I am always amazed at the fact that after half a century of fishing I still come across situations that are hard to explain. I was fishing today at Wheeler Branch and caught a few bass on minnows but nothing on worms. I fished 4 or 5 of my usual spots without sunfish success. I was moving to a new spot across the lake and marked some fish in open water right in the middle of the lake. There was no structure anywhere. Here is the screen shot. These appear to all be 8.5 to 10.5 inch bluegill. They were not around any structure and were from 20 to 30 feet deep in 68 feet of water. I can't figure out what they were doing there. I caught them as fast as I could until my anchor broke free in the wind that was picking up. I anchored in the same spot and they were gone. I looked for them for 2 hours and never found them again. I caught about 15 total including a 1.18 pound 10.5 inch nice one. Any ideas on why they were there? Do you catch them in open water like this on other lakes?

Thats a nice bluegill! As far as reading fishfinders i have no clue lol. Ours shows that theres fish but when we fish the spot nada so we think our fish finder lies. To answer your question we have never caught bluegills in open water.

Very interesting ! I have anchored over schools of white bass that marked like that on a sonar. But never perch.
However I'm glad you made this post. It will give me something to think about in respect to finding perch as the
water cools.

Like stated above I have seen schools of White Bass in open water many times. The last time I fished Falcon we hit a school of White Bass that were suspended in 30 feet of water. The water was open with no structure around. The depth was 40 feet. I know they were feeding because we were catching them for 2 hours straight. We have no idea why they were in that part of the lake. Guess they were feeding on the move! Who knows.



Side Note: I have not caught sunfish in open water unless there was some sort of structure below.

I suspect it has something to do with the thermocline and possibly the wind, but damn that's a nice fish

All great replies. Keep them coming. White bass, striper, hybrids, and largemouth bass school in open water all the time. Big sunfish is another issue. That was the biggest school of big sunfish I have seen.

So this is where they go after the summer.....open water in the middle of nowhere...no wonder we can't seem to find them on Fayette after October ???

I have caught Bluegill in open water in the past. Not that often. Like has already been stated Bluegill/Sunfish usually are around some type of structure weather it is rocks, bridge pillars, sunken docks, or ledges. They also love grass/weed beds. Good chance some of those open areas have some nice grass beds near by. Just my two cents.



Side Note: Fish also love hanging around areas close to drop off's.

Good chance you ran into a school of Bluegill feeding on the move. Just my two cents.

NICE FISH.

I was in Tennessee , many years ago at a resort, late summer, I wanted to take the kiddos fishing , so I rented a boat and asked the man where to go .
He sold me crickets, told me to drift the middle of the lake , and fish about 20 ft deep, I was skeptical , because all the " perch jerking " I had
ever done was near shore 6 ft or less. We caught some monster bluegill , Kids had a blast,
Have never fished that way since.

good luck

Mo

Ok. I saw a video on sonar interpretation. What you are showing according to the video I watched was the full beam of the sonar unit hitting the school of fish. In other words the sonar beam was directly over the fish when you took the screen shot. The fish show up as a flat line. Or it could be a full arch. If there is a partial arch to the left then you have passed them when you took the screen shot. If the arch is going more to the right, the sonar beam is just hitting them. They could also be heading in a different direction as well when you see an arch which is more pronounced one side or the other. Also the fish are probably at the thermocline of the lake. For them moving, they will for sure. That is where something like Livescope is made for.

I have marked fish like that on deeper lakes. In the summer it was common to mark feeding fish like that in Boerne I think they are chasing smaller bait fish and that's why they move around. when you find them they are fast and furious till they move on

Barry, they were feeding on some kind of insect hatch, which can happen at any and all depths.

That a nice fish.