I think it depends on your lake and what cover you have in the shallows, the fronts that may be locating the bait. The crappie will be following the bait fish. if you have shallow lay-downs or huts, they will go to that, Boat docks they will migrate to that. You have to remember that the crappie are not coming to the shallows to spawn at this time, their primary reason is to eat bait fish. Contrary to popular belief they don't fatten up for the winter. No animal can go 5 to 7 months without eating (except maybe a bear).The crappie will just eat less when the water temp. cools. They are simply moving with the bait. So goes the bait, so goes the crappie. I would start looking at the first cover in 5 to 10 feet then move to shallow docks, wood, or grass. once you locate them you have to stay on them. they will move a lot at this time. Don't forget to check the 15' to 25' areas also.
I hope this helps, This is just what I would do because the lake I fish has a lot of different shallow cover.
Darin
Last edited by crappyman; 10-03-2009 at 04:37 PM.
Keep some for the pan, let the larger ones go back for another day!
Tight Lines!
~Big D