Well, when the stars align, the stars align. Pete called me at 6 bells and said he had the crappies figured out, wife came home earlier than expected, was able to get ahold of Pete(already on the lake), dug out panfish rods and tackle, scored big time when a guy (which I say “thanks” to, by the way)dumped out his minnows by the boat landing in the dirt and I just happened to have a brand new minnow bucket in the car. Pete pulled up in his rig and promptly asked me what I was doing as I was digging minnows out of the dirt–and it ended up being a minnow bite! (We originally wanted to drag jigs, but seemed water temp still not there and fish not willing to chase.).
Basically, and I have to give all the credit to Pete, we targeted the fish in approx. 9 FOW in open water adjacent to a spawning area. Since crappies are more than willing to suspend (using the surface as an edge, they will chase minnows against the surface-much like whitebass will do), so even though it would be considered deep water for this area, we were only fishing 2-3 feet down. Bites were EXTREMELY light, with the bobber merely tipping or moving laterally. This is typical of the time of year, with water temps in the mid 50’s the fish are not always going to wack the bait like they will in 2 weeks.
Our rigs were kept simple: 4 lb test #8 aberdeen hook and fixed float fished 2-3 feet down.
Conservatively, 25-35 fish were caught in approx. 45 min., it did get to the point of not being able to fish with two poles, since the bites were so light and if not constantly monitoring your rod, you’d get bit and the fish would be gone before you knew it.
Best thing was, when the boats started leavin, the fish started hittin’. This bite could have gone on well into the night, but did get to the point of not being able to see your bobber and hooking minnows was very problematic-as my pricked fingers can attest. 
Next trip, lighted bobbers and headlamps!
See you on the water!
Doc
Woohooo…love to see the 
