Your experience is exactly why we like crappie fishing from late Sept. till Oct. One other option which we will do some this summer is fish from 5:00 AM till about noon. I have yet to see the pleasure boaters crowd the ramp at 5:00 on a Sat. morning!! The morning bite is usually the best time of the day and the older I get, the less I can take the heat. My Father went to Harris last Friday and even then there were a bunch of pleasure boaters out there. They found some coves and ended up with a good amount of fish, but like you, the constant waves ran the fish off the main water.