Finding crappies / bluegills on a small shallow lake

[07TUNDRA]

I had pretty good luck this December on a deeper area ( 8 feet ) on the lake I'm on in northern MN. The last month has been pretty slow. The lake is pretty much a big bowl without much structure. Max depth in the lake is 8-9 feet. Should I stick with deeper areas of the lake or look for weeds in shallow areas ? Having a hard time finding any live weeds. Bottom is all muck. I know there are a lot of fish in this lake but yet the only thing that shows up on the camera are pike and occasional tiny perch.

[Mr.Seaguar]

Oxygen level is probably low. It could be really tough.

[07TUNDRA]

I thought for sure after the last two winters we've had the lake would have had bad winter kill but saw no dead fish in either spring. Average depth of the entire lake must be about 4 feet. I am at a loss for where all the fish go on this lake late winter ?

[Mr.Seaguar]

Is there any water running in to it? That might be attracting all the fish. Sometimes the fish will get super spooky, swimming away from any disturbances above. Fish can die and sink too, something I did not know until it happened locally. But I doubt they would die this year if they didn't last year. You may have found why shallow lakes get small pressure in winter, they can be really tough.

[monstermoose78]

Look for the fish just below the ice. Or check in the shallow water where some weeds might be.

[07TUNDRA]

There is a small creek that flows out from the lake or may not flow any more due to a beaver dam down stream. However the water over there is only 3-4 feet deep in the summer.

[mn86]

i bet they spawn near there!

[IceHawk]

I would have to agree oxygen level is going to probably be low and chancs of finding green weeds are slim in that shallow of a bowl. If there are any creeks or streams entering the lake look around these areas as this is more than likely where they will be.

[leech~~]

I would have to agree oxygen level is going to probably be low and chancs of finding green weeds are slim in that shallow of a bowl. If there are any creeks or streams entering the lake look around these areas as this is more than likely where they will be.

Or more then likely follow where the creeks go. If they dump into a deeper lake down creek. The fish could just be moving into yours in the spring and out to the deeper lake in the winter.

[fishuhalik]

IF it hasn't died off, check shallow. On those super-shallow lakes like that, I've caught fish in as little as 2', plus the depth of the ice