I'm surprised 57 lookers and no help

Ok i will try to give some suggestions

From my fall fishing crappie experiences some lakes tend to turn off until hardwater, for example i do well on Gun Lake until fall and i struggle so i go to different lakes that have a better late season bite

as far as fish high in the water column this sounds like you marking fish later in the afternoon when the water has warmed up and the crappie and bluegills tend to come up in warmer water. i've seen this many times even at times there sticking there top fins out of the water

Your going to have to move around until you find em, that's fishing

I had a old guy till me this year while fishing that "The fish are in here and there's land all around us so the cant go no were"


Good luck