schoolin fish of some sort but to no avail...

[Finesse]

i drop the trollin motor in at 40ft come into 35ft and the fish finder goes black with fish im guessin shad, under im seeing bigger fish guessin bass or crappie maybe cats?...i threw everythin in my boat and nothing...whats the deal? did'nt try for the cats i had to bait. any advice for the future im plannin on hittin the water come tuesday.also the fish were only holdin in 35ft any deeper or shallower and nothing.


Thanks!
Sean

[DerBingel]

Hey Sean,

You are one hardcore fishermen being out on the lake today in this nasty weather!

I would assume this nasty weather and drastic rise in lake level has caused some change to their habit and holding pattern.

This next storm front will hit us soon, so I think it may take a few days afterwards of decent weather for the fish to adjust and return to their normal eating habits.

[Bob @ LSBT]

Hey Sean - I'm with Franz on this one.  Too much happening on the lake right now.  (Lake level is up over 4 feet in the last 15 days!)  They've also got the dam open and pushing a lot of water out.  Things are changing in habitat for the fish and I think it will take a couple of days to flatten out after these storms.  My advice - if you're going to fish, fish the known hot spots.  I have heard that the catfish bite has come wide open with all of the water flowing into the lake from streams, etc.  I've had more that a couple of customers complain that all they can catch is cats right now.  (Table sized cats to 3 ~ 4 pounds.)