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I believe the white crappies are spawning deeper than the blacks I usually catch up on the bank.
This lake has a lot of blown down trees on really steep drop off shorelines. I think I was marking crappies about 8 feet down.
Trying to get to tips and ideas on how to target spawning fish in the 8' depth range holding close to structure. What's some strategies to try?
Yes, generally speaking the Whites do spawn a little deeper than the Blacks.
What I would do in that situation is cast weedless jigs/plastics to the laydowns .... hitting the water just beside where the tree trunk enters the water and work it down the side of the trunk & over any large limbs, all the way out to the drop off or top of the tree (if the tree doesn't extend into water deeper than 10ft deep). I might even start by casting a Road Runner over the mid section of water over the laydown, just to see if the fish are feeding & not actively engaged in spawning. I wouldn't run the Road Runner any deeper than 4ft.
Those laydowns may very well be the spawning bed sites, given there's no other more suitable place nearby. I'd cast if the water is clear to moderately stained, and probably vertical jig or Vertical Cast the trees if the water were heavily stained to murky.
Vertical Cast explained here: Crappie Pappy Article
Size, style, weight, colors of the jig/plastics is personal choice, but I do suggest the plastics have contrasting colors on body & tail. Stinger Shad style plastics should work fine, but in more stained/murky waters you might consider a boot tail style plastics.