Went out fishin this weekend and noticed the same thing, Gills in tight to the rocks. Not sure how many we caught but it was a bunch. Did pick up a limit of crappie on Saturday morning, three of us fishing. All where males. Caught some other crappie Friday thru tuesday but didn't keep any of them. A guy could catch as many 6-8" crappie as you wanted but we only caught about a dozen or so 11-12 inchers Friday, Sunday-Tuesday. All released except for the ones we caught on Saturday. The ones on Saturday where between 10 - 12". Fished on 4 different lakes thru them days.