Buoy markers mark location when school of fish found

[Spoonminnow]

It started out as a tough day on a local lake, with the lake a murky green from suspended algae. Finally after not catching anything near the east shore, I started working my way back along the west shore, 30 yds toward the middle in 7'. Found a school of large crappie and sunfish parallel to shore in a line 40 yds between two buoy markers. (No, I don't own a fancy sonar and don't plan on buying one.) The wind was blowing about 10 mph and once I took a fish off the hook, took a picture of it with the lure in its mouth, the boat moved 15' or more. The markers were an absolute necessity to know the direction to cast along with landmarks on the opposite (east) shore.

While the incredible bite was going on, I had to hold boat position away from the shore in a particular depth, drifting and casting between markers. I anchored once, caught 8 fish but had to pull anchor to drift some more. Easier to use the trolling motor to hold position, catch fish and then drift & cast. On the way back to the launch I found more fish in one area in 7'. Gills crappy and yellow perch bit hard. In all cases, the fish ID on the sonar screen was a big help. Once school fish showed up on the screen, I let the boat drift, cast back to the spot and caught fish.

Hope this fish location pattern holds until tomorrow. I got a lot of lure designs I was to test.

[skeetbum]

Good trip Spoon. I like it when things go right now and then.

[Spoonminnow]

Too bad the pattern didn't hold. The cold front moved through last night resulting in a sunny sky and wind near 30 mph. Caught only 16, but the quality was good for crappie and sunfish, the last fish a 2.5 lb bass. Hey, that's fishing! Still, nice to be on the water even if casting practice was the main activity.

[ezgoing]

Not sure what you are saying here. Did you find the fish between two official lake buoys or did you throw out two buoys to mark the fish you found?

I have spot lock but I still throw out a buoy marker just to provide myself a visual reference.

Sadly I haven't had your luck the last few days finding schools of active crappie. I have found large concentrations of crappie but all had lock jaw. Tried fishing under a green light last night with same results. Attracted a lot of bait fish, crappie and white bass under the green light but most refused to bite so it was a slow night. I may need to start using minnows if this keeps up.

[Spoonminnow]

throw out two buoys to mark the fish you found?

Yes. Caught 5 in a row (all over 10" = school). Out of curiosity I moved parallel to shore along the same depth of 7'. Cast - caught more crappie. Move again and caught more. The casts were perpendicular from shore. When the bite ceased, I put down the other marker which was 30 yds away. I could now drift / cast and catch while drifting between markers. Dangest pattern I've ever encountered! (though one was similar in another lake also near where I live, the difference being that the drop was along a large flat and the deeper water was only 6' deep where a whole bunch of fish were hanging at 5 pm.)
Got this 13.5" and a 12" back to back casts:


and this catfish:

all caught on this:

I have found large concentrations of crappie but all had lock jaw.

PM me if you're willing to try some of my creations. I catch fish (if I can locate them) 11 mos. out of the year. (Haven't caught fish with them ice fishing in a while.) They catch all species including large catfish, carp, sucker and the usual fish we prefer to catch - panfish, bass, pickerel. I've used some designs with a float and caught fish though I prefer to cast 1/16 oz ball head jigs (unpainted/ no collar) tied to 8# test braid or 6 # test fluorocarbon. A light action rod and braid allow more sensitivity to the strike and excellent rod pull hook sets. Forget trying them if the tackle is wrong for light lures.

[Just_Bass]

I just ordered myself a couple of buoys too, last time I went on kayak I think I found a school of fish suspended at 15’ in 29-35’ of water. I tried a couple cast out by the time I knew it I was out of area, paddled around and no school to be found. This is another big area I need to learn, how to read graph and how to stay on target in water. My lake always get wind around 5mph every afternoon, it suck to live in low desert area.
BTW what type of buoys, good for float tube or kayak? The ones I ordered seem too big 4”x6”. Do they come in smaller size?

[Spoonminnow]

what type of buoys, good for float tube or kayak? The ones I ordered seem too big 4”x6”. Do they come in smaller size?

Easy enough to make your own.

Buy a foam pool noodle:


Wrap fluorescent colored masking tape around a foam cylinder 6" long. Under it, but on one side only, wrap some heavy screws to keep the buoy from unraveling the line to the sinker when a wind blows. The sinker should be heavy such as a wheel weight or section of pipe so the marker won't drift. I use heavy braid so it unravels easily (though any line will do) as the weight drops to the bottom.

I keep three in the boat stored in a gallon size freezer zip lock bag and insert the wheel weight into the buoy hole until needed. No point having a mess of line to separate.

Here's an old post how to make your own:
https://www.crappie.com/crappie/main...-marker-bouys/