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Posts: 10
| First time posting here so hopefully I am not screwing this up. I am targeting a lake this year that I have not in the past (as aggressively as this year). I have been out there about 10 times and have not even had a follow yet. I am confident in I am fishing the right spots, but fear I am not using the correct presentation. the question is how does everyone else attack a gin clear water lake? ie visibility over 10 ft? I worked it shallow in the spring, and lately moved deeper with the rising water temps.
I mainly throw natural colors
any tips/tricks.tactics would be greatly appreciated as this lake is kicking my butt! |
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Posts: 880
Location: New Berlin,Wisconsin,53151 | Fish it at night or try counting down some dogs in deeper water. |
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Posts: 4343
Location: Smith Creek | Are you sure there's muskies in there?
10 outings without a follow makes me wonder...
If there's sandgrass in deeper water you could try that. Or try back in the shallows. With higher water and lower than usual temps this summer they may not have left the shallows. |
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Posts: 880
Location: New Berlin,Wisconsin,53151 | Having muskies in it would help...... |
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Posts: 10
| yes there are muskies in it. every spring people stop on watch the muskies that come up the feeder river to the #*^@ during the spawn. Seen some HUGE fish during the spring. the water temp is in the high 70's (77.4 was the lowest i read last night)
it is more of a big fish lake than a numbers lake. (2/10 fish per acre as of 2004, 787 acre lake) I have thrown dawgs and dussa's, keeping the boat in ~28' of water and casting into ~10. i have not tried the countdown though, worth a shot.
Edited by wally2121 7/25/2014 9:46 AM
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| Prop topwater over open water. |
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Posts: 880
Location: New Berlin,Wisconsin,53151 | Sounds like you're fishing Oconomowoc, fish the wind blown flats on cloudy days with DDG's or try jigging bondy's around bait clusters. |
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Posts: 4343
Location: Smith Creek | Sounds like Whitefish to me...
If so, I have no advice except to fish it in October with meat. |
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Posts: 10
| Netman is correct. it is just easier to type the lake instead of Oconomowoc every time.
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Posts: 4343
Location: Smith Creek | Well, once you get Oconomowoc figured out you should have no problem catching fish on Whitefish. |
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Posts: 880
Location: New Berlin,Wisconsin,53151 | Paul,
When you come out of the river fish that flat to the left on a West wind, cloudy day. You should see fish there. Your right that lake holds big fish, but not easily persuaded to bite in fact that's the only place I've ever seen follows. Try topwater at night I alway's wanted to do that over the sharp breaks. |
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Posts: 540
Location: Leech Lake, Walker MN | You are fishin clear water not GIN clear water they are suspending over deep water but not very far down forget casting at something and cast or troll out from some thing then see what happens BOOM !!! |
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Posts: 10
| Thanks guys for the pointers, will give it a try hopefully this weekend, and if one of these tips works, i will be sure to let you know! |
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Posts: 203
Location: Germantown, WI | My experience is that fish on the OC are tough. I have fished it many times and have had many follows, but have yet to boat a fish there. I did have a musky strike once, but that is it. I have caught muskies on Okauchee and Pewaukee, but the OC is tough. If you are fishing the breaks, the points and the humps you are in the right places. I am sure that a lot fish are suspended so fishing well off those structures with big plastics and counting them down into the 10-15' is probably a good idea. I will continue to fish it. It's a good bass lake so there is always that to fall back on if you get tired of casting baits for Musky. |
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Posts: 251
| When you are fishing the suspended fish make sure that you are not fishing under the fish. Every time I fish for suspended fish I try to mark a few different pods of bait and then try to fish lures through or right above the schools of bait fish. If you have a camera drop it down and see what is suspending and then try to match your baits to the bait fish. Hope some if this helps. |
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Posts: 880
Location: New Berlin,Wisconsin,53151 | Sanks caught 2 in 20 minutes and he should of had a 3rd off that flat, we're fishing with Jason Smith and the West wind was strong that the waves were crashing over the back of the boat. Jason held the boat in the right position for casting and the bait had to be stacked in there. Rough day but productive.....
Good luck
Edited by Netman 7/25/2014 12:31 PM
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Posts: 75
| I love fishing the clear water which includes Cliff, Manitou, Crow, and Pipestone. One of my favorite things to do is have one person throw towards the structure, but the guy in the back throw out the oposite way with crankbaits. We did this on Cliff a few weeks ago and I bagged a 46x21 off a deep diving saltwater crankbait. The low light/evening bite always seems to be good on the clear water lakes too. |
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Posts: 51
| the fish on Ocon are skiddish. Tough to get them to bite. Have had on some really nice fish on though. Keep at it. I like throwing natural colored baits out there. Don't bother going out there during a high sky day unless you plan on trolling. Good sucker lake in the fall |
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Posts: 10
| Thanks for all the tips, I know the flat that are being talked about to the left of the river channel, fished it once. spent most of my time around the humps in the little lake and a couple of other bays. maybe i will spend a little more time on that bay. hopefully the weather holds out and I will try from about 5:00 pm till midnight and see what happens. |
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Posts: 20219
Location: oswego, il | Fish someplace else. I would only fish gin clear water on cloudy dark days with the exception of lsc or a few lakes in Indiana where the numbers are up. Still prefer a cloudy day make the weather and light conditions.work for you. |
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Posts: 116
| Clear water is challenging but shouldn't be avoided. Try some of the suggestions mentioned above and stick with it. One of the advantages of fishing clear water is that strike zones can be huge. Crazy fast retrieves or fast trolling has been the most consistent trigger for me on clear trout water.
Edited by jabird 7/25/2014 3:43 PM
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Posts: 10
| I do fish other lakes but now since i have tried many times out here and have yet to catch/see a fish it is kind of like a mission to get one out here. |
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Posts: 14
| On Deer lake in Polk County Wisconsin I have had a similar problem. It is very clear water and I have had one follow in three years of fishing it. However, I have had about 7 strikes. Might be somehting about the clear water. I'm just a beginner though. |
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Posts: 16632
Location: The desert | Slow straight retrieve a regular dog, black body/red tail. Also suckers in the fall. |
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Posts: 383
Location: SE Wisc and Vilas County | water isn't gin clear right now. she has gotten a little green the last week or so. tough lake but watch your graph and you can figure it out. |
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Posts: 10
| So I tried last night from about 7 pm until around 11. Tried some of the tips given. Not a thing. This lake just has my number! The water has gotten a little greener since the last time I was out.
Edited by wally2121 7/27/2014 11:55 AM
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Posts: 1000
| Speed is your friend. I thought he was describing whitefish as well. |
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Gin Clear water?