Lots of fish on sonar, only one on hook

[chex]

I was fishing at HH today and was seeing tons of fish on the fishfinder. I caught a nice one but could just as easily have come home empty handed. 1 is an accident, 2 becomes a pattern. So I've gotta learn to catch the fish that I see on the fishfinder.

These fish I was seeing on the fishfinder were usually in 40 ft of water just above the bottom. I'm pretty sure my 15' crank bait wasn't getting that deep and that's why I didn't catch them. I tried jigging with my heaviest jighead, but I think the current was too strong and it wasn't getting to the bottom either.

What would you have done?

[mikebcfd]

I was out there the other day marking fish deep in about 45 feet of water right by the #2 marker and had the same luck, then about 20 min later a 18 ft crestliner drifted over that same spot and started pulling up catfish after catfish up to about 30 inches so I am guessing that was what I was marking.

[kevinfry]

Those marks could be more carp

[Shady]

I have a hard time believing that Striper are sitting on the bottom in 40 fow right now. Probably was carp and cats. Next time bring some cutbait and heavy sinkers.

[chex]

Good point! It didn't even occur to me that there might be fish other than stripers, lol. So how can I tell if a fish on the fishfinder is likely to be a striper? Do they chill out higher in the water column?

[Shady]

Good point! It didn't even occur to me that there might be fish other than stripers, lol. So how can I tell if a fish on the fishfinder is likely to be a striper? Do they chill out higher in the water column?

catch it! lol

No real cut and dry answer just learn the patterns of different fish species...