first off, long time lurker, first time poster. great site, tons of great info, thanks to all who contribute.

Ok....so i have been gathering up all my supplies to do some night fishing, strictly because the summer heat and crowds during the summer can be brutal, so i thought this would be a good way to escape both of them, and still bag some crappie. this past weekend, we went for our first time. i have a 4 foot, 40 watt "green monster" light that i made (similiar to the 4 foot green hydro-glow i think). anyhow, we decided on a 100 acre private lake that we have permission to fish, strictly because we KNOW there is a good population, as we mop them up in the spring. we found what we believed to be the best spot was approximately 6-8 foot of water, just on the edge of 12+ foot. instead of attaching the light to the boat, we hung our battery to an old standing tree, and then submerged the light from there, that way we could use the trolling motor and fish around the area without moving the light. sunk the light with the top of it being about a foot under the surface, which would mean full on light from 1 foot to 5 foot.

almost instantly, baitfish gathered and not long we had what i would consider a very nice bait ball circling the light, and got bigger and bigger over time. we backed off and fished on the edge of the light, in the dark outside the light, in the light, deep and shallow. never even got so much as a bump.

where did we go wrong, or is it possible that the fish just werent biting?

keep in mind this was last friday night, and a decent cool front had just came thru, and thats about the only thing i can come up with that may have had the crappie shut down. also, the moon was pretty full as well. we are in central arkansas if that matters. any ideas, advice or opinions???