Crappie disappearing act. Where did they go?

Tried a lake last Sunday that was very clear, fish were stacked in 24′ got my share but wanted to catch and release, boy they were just gone. I usually fish lakes that are a lot darker in those lakes when it gets to be mid day and they dissapear they go down in the column or push deeper. Found some nice isolated weed humps in 20′ are they more likely to push into weeds on a clear system? Thanks

If the sun was out and the sky clear, they likely hit the weeds for some shade.

We fished the river yesterday and we fund crappies quite shallow 4 feet down in 11 feet of water] until about 8AM, then they shut down when the sun hit the water. We picked a couple more up about 12 feet down in 17 foot water after we shifted a little. Still, when the sun hit the water the crappie game was basically over.

Still fishing that 17 foot water we hammered sunfish and could have easily taken a two person limit of sunnies in the 9″ to 10″ range. It was basically a fish on every drop. The largest sunnies were down at about 14 feet, while sunnies galore were scattered thru the 8′ to 12 foot water.

Small lipless baits did the damage from about 7:30 AM until about 9, when we switch to casting for bass. From about 6AM until that 7:30ish time frame, plastics ruled. The amazing thing was that whatever bait you had on, it had to be sitting motionless to get hit and the hits were nice, solid hits.

Look down the topics list to the “crappies were clicking today thread to see what we used.

Got a 10 incher in 18 ft , but believe it hit 5 ft down . Only one !

Thanks JJ-thinking those weeds on the north side of the lake might be a good ice spot too-you got me thinking about ‘gills too!