Shallow Lake Walleye Help

[Jari Razskazoff]

I'm going to be fishing a lake that gets about 15 feet deep, stained water, and with plenty of walleyes on the dnr report. There is gravel on the east side of the lake, and besides that there is muck, and everything else that is in a 15 ft lake.

Question, where can I possibly find walleyes in here?

[reinhard1]

this is my experience in shallow water lakes with stained water. they happen to be my favorite lakes to fish. example-i fish a lake up north similer to what you describe. one thing about stained water is you can get a day bite. but as a rule it is best early and late in the afternoon but not at night. this has been my experience anyway. being shallow means being quiet. stay in your shelter and dead stick or jig but put a tip up away from you as well. i have caught walleys in 4 feet of water on a tip up. and i would be at 8 feet. i would go with glow hooks and jigs and my favorite color hook is red or orange. if you are there all day i would fish the deeper water in the day and go shallow early and after 3pm. good luck.

[thatoneguy]

If you're working two lines, make sure one of them is a Buckshot rattle spoon or something similar. In stained water, they really help to call the fish in. If you pair that with a deadstick, then the fishies have to completely different presentations to choose from as well.

If it's a lake that you have a decent map for, look for any changes in depth as well. In a lake that only gets to 15', even a depth change of a couple of feet - a hump, hole or break - will often hold fish.

[RiverFish]

Look for any "change" as subtle as they may be. Sharp one-two foot drops, bottom content changes, weeds( can be tough to find this time of the year), humps, shore line changes, in-flow or out-flow of river(ice safety), etc...

[tunrevir]

To add to this I'd look at the mud right near where the gravel is as well as the gravel itself, couple this with a slight bottom content change or slight depth variance and you have a high potential area. This time of year the fish will be staging near where they will spawn and even if it is mostly muck or unsuitable habitat the fish will make mock runs to the gravel and or any current areas in the spring.

Tunrevir~