That was good Leanin Post.

The tip about watching the depth of fish as you idle across the lake is a good one. I have usually done this and started on brushpiles in that depth of water with great success.

during the summer they stay in areas that they find comfortable and the amount of ultra violet light penetration has alot to do with this. many folks wrongfully believe that the upper 10 feet of water column is cooler in the morning and the fish are therefore suspended, but that is not the case, same as with docks, the water under a dock is no cooler than water exposed to the sun, the molecules in the water are continuously mixing and the lake water temp is relatively the same throughout the lake. you as a human feel cooler and yes you are cooler due to being blocked from the exposure of the sun, the uv light isnt as intense is why they are suspended shallower. If you dont believe this, then next time your out on the lake, hop out of your boat on the sunny side under a bridge, then swim thru the shaded side, you will see that the water temp is the same. or go swim near a boat dock. stick your legs or arms under the dock... you will not notice a difference in the temp.. crappie primarily do most of thier feeding at night, they leave places they are resting , school up, and roam the lake looking for schools of shad. at daybreak, they disperse into small schools and gather to rest in areas they find suitable, that usually has structure or cover for them to relate to. it gives them a sense of security. during daylight hours a tiny animal called daphnias, kind of drift around the lake by the millions, moving up and down in the water column, according to.... wait for it... YES the UV light penetration, and available plankton for them to feed on. Crappie and other fish eat these tiny animals, as go some baitfish. its all a big cycle, it starts with the plankton, and everything is trying to eat .dont get too caught up in tempertures. the only thing that matters temperture wise, is really not even the temp, but what occurs due to the temp, and that is the thermocline, which is an oxygen void zone that fish cannot survive in. usually when you launch your boat and start looking at your sonar, you will see a " life line" as you motor around the lake. this will be baitfish, plankton, gamefish, ect that seem to be inhabiting a certain water column, it may be a strip from 12 feet to 20 feet. it may be from the surface down to 10 feet. it may be right on the bottom. once you find out where this " life line" is , you will notice that most of the lake is like this, I believe what it is, is the plankton, daphnia, baitfish, gamefish find it comfortable to them at that specific depth, because of the factors mentioned above. once you locate this life line, it is a good place to start fishing. you atl least know that there are fish where you are fishing, and that is a mandatory prerequisite in the puzzle.

Water conduction and molecules mixing all make sense until I get to thinking about the water temperature difference at the thermocline. Spent may hours diving in fresh water and what we always described as the thermocline would have a very distinct temperature difference 10-15 degrees drop at a very specific depth. Get down to that exact depth and the water was always much colder. Sometimes in the middle of the summer you could go down another 20-30 feet and find another "thermocline". Was always puzzled as to why the water temps didn't mix. So water conduction and molecules mixing didn't seem to happen at these depths.