we have had good luck fishing about 6 1/2 to 7 feet edge of the weeds !!!!!son in law was at the front of his 20' pontoon boat and hammered the gills and caught a good bunch of crappie--i fished the back of the boat and hammered the 10 to 11 1/2" crappie and only caught a few gills---funny how that works out !!!!