Pea green

[gspman]

I am fortunate enough to be able to spend my weekends on a So. MN lake on the weekends. This lake turns pea green quickly and remains that way all summer long. I'm wondering what lure colors are your "go to" colors on lakes like this. I'd be interested in colors/presentations for spinnerbaits, plastics, jigs, cranks, etc...

Here's a more detailed description of the lake if it helps. This lake is primarily shallow and is infested with milfoil, coontail and curly leaf pondweed. The bottom is primarily muck but there's some sand and some wood and a couple rock fields. A few holes that are 25'+ also exist. The forage base is minnows and stunted sunfish. It also has heavy recreational traffic in the summer.

Any advice or tips you have to offer are appreciated. Thanks.

gspman

[SluggoMaster]

One thing to keep in mind, is that the algae bloom is only in the top part of the water column. Unless the water is stained from other things, it would be relatively clear underneath. I would throw dark/black colored lures to start, and probably the noisiest crankbaits I have in my arsenal. In truely murky water, you want something that displaces the most water.

[Deitz Dittrich]

These lakes can be easy to fish, and can be hard. I have found that these lakes tend to be a little more afected by weather change as the fish tend to relate to shallow cover most of the year. Once it turns to the pea soup. Try and fish larger lures, and ones that make a little noise. Larger Spinnerbaits with Colorado blades and larger shallow running crankbaits can be the key. Larger tubes and jig n pig are a good option for the heavy cover. The color white can be good in these lakes, as the smaller sunfish and baitfish in lakes with this much stain will often be very light in color. The other end of the spectrum is good too.. black. For spinnerbaits try chartruce/white.

Fish tight to the cover if there is any.

hope this helps!

[gspman]

Thanks for the info. One more thing. There is a ton of milfoil in the water up to about 8' deep. What are a couple of basic ways to fish this stuff?

[HossFisher]

I have always like to try topwater lures like buzzbaits and frogs. You will be amazed how thick of milfoil bass go through to get to the bait. During the hot summer days the bass will sit down in the cool shade underneath the thickest milfoil. For these situations i like to flip a 1/2oz terminator rattlin jig (more noise in off colored water) with 3.5" guide series salted tube on the hook. The bigger fish love this bait caught a nice 6.5lber with this very setup last year! Another thing that helps in off colored water is to use salted and scented baits.

~bassboy

[Wayne Ek]

Dishpan lakes of southern Mn. that do turn into pea soup in July or August can offer some of the fastest fishing around. The best lakes are usually the ones that have such a heavy bloom that they cut sunlight penatration to the point that most submergant growth dies way back or dies completely. This usually pushes all the bait fish, sunfish and bullheads up to the banks. Also, any grass that survives will usually be growing in isolated clumps and each clump generally holds fish. Any wood and I mean any wood, stuff that is just as round as your thumb can hold not only one fish but multiple fish. We have a dozen or so lakes in this area that fit this discription and the more scum on the lake the better the fishing gets all the way into fall. You know the scum is heavy if you have a green stain down the front of your shirt from spray coming of you bait caster. This time of year we toss wiggle warts right onto the shore and crank them into the water. Black jigs with sapphire blue chunks or white spinnerbaits.

[gspman]

Quote:

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For these situations i like to flip a 1/2oz terminator rattlin jig (more noise in off colored water) with 3.5" guide series salted tube on the hook

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Much of this milfoil is growing in soft muck that you could sink over 8" into if you were walking in the water. Wouldn't a heavy jig just sink into and disappear in a cloud of silt on the bottom. I always have been puzzled on how to effectively fish this stuff. It seems you want to get below the canopy but not sink into the bottom. The only thing I've come up with is to cast a weightless plastic to the back of holes in the milfoil and let it swing down into the hole. Do you just keep the jig on a real tight line and when it gets through the canopy just keep it from hitting the bottom and kind of yo-yo it up and down???

[ocf1]

i would imagine retrieving it back swimming it. Just reel and move your rod up and down while retrieving with some pauses.

[Superduty]

Even though most of the milfoil is growing in soft bottom, I would bet that some of it is located on or near a harder bottom. If you can find these areas I bet they will hold fish. Scout during clearwater times of the year and learn to read your sonar through the grass to determine bottom type. Sounds like a lot of work but it could pay off with some hotspots that will produce year after year.

If you can't find any areas with a harder bottom, try throwing a heavy duty drop shot rig in there to keep the bait off the bottom.

[HossFisher]

If all the milfoil really is in muck you can always try a carolina rig. This would cause the weight to sink in but the bait would stay floating and slowly fall down the water column.

[gspman]

Mucho gracias gentlemen. Good info.

[Doufish2]

One single word "NOISE". I fish alot of the smaller pea soup lakes in the summer, the bite with any noise making bait can be incredible. I like to pitch a 4" tube into and around grass or mats. but, in that tube, i push a little brass bell, about a 1/4 inch dia. Buy them at a craft store. It makes alot of noise when ya shake it and works great.

[HossFisher]

Quote:

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i push a little brass bell, about a 1/4 inch dia. Buy them at a craft store. It makes alot of noise when ya shake it and works great.

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Interesting idea

[EBass]

In water that color green I'd fish the docks. (to start with) Deitz mentioned that the bass will relate more to shallow cover in dark water. I believe that's true, thus I'd fish every dock out there and even in a foot of water. (3feet being prime)

I caught an 18" bass under a pontoon pulled to shore, and it was less than a foot in a dark water pea soup lake. I casted under there to see if I could do it, not even thinking a bass would be there and sure enough it bit.

[Daze Off]

Geez, with St. Paddy's day approaching I thought this topic was about the aftermath of drinking green beer (pea green)....ba da bump.

Daze Off

[ikeslayer]

Although i have never drank much for beer i do know that grape gatorade turns your [PoorWordUsage] pea green.

Now back to fishing. i grew up fishing french lake over in Faribault and what i can tell you is that lures that moved alot of water always produced. Lures like topwater poppers, prop baits and double buzzer cut through that sludge beautifully and left a great trail and i think that is how the bass found the lure. Also lures like jigs with big trailers and cranks with big fat wobbles worked. Good luck i will be interested at what you learn fishing this pea green lake.

ike

[Wayne Ek]

IkeSlayer: TO MUCH SHARING...

[EBass]

LOL

[jalberg]

Last year I fished a lake that was practically neon green. It was Eagle lake just north of Young America. I had heard somewhere that it was a good bass lake. I could not believe how green it was. I only managed a few bass. They were almost completely white. THis must be from the lack of light penetration. It seemed wrong to me and I assumed the lake is not very good. Has anyone else fished this lake and had better luck? I was pitching jigs, throwing frogs, buzzbaits & spinnerbaits. I fished from about 6ft deep all the way up to shore. It was around August on a mostly sunny calm day. I would like to try this lake again this year if there is in fact a good bass population in it. Any help?

[Fever]

I've found that most lakes in the west metro are green to very green in the summer. Just last year alone I came very close to the 6 lb mark several times. 5.09, 5.11, 5.12 x2, and a 5.14oz. I caught two while fishing in my wadders that were a tad over 21 inches but I didn't weight them. I personally use dark loud lures in green or stained water and in my experiance it works. I did catch the largest bass (5.14oz on a charcuse 6 inch gulp crawler in late july about 2 fow in the greenest sloppiest water you can imagine. So I don't think there is one single answer.