Thread: Suspended Leaves or fish

I've spoted a few fish on my Eagle depth finder, but could'nt stay on them. I threw a crankbait out and drug in a couple of big Sycamore leaves. I'm Just wondering if the "fish" I was seeing at 6 - 10 feet on my finder were suspended leaves. Anyone else ever experienced this same thing at this time of the year?

I hit Lazy L Lake about 9am and not a ripple on the water. By the time I got the boat launched and the motor started a slight chop out of the South was evident. I pulled around to one of my favorite spots which was out of the breeze and caught 2 nice Crappies right away. I was in 13fow and the bite came at about 6'. I was suprised how hard they hit. No hesitation. I must have got those two just before the bell rang and the rest of the fish went to sleep. No further action anywhere for the next hour. I changed location, jig color, presentation, everything but my boxers. Finally I got on a hole that produced four more fish. Three of the four were keepers. Then the big hit came. BOOOOOM! Wow did I think I'd hooked ol' Moby Crappie. After a great fight on a 6' light action rod with an ultra light Shimano reel and 6LB. Sufix Hi-Vis Yellow line I managed to see that this was a NICE channel CAT. What a surprise. After that I was really pumped up and revitalized. the wind had pick up and was imposible to hold and any one spot.

All in all I had a good day on the water and brought home 8 good keeper Crappies and a "Moby" Channel Cat. Lazy L is a fun Lake when you don't have to compete with jet skies and ski boats.

sounds like you enjoyed yourself that is what is all about

outstanding, but I would have kept tossing the crank bait, or better yet a jerk bait, the jerk bait can and will produce the bite on a suspended school of crappie in cold weather, congrats on the day.

Hey Pop,
What model of depthfinder are you running? Is it color or grayscale? On my color units, i could tell if it was crappie or leaves by the arch color. My arch would be red with just a smidge of yellow in the middle. On grayscale, its sometimes harder to tell but ocasionally you will see a lighter shade of gray inside the arch. Remeber, crappie are more solid and present a larger target than leaves. The best way to learn this is when you catch a fish, make sure he's hooked good and let him back in the water while he's still on the jig and lead him around underneath your transducer. Then you can sort of see what kind of return you get. The exception to this is small baitfish. If they're not grouped in a tight ball, they will give the same kind of return a leaf will give. Hope this helps!

Thanks Sixfin. I am running a grayscale Eagle.. I'll try your suggestion.