clear water eyes-- how to--help?

[Swamp Scooter]

Alright I am putting this out there to get what I hope will be the secrets to success.

Fished the Pike Chain in N WI this weekend for the opener. Hardly anyone there. water temp 44.7 - 45.5, mostly. very clear chain of lakes with not a lot of weeds. They have installed a bunch of fish cribs throughout the chain too. Tried the cribs, marked fish over deep water suspended in about 18-24..no luck. Nothing in the spillways between lakes. Nothing on the flats either. I know they are there but cannot find or entice them to bite. Any suggestions in technique, timing, or just a good guess??

Going back up for Mem. weekend and want to catch something. I have been a good fisherman on a lot of different bodies of water and conditions. This seems to be the condition that stumps me a lot.

[Navigator]

Clear water?? Try low-light periods such as dusk, dawn and overcast days. Lighted slip bobbers over rocky/gravel bars or troll plugs around the same areas. Nav

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Jon Navratil
Navigator Guide Service
www.naviguides.com
Central MN rivers & lakes

[Mike Walerak]

Another thing to try would be to fish shaded shorelines or if you can find a shoreline with mud a mud or muckish bottom where the wind has clouded up the water a bit. These fish may be a little less spooky. Try casting cranks or jigs and see what happens.
mw

[Swamp Scooter]

Thanks. No matter where I went I could not find any real soft or muddy bottom. I was wondering about the plugs but thought they would be too much activity and spook the fish. That will be in the arsenal next time for sure. did not try bobbers as we were covering a lot of water in search of active fish. Have all the stuff just need to get out there.

Thanks again.

[Ruttin' Buck]

How fast were you traveling? This time of year in that cold water you have to just about stand still or just creep along. Eyes tend to be lathargic in cold water. Even a breeze without the control of a drift sock could push you along too quickly.

Anchoring with slip bobbers is not a bad call. Otherwise if your jiggin or lindy-rigging without a sock pay attention to when you get hits....for instance trolling with or against the wind...I'd bet you'll get more bites traveling into the wind.

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Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day....
Teach a man to fish and he'll spend the rest of his life buying rods, reels, boats, tackle.....

[rms]

Can you troll on this lake? If so, planer boards may be a good way to search shallow water. The suspending fish probably weren't walleyes. Drifting with lindy rigs with fairly long florocarbon snells is something I'd try. If it isn't too snag infested, get the line away from the boat.

[Swamp Scooter]

Good idea on the planer boards! Trolling is legal there. I tried to keep it as slow as possible with the bow mount only. Only 2 weeks to go back and get 'em

Thanks