Having trouble night fishing

[Dirty mike]

Hello all, first post to the forum. I have consulted this forum for the last month as i have began targeting crappie. I have been catching some nice slabs on my local lake during the day from my kayak. I have always enjoyed night fishing so i made a 2800 lumen green led submersible light. I have fished the last 3 nights on two different shad rich lakes with the light and have yet to bring in the big schools of shad/minnows. I have anchored up over brush piles and drop offs for 2 hours without bring in the bait fish. conditions were before moon rise, water temp 75-79 degrees, fair visible water 20-30 feet deep. i was watching my sonar the whole time and only a couple schools of shad came by but didn't stop, no crappie detected or caught. Only thing i can think is it is taking the plankton a while to come to the light. Any ideas? thanks

[river scum]

i wish i could help you on this. some nights it just seems you cant draw minnows. other nights they will black out the finder screen. just keep trying. some day someone will figure it out for us. lol you can chum the minnows also. mesh bag with some dog food in it, tied to your anchor rope(if legal where you are).

[canebreaker]

We use to hang Coleman lanterns from a few timbers, run a knotted rope between them and bait yoyo's with minnows. We would take turns and fish all night.

[trypman1]

I will try to help, First off, you will have a night or 2 like that. Let your day fishing be your guide. Mark the areas with heavy concentrations of crappie and shad. Now find the shelves and flats around the spots. Go to these spots after dark. The more sticks and underwater trash the better. Increase your odds by moving around some. I did this for years and it worked. Now for the triple play. We used Coleman lanterns, we would put out in all 3 places. tire tube with a board and anchor or hang in tree or stumps. The best times or new / no moon.