Night fishing lake Oconee

Hello everyone I've been reading over your shoulders and figured it was about time to join up. Me and the daughter hit Oconee for a little night fishing last night and man was it tuff. Where did the bait fish go? We've fished Oconee many many times with the same pattern get there early put the lights out wait on bait fish catch crappie. This is the way we love it. Last night it just didn't happen we dropped the lights and no bait fish at all. Moved and again no bait fish. We hung around a till about 2am. (hey it's still fun being on the water with your kids) and still nothing. We did boat a few but does anyone have a clue about the shad what's the deal? Thanks guys and I look forward to seeing ya'll around

Welcom FrostyBrew to the site. who knowes what the fish are doing . i have don the same thing and have had shad to cover the water and no crappie . guess that is why it is called fishing and notcatching.when the water cols off alittle maby it will git better .

Welcome from Indiana
:)

Bet if you go back another night you could limit out!

Alot of times on bright moonlit nights I've seen where the shad stays scattered all over the lake and I suppose the crappie are more interested in feeding on them instead of coming in to your lights. Personally I believe the bait are alot easier for the crappie to see and feed on so I never fish moonlit nights anymore. Also, from the reports of people fishing daytime hours it sounds like the fish are on the move FINALLY and with cooler temps the next couple weeks should cool the lakes down even more making the crappie strap on their feed bags. Dont give up on 'em yet!;)

BTW, welcome to the boards.:)

Went to Oconee Friday nite , had to look around the area I normally fish, finally found some good tree tops holding fish in about 27 ft . by dark I had good concentration of shad, fished up 3 bags of minnows by 1:30. The fish were about 7 ft down. This is the first time I have nite fished this late in the year, usually stop in July. I had just finished giving my boat a facelift during the slow time, and decided to go and give it a try and was pleasantly suprised at the fish I caught and really enjoyed the new setup I gave my boat.

Thanks guys for the info. and we are looking forward to doing some fishing this fall

Frosty, I fished Oconee saturday morning and I spotted lots of shad in quiet a few of the coves off the main run of the river between long shoals and sugar creek. There was also huge schools of shad in the mouth of lick creek right after daylight. Those in lick creek were very easy to spot b/c they were hittin the top of the water so much. I spotted the most of rest on my side image unit though. They were usually mid ways back in the coves.