Shallow lake for eyes--expert advise needed please

[Guest]

I have a small lake with no structure in it. The lake is 3-6 ft deep with 2 -8ft holes,good ice fishing lake with nobody fishing it in the summer.All these eyes are stocked.All the edges are standing weeds with one area were a culvert drains into it.In the fall the eyes are all by that culvert.What would be my best approached to find these eyes?The water is stained pretty much all over and the bottom is muck. Any input would be great.Thanks

[Muddog]

Throw crank-baits at the weeds near the colvert when the water is moving. Look for weeds near the deepest water with a good drop off and a large shallow flat near by. The main thing to look for is weeds, deep water to hide in (even if it 4' deeper) and a large shallow food shelf. This is a good combo for early season walleye. The water in a shallow lake will warm up quicker and the food chain will be more established. As the water warm you might want to move to a lake that is a little deeper and do the samething, then move again, on and on. It look like you may have a good place to hone your weed Walleye skills.

As an old fishing buddy and very good weed walleye fisherman used to say to me, If your not hooking weeds with every 4th cast your not getting close enouph. Most hits will be as the bait dives when you start to crank.

[MRWALLEYE2005]

If thats the lake I think it is I go there every once in a while. Ive gotten walleyes in the summer long lining spinner rigs, sometimes without a split shot. The weeds are a real problem all over the lake so some shallow raps that run 1-4 feet work good too. Opener usually isnt good there, the walleyes arent real hungry yet with the cold weather and the bullheads are always hungry. It seems to be a few weeks after that that the walleyes are active during the day. Hope that helps.

[Surface Tension]

I'd have to agree with Muddog on the weeds. A shallow lake even though its stained will have eyes finding shade, feed, oxygen and security if you will in the weeds.

I have an area lake that matches the description of your lake. Since you asked about mid summer we can assume the weed bloom is fairly thick especially with that muck bottom. I would find the heavy weed edge close to the 8' mark and find a pocket or lane to slip bob a leech in. Success can be had all day with a lake like this but I bet you'll find the lake seems to come up with a totally different year class of eyes depending on the wind/waves. On calm days you can get into the small eaters but when the lake whips up the bigger eyes get that belly off the bottom and feed. Which is another point about shallow lakes and eyes. Being most the lake is 6' and mid summer temps can raise water temps well above and eyes preferred temp, there is one place in that lake where the temps is always cool and stable and thats on the bottom, tight to the bottom and eyes will regulate their internal temps by hugging that bottom. Why a whipped up lake gets those larger eyes off the bottom and turned on I'm not quite sure. I have a feeling its because the dissolved oxygen goes up. Makes sense knowing that warm water has less dissolved oxygen then cold water and considering the time of year and water temps it would make sense.

[aaronole]

I have fished a number of shallow lakes. the first thing we always look for is the windy side of the lake. i always thought that everybody did this, and maybe most do, but i've been with a few that always want to be where it is calm. thats not always where the fish are. why that is i do not know but i like surface tensions idea of the oxygen. then we would look for the structure, in this case its weeds. my best success has always been what s tension suggested, slip bob with leach. the one lake we used to fish we could never seem to get many. it was shallow, not as shallow as yours, but no deeper then nine to ten feet deep. there was not alot of weeds but enough to where we could never seem to troll or cast, the bottom seemed weedy. there was some solid patches of weeds that we started bobber fishing around, wow it was some of the best fishing i've ever seen, especially when we had a northwest wind into the best weedline on the lake.

I hope you do well there in the future. its always fun to figure out a lake, especially one like that. everyone sees a mud hole and you got yourself a eye full.

[JollyT]

One reason why the fish are on the windy side is that wave action on the shore breaks loose small food items from the bottom and shoreline. The small food items attract baitfish, which attract the larger fish.

[aaronole]

Thanks JollyT...The old man always told me that the wind must blow the baitfish in but i always figured there was more to it then just that...guess i never thought of it as the baitfish coming in to eat just the walleyes were coming in to eat...thanks! time to baffle the old man with your wisdom

[markkstanley]

One thing to remember if the wind has been blowing for a few days towards one shore it might be worth fishing the other shore. Wind pushes surface water towards one shore, eventually causing deeper/cooler water to be pushed up on the opposite shore which also dislodges food particles for bait fish etc. Kind of a big circular flow. Afterall water isn't exactly leaving the lake and lakes don't act like bathtubs. The first few days the bite will be best on the windy shore but after that I would also check the opposite shore. Not all the fish in the lake are going to head to the windest shoreline. They don't all pile up like the opposite gender on a 50% off sale at Marshall Fields.

[walleyewacker]

Good call Mark, on those slough lakes the best bite is usually during dead still water for me. From what I have seen if it is a dirty lake to start with then it shuts down if the wind stirs it up more.......my advice is TROLL the middle of nowhere, if it is weeds all over then the longlining spinners as mentioned. It is probably best to pound away during the early part of the year as much as you can too.

[doser]

Lee,

I oviously know what lake your talking about. I have thought about going out there open water too. I was told by one guy who has gone out there and was bobber fishing for crappies on the east side and started catching the walleyes. He casted right up next to the cattails.

[Schnauzer]

Hey, I grew up in Sibley County so this is a nice little reunion. Another presentation to try is long lining crank baits, or use planer boards. I'm assuming the water isn't very clear and I'm assuming the weed growth is only on the edges, leaving the basin mostly muck and no weeds. Start with a firetiger SSR shad rap and give that a try. You have had some great advice on possible locations to try. If the walleyes can't be patterned on a given day, the trolled cranks might do the trick.

[EYEHUNTER10]

I fished that lake for opener I think and was skunked I think they all were caught through the ice.

[Guest]

EYEHUNTER10

your right the winter bite at times is second to none,but there should be some nice eaters left.If one tries he might be suprised.