okay thank you @CrappiePappy. All of that makes sense, AND is very helpful.

The weather has been all over the place, warm one day, cooler the next. Some nights in low 40's° and wind, lots of wind. Lake level has fluctuated up and down by a foot or two, and last weeks rain really muddied it up, surprisingly so.
All that multiple times in each week for the past month or more. I have kept a few and the occasional female still had eggs so they have not spawned out yet.

I do think I've gotten too close occasionally, at the low angle in a kayak it's difficult to judge how far underwater the brush extends. That plus catching one, and the invariable hang-ups has made me wonder if I'm spooking them out of the area.
And about that...

I was going to ask if anyone uses weedless jig heads and 1. Are they really effective in avoiding hang-ups? and, 2. Do they reduce hook set percentage? You've answered the first question though like everything else, I'd suspect there are varying opinions. I'm going to guess that a mono weed guard is better than a springy steel one?

Another question: Old deadfall trees that have little left other than large limbs and the trunk vs. newer deadfalls with lots of thick, tiny interlocking branches.... seems I'm catching more in the really thick stuff and I assume that would be because there is likely more small minnows hiding in that stuff. Does that make sense or do the crappie just like it better in the really thick stuff?