Crappie on crankbaits

I hadn't fished one of the local lakes in a few months, so I tried it again on Saturday. Got a late start (8:30 a.m.), but the fish weren't going anywhere. In paddling across a main arm of the lake, I noticed most of the fish on the depthfinder were holding less than 10 feet of water. I set my lines to run crankbaits the same depth I'd been catching on another lake, at 10 feet or below, then paddled a mile without a single strike. There was a boat running down the channel, so I slowed down, which caused my crankbaits to run shallower. Immediately, I caught a crappie on one line and missed another on the second line, which told me I was either running too fast or the lures were too deep. I shortened my lines, slowed down, and started getting bit regularly. I ended up catching 39 crappie, 3 bream, and a few junior bass. I also probably missed around 15 strikes. They wanted the shad color when the sun was out and flashy purple/pink when there was cloud cover. None of the crappie were over 11 inches, so I didn't even break out the bump board. Being forced to pay attention and believe what my electronics were showing me helped me adapt and start catching.

Jim