How many and how long?

So I was out on a local lake with my son Saturday morning. It’s an army corps of engineers flood control lake which means no cottages, nice natural setting, first time on the lake. Local legend says that there are no fish because the water is too alkaline from run off from an upstream mine of some sort. Never have heard of any mining, the river water is beautiful emerald green color as you drive by way up on the interstate highway.

We gave up on the bridge pilings with only two 7 inch bream, headed back across the open lake for the river to the launch site. In the open lake in 14 feet smooth bottom I see a log with a corps marker buoy on it so the ski boats won’t run over it if the water level is raised a bit. We coast into it (literally) and my son drops his hook with slip shot and remains of a night crawler over the edge of the boat.

Next I see his rod tip bent up under the boat and I’m sure he snagged a limb but he ‘gets it free’ and pulls in a 12 inch crappie! His first ever keeper! (third fishing trip) Drop anchor! Switched to jig and nibbles, tube and nibbles. Boated 13 – all keepers from 10 to 14 inch. Had to head for home at 1:30, not that we were done.

Early Sunday morning I return to the same log, boated 7 more keepers (pictures taken awaiting downloading). Seemed more like harvesting than fishing!

Question is do you think we caught them all or did something change that made them quit biting? And how long before that log has time to ‘reload’ and we could do that again? We took 20 fish off there in under 24 hours. Once they stopped about 9:00 Sunday morning, I fished all over and never got another bite.

Yep – there’s just no fish in that lake! Shhhhh.

Lot's Of Variables On How Fast They Are Replaced. Sometimes Fish Move Very Little. Some Lakes With Low Populations Or Heavy Fishing Pressure It Can Be Hours , Days, Or Even Weeks Before A Large Number Replaces Them. Here We Can Catch Several One Day ,three Or Four The Next , One Or Two The Next, And Them Maybe A Week Or More Before They Are Back. But In Spring When They Are On The Move It's The Fastest. During Hot Weather It Can Be A Long Time.

I agree with a lot Nirod has said. I have been in situations where it was possible to track the flow of schools of crappie running up and down a section of river. When I lived near Houston Tx, below the dam was a popular crappie spot. Sometimes there were literaly hundreds of fishermen lined up casting jigs in unison while we were standing in thigh deep water. People would start catching them on one end of the line and you could watch as the fish moved from one end of the line to the other. So, the spot you were in was repopulated in less than an hour. When the spawn was over, there were just a few spots where one or two fishermen could catch them though.
DP

Got some pics but can't seem to get them into the post rather than as a separate attachment.

http://www.crappie.com/gr8vb3/attach...1&d=1184249203

http://www.crappie.com/gr8vb3/attach...1&d=1184249222

Can't seem to get them in the post the way I wanted to. Perhaps someone has a hint for me?

Register at Photobucket.com, then upload the pics, them post the IMG address under the pic.

go back to that log and use your bottom machine to take a look around it. Might be some other areas just like that BELOW the surface in the general area...THAT'S WHERE THE HAWGS WILL BE!!!!

If there is not much cover in the area, then they may replenish pretty quick. It may also be a seasonal spot, so mark it on a calender or put it in a journal. CF

DUH! Thanks for pointing out what should be the obvious Rick! Sometimes ya gotta just slap me!

The hot spot did produce 9 keepers a week later but they weren’t as big as the first weekend.
I’ve tried every other object that sticks out of the water but haven’t found anything productive. I think it’s because they are all in the six feet deep range.
At 14 feet deep – how much bottom am I looking at with my Piranha 215? 3 to 4 feet diameter maybe?
We always head straight to “the spot” and I haven’t really searched too much for similar sunken trees but being a flood control lake and plenty of trees in the water along the wooded edges, there is a good chance there are more lurking below the surface.
I’ve seen years when they raise the water level as much as 30 feet and everything on the hillsides floats in. The problem is that everything gets buried in mud in a short time and there are no weed beds in the lake.

yea, for most depth finders I think it's 3 feet cone at 10 feet depth. So 20 feet deep would be a 6 foot cone or 5 feet depth would be about 1.5 foot cone. I THINK.

I just keep mine on anytime I'm going slow and get used to reading it. I turn OFF fish ID. And from there, it's pretty easy. I do have my ducer hooked to the Trolling Motor as well as a separate set up for the rear of the boat. The best thing to do to get used to reading it is run a heavy jig down under your TD and bounce it around. It'll show up. Lead reflects the soundwaves great. Anyway just play around with it and you'll figure it out.

Hope that this helps.

If using the 60deg capability ... you should be seeing a bottom cone diameter of the same width as the depth. So, if you're in 20ft of water ... the circle would be 20ft wide on the bottom (10ft to either side of the transducer, in any direction).

The 60degree cone angle chart would be 1 to 1 (1ft depth = 1ft circle) so it really isn't necessary to calculate it.

You should also understand the shape of a "cone" ... and that the signal on a 20deg cone is only showing a circle as wide as 1/3 of each foot of depth. So, even if you are in 24ft of water ... and the diameter of the cone, on the bottom, is 8ft -- if the fish are 12ft deep, then they have to be hit by the signal at that depth, which is only 4ft wide. And all the diameters of the cone are half on one side of the transducer and half on the other (from a straight line from the transducer to the bottom). That would mean that your 4ft wide circle of signal is only 2ft wide to either side of the transducer at 12ft down. So, if a fish is 12ft deep, but 3ft away from the center line of your signal .... it won't be seen (by a 20deg cone angle).

Thanks that explanation did help. I have a dual cone machine that uses a 20 degree and a 60 degree. Fish from the 20 degree are shown as dark/solid and from the 60 degree they are white/hollow. Hollow at 10 feet deep are within 5 feet of the rear of my boat where the transducer is.
Structure is more important to me than marking fish. Which cone is used to mark the bottom? If I’m looking for a brush pile in 21 feet of water and the 20 degree cone is doing the work (which I think it is) I have a 7 foot diameter picture of the bottom, 3 ½ feet to either side as I troll along, pretty hard to find an object even if we know it is there someplace.