early ice walleyes

[grousehunter]

I have been planning out some new lakes to try for early ice and found one I want to try that is max depth of 13' and no inflow/outflows, smaller lake with limited vegetation. What is a good way to go about a lake like this if you have never fished it before? Any tips of where to start..depth wise, points, bays..? thanks for any possible tips on where to start

Blake

edit..here is the dnr lake map

[PerchJerker]

Hard to say without knowing more about the lake other than the max depth .....

Typically early ice fish will be close to where they were in the fall ...... good starting places to look are points, the first major break, and the first pieces of off-shore structure that are closeest to shore.

[hhguide]

perch said it there looks like there are a couple points that drop alittle faster than other spots. otherwise look for the deepest spot with some weeds around where they might hold. If you can also find some Rocks those can be key in these small lakes. Good luck. If you get a few guys out there spread out and see what happens.

[Chode2235]

With lakes that dont have a lot of structure and sharp breaks look for changes in bottom composition as well.

If you can find a small rock pile, or where the bottom changes from mud to gravel, or whatever that can be good too.

I would recommend picking an area of the lake that looks promising and stick to that rather than trying to fish and discover the whole lake in 1 outing.

Like, take that chunk of lake from the little inlet, all the way down to the island. Plan on fishing that and drilling a lot of holes. Try to find those transition areas. Set a tip up shallow, and fish deep (or replace the tip up with another fisherman).

Just be willing to explore, and be on the look out for subtle changes.

[BigGrassBass]

I like the area around the "beaver lodge" island. It looks to be a steep drop from the island and just on the north side of that island there looks to be a flat. I'd drill a bunch of holes in this area and hop around.

[BobT]

Your title suggests you're thinking walleye. I'm questioning whether this would be a lake to expect much success with walleyes. Seems rather shallow and too small to get enough wind action. Might be more of a northern factory I suspect.

What do you all think?

Bob

[riverrat56]

Nope, seems plenty deep for walleyes to me! These shallow fertile lakes can be walleye producing factories, especially if they are aided by stocking.

Lots of good info already posted, I would look to the point to the north of the bay on the east side, or the hump on the south end, looks to be 5' and coming out of maybe 8-9', fish the edges of it and look if it transitions from gravel to mud.

[Jesse Drummer]

just do what riverrat does and just follow everyone else! ha!

[andrew chadwick]

Id fish, out in front of the bay with the vegitation, and the small point next to 10 FOW on the right side of the lake.

[tunrevir]

Id fish, out in front of the bay with the vegitation, and the small point next to 10 FOW on the right side of the lake.

Yep, me too. There also appears to be some sharper breaks along the shore line and by the points where the 5' and 10' contours come together. I would suspect these areas would be ambush or pivot points where gamefish could contact baitfish and chase them up against the breakline. If you have fished the lake before don't rule out the edges of the weedlines and even in the weeds. Good luck!

Tunrevir~

[Mike Stark]

grousehunter we are lookin at the same lakes for early ice

maybe fishable this weekend

[grousehunter]

I'm hoping so. I went out to the one pine landing today and could walk out from the landing 20 ft. or so on solid ice. Have you ever fished on the lake I posted on here? I am going to go check out the ice later this week.

[Mike Stark]

thats good news about one pine

no i have never fished it...but it looks like it could be a good lake for early ice

with this weeks weather we could be out fishing very soon

time to get my gear in line....the season as snuck up on me!

[fishermatt]

I would go right to the middle of the lake, make 6-10 holes, fish it 1/2 hour, then move 200 yards and repeat.

[mskyfshntchr]

I've fished a shallow lake like this numerous times and one thing I found is that about the only structure in these lakes is the shoreline. You will be able to fish closer to shore than you would even think possible. That is where the main dropoff is located- from 3-8 feet or so. The lake I fished alot was only 8' deep, so I was fishing 5-6 FOW most of the time. Spitting distance to shore in some spots.

Sharper shorelines are good. Rocks near an island can be fantastic! I found a boulder pile off a tip of an island and there were times the fish were on such a feeding frenzy...Miss those days

Areas I would hit first:

The tip of the island with the beaver lodge

The small bay across from the beaver lodge island- that would be an ideal spot to drill a bunch of holes, set up a tip up or two and walk around jigging some holes.

The larger bay south of the beaver lodge island- the southern tip of it.

The shorline with the steepest looking drop just north of the beaver lodge island.

Any of the shoreline on the eastern side where it is a steep drop off.

Spend some time with the aqua vu and you should be able to find some great spots that have little/no pressure.

Good luck. Looks like a fun lake to tangle with.

[Mike Stark]

[Team Otter]

Travel the lake in the open water with a boat and look for transition areas on your electronics. When first ice arrives, start there regardless of where they may be on the lake.

[grousehunter]

Frozen and no public access .. Thanks for the tips, I will let you know how I do!

[Mike Stark]

grousehunter

you ever fished the lake right next to this one???

this lake is frozen?...i have not been out there yet

[Mike Stark]

grousehunter how did you post the lake map...i cant find the file with photobucket

thanks

[grousehunter]

I havn't fished either of them yet. I think I just copied and pasted it in a word document and then saved it to my computer and then uploaded it onto photobucket and resized and croped once on there. I probably won't end up getting out there until early December. I am heading down to the cities for a while starting tommorow.