in the winter months I usually find them suspended, I fish two crappie spots, one is 40ft deep and the other is about 18ft deep. In the 40ft spot I find more fish suspended in the 15-20ft of water, but as I move shallower I find that the fish holding in 18ft spots are hugging the same depth range of 15-18ft.. make sense?
dont leave out the shallows and weed beds, you will still find some crappies there as well