steal your bait. I recommend using these hooks (you can also find them at Walmart, Academy etc). When it comes to bait itself, I would recommend using canadian nightcrawlers (found at any Walmart) and cut them into the smallest piece possible.