Just an update for you all. I fished one of the lakes I was referring to in my original post, and searched the deepest part of the lake for crappies. I found them! This was the biggest one of the day - a 14" personal best. Thanks for the advice!

You guys need to watch you tube about this topic. Several good ones out!

Trouter - I've very rarely ever seen suspended fish on my Vexilar either. That's one of the reasons I've been so hesitant to start swiss cheesing the basins of these lakes - it seems like trying to find a needle in a haystack and very likely a fruitless proposition. But, maybe the reason I haven't found suspended fish is because I'm hesitant to look in areas they're likely to be suspended!

I seek out suspended fish.  Sometimes they are in the deepest hole.  Sometimes there on the deeper side of a step bank.  Where maybe 15 yards away they'd be on bottom due to slope.  Suspended fish almost always bite better.  My best depth for finding suspended fish is 20-25 feet, in a spot it drops quickly from shallower water.  

I seldom mark fish more than a foot off the bottom.  I read about suspended fish, but I never, or almost never see such a thing on my vexilar.

If the lake bottoms out at 40 feet, I fish at around 15 feet.   Right off the bottom.    

Trouter - I assume you mean over the basin (in 40+ FOW) but fishing 15 feet down in the water column? 

I exclusively fish lakes less than 50 acres that bottom out at 40 feet.

I focus on the first dropoff, which is around 25 feet for me.  

The other spot is in a basin at around 15 feet.  

Just my 2 cents.

I would guess both those lakes should have a basin bite, the lakes with weedline oriented bites year round tend to have super deep holes pushing 70+ feet around here. It definitely pays to get out with a buddy if you can! Something I don't do enough of but you can break down a basin in a fraction of the time with one guy drilling and one guy checking holes. By the time you're done drilling a straight line out to the basin, the other guy should have a good idea of what the crappie are doing so you can either double back and drill out a grid pattern in a particular area if they are stacked, or head a different direction if needed. I personally never do a grid pattern until I know the fish are stationed in the area. Probably more info than you care about but I have it down to 7 steps between holes to start out searching (gets me about 20-30 feet between holes, so 10 holes gets me roughly 75-100 yards out from my starting point) and after that I punch holes every 10' in a grid or cross pattern. 5 feet makes a big difference for those lethargic roamers mid-season, you either have to drop down right on top of them or get ahead of them. 

Junkie - Thanks for the insight...very helpful!

One lake is very small (75 acres) but deep for its size (about 45 feet deep, and 90% of the lake is 35+ feet deep). The other is just under 300 acres, and max depth of 65 feet, with most of the lake 50+ feet deep. There isn't much for mid-lake structure on either lake, pretty much just deep, big basins. 

I'll try your strategy of starting at the weedlines and finding what depth they're suspending over.