First are those suspended fish really crappie?
When I'm fishing for suspended crappie over open water I locate a school of suspended fish and try to catch a few. I use side imaging sonar which is great for this approach. I have found that crappie are pretty quick to take a bait. If I fish a school of suspended fish and do not get hits I presume they are not crappie and move on.
I do mark the school with a buoy to make sure I casting to the area where the school was detected. In big water it is easy to miss suspended fish without something to orientate to.
I also use shiners or small minnows at times. I catch more crappie and perch on shiners than jigs but will switch to jigs when I'm sure I'm on a school of crappie.
