Clear, bowl shaped lake

[alwaysfishin]

I've been fishing a very clear bowl shaped lake lately. You can see the bottom in 15 fow, there are still green weeds to 12 fow, its max depth is between 30 and 34. the drop off starts at around 10 fow and is fairly steep to 22 fow then is very gradual to the deepest part. what would crappies relate to in basically a structureless lake. i've been fishing right around the bottom and middle of the break but only catch small ones. would the weed edge be the best? the deep? or the upper, middle, or bottom of the break? Also how does the clarity of the water effect the fish?

thanks

[CrappieJohn]

With water clarity like that and shallower ice this season, you may be forced into a night bite.

If you have a primary break at 10 feet that drops another 10 feet quickly and have green weeds to 12 feet, try looking at the deeper water at the level of the tops of the weeds....not over the weeds, but out further in the into the depths of the lake.

Something else to think about. This has been a weird ice season and in many places the fish are well outside of the scope of what could be viewed as a normal, mid-winter, bite. In the lake I primarily fish, there a larger areas of water with fairly flat, structure-less bottom that have 24+ feet of water atop of them and our better crappies are already in the roaming mode. Something that is not "usual" for about another month! In this example we have been fishing somewhat away from the normal spots associated with the primary breaklines and concentrating more on simple flat bottomed deep water. Sunfish have been coming from right off the bottom in areas with about 30 feet of water, maybe a bit less, and crappies have been coming from a level about 6 feet up from the bottom.

It may be such a thing that the larger fish are roaming and harder to locate. If they are, they will be a tough one to stay with as these fish are generally in looser schools. The smaller fish find less security over the big water, even when the schools are denser. If you are finding small fish in the deeper water already, try either higher up or lower in the water column.

As a note...roamers are going to be more apt to be hungry. They will also be more apt to hit an aggresive jig. These are excellent fish to target with jigging spoons. #6 Jigging Demons, 1/16ounce Go-Devils, JBLures Weasels, Foreage Minnows are all good options here when tipped with a waxie or two or a minnow head.