Crappie are like other predator fish. They will suspend and eat bait grouped in balls and the crappie school to feed on them. The crappie have eyes that naturally look forward and up while standing still. They hang below or to the sides of these bait balls. Never above as they don't look down without putting the tails in an up postion which is unnatural. On occasion there will be no bait balls and the crappie will forage a bit when hungry and they "tail" by swimming in a "head down" maneuver to pick at the bottom bait. They don't normally do this but will when there are no bait balls to feed them when they are really hungry. They only forage the bottom if no bait. That is the reason there mouths are so thin. They do not spend lots of time picking at rocks and debris toughening up their mouths like drum or catfish. They tend to like the bait coming to them rather than feed off the bottom.