Thanks for the tips, skewl. 

fisherfanatic, there in michigan the crappy should be hitting minnows of points, the deep edge of weedlines or suspended in deep holes. they should be putting on their fall feed bag getting ready for the winter. i've been doing pretty good on a causeway crossing over 1 of the lakes here in ohio. most of my crappy have been coming under or near the bridge opening that allows boats to get under the road way

I'll try that mr. bill.   Most of the bodies of water I fish are not exactly Crappie honey holes.  They have an abundance of structure, but not an abundance of Crappie.  There are some water bodies, however, that have an abundance of Crappie and once you find a school you can catch one after another!
Unfortunately, this year the "switch" doesn't seem to have been flipped yet for the waters I fish.   Once it gets flipped, I'm sure I'll get some!

For some reason, crappie fishing tends to be cyclical in nature and any given lake will have ups and downs. Sometimes a nearby lake will be on a different cycle and changing lakes will improve your catch. Our weather here in the Chicago area is just turning cooler and the bite is picking up every day! Tom

For one particular lake I fish, the Crappie population was up two or three years ago, but now the population has decreased significantly.

I fish a lake in Oregon, Brownlee Res and it seems that the crappie population never decresses. It is a no limit body of water and it is not uncommon to catch 2 to 3 hundred a day. I don't quite understand how it holds the populatin at a constant level. It has been this way for many,many years. Last year 4 of us caught more than a 1000 crappie in four days of course we didn't keep that many, but I kept enough to last thru the winter. It seems there are so many carppie you can't help not catching them. I wish I didn't have to drive 12 hours to get there. The absalute best crappie fishing I have ever done.

Harry