Crappie school travel patterns question
Had some fun trolling yesterday...when I found schools of crappie roaming the middle of the lake (the lake is only one mile long and a quarter-mile wide).
I'd see the school on my fish-finder and sure enough five seconds later, wham-bang, two hits out of four lines. But once I'd unhooked and coolered the most recent catch (took maybe 30 seconds to one minute), I couldn't find the school again. I had good reference points on land and I killed the TM while unhooking, so I know I was in the same spot. I circled around in a widening arc...but they were gone :(. (BTW, they weren't on any structure but out in the open lake where there's literally no structure. They were 6-9 feet deep in 12 feet of water).
Question: Were did they go? How fast do crappie swim when they are out in open water? Do they usually move with the wind? or against it? Toward the sun, or away from it? Other factors?
I found 7-8 schools (or maybe it was the same school 7 or 8 times :D) so it was a fun day...but it'd be a lot more fun if I could figure out these darn fish!
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From our Department of Snappy Come-backs: I was on the deck cleaning my catch with my dog watching intently. My wife says "I wish you wouldn't clean the fish in front of Mabel (the dog). She shouldn't see you killing animals."
All I could think to say was "Killing and eating animals is probably the only thing we do that makes any sense to Mabel."
My wife had to agree.