Im from Fl and absolutely love shallow water fishing and nail them all the time and have been trying to gain deep water confidence when I go over a school of fish i pitch out a marker buoy where they are but by the time i turn around i cant mark them again for some reason when I do find them im always battling the wind any tips on how too stay in place

Mark the structure and cover instead of the fish. Theres a real good chance they are not bass . I've been fooled by channel cats a lot . Also big shad . I marked a bunch of fish one time , stated ripping a spoon through them. I could not get a bite. I was determined to catch one and started to violently rip the spoon and ended up snagging a great big shad .

 I do find them im always battling the wind any tips on how too stay in place

Are you  using an elec. motor ? If yes , where is it mounted  ?

Are you  using an elec. motor ? If yes , where is it mounted  ?

Yes I know they are bass by the way they are positioned but I always have trouble staying above them

Remember what you see on sonar is a history of what the transducer passed over. If your TD is stern mounted for the unit you are watching, the bass are already behind the boat, so toss out the marker behind and to the driver side of the stern. This marks the fish near and to one side of where they are.

Real time sonar signal returns are marks on the far right side of the screen, before they are shown as returns on the screen, the screen scroll delay puts the fish even further behind your TD.

Tom

Yes I know they are bass by the way they are positioned but I always have trouble staying above them

I cant tell bass by the way they are positioned. Im not saying you cant .

You can determine stationary fish or slower moving for faster swimming fish, fish with large swim bladder verses small swim bladder, what species they are you can't tell. Sonar returns only the high density mass and air is the highest density of fish, therefor you see the air/gas bladder. Carp look exactly like bass to sonar.

Back on topic, your down looking traditional sonar return area is small, about a diameter that equals 1/3rd the depth, 15' depth the bottom area is about 5', 20' depth you are looking at 7', anything outside that diameter doesn't show up. Since bass move around when active feeding it's difficult to keep them on the screen and not necessary as long as you keep the boat close enough to catch them.

Boat control take lots of practice in the wind, using a marker buoy or 2 is a good practice. If your sonar has way points, use them.

Tom

When a school of large fish is marking on my sounder, the first thing I look for is attractive contour & cover.

Fish that are marking on your sounder may or 'may not' be bass, and they may or 'may not' be feeding.

Nevertheless, if their presence helps you to pinpoint an attractive piece of real estate,

then you've found something far more valuable than a school of fish.

 

Roger

Alll 3 gave excellent advice

When I'm fishing a dropshot or jigging spoons I fish into the wind, drop my trolling motor all the way down & use just enough power to inch foward.

I don't waste time with a buoy!