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Posts: 7049
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | Early spring, June 2nd.
500 acre lake.
High skies, high pressure system.
Dark water.
Perch, sunfish and suckers as forage.
How would YOU approach this lake, on this day, with these conditions?
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 Lake X.JPG (60KB - 129 downloads)
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Location: Northern Wisconsin | suicks 10 inch, bucktails, smaller ones. fish any weed edges i can find and right in the weeds. |
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Posts: 691
Location: nationwide | One word . . . . . topwater. To be more specific . . . s l o w topwaters like toppers, straight model creepers, wobblers and flaptails. With it being dark water I would stick with bright topwater lures and spend alot of time in the north finger from the deep water edge to the far north end.
This answer will not suprise anyone who knows me.
Corey Meyer
Edited by muskymeyer 2/20/2007 3:39 PM
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Posts: 1316
Location: Madison, WI | I think i would start by fishing the muck in the back, being early spring and water temps still on the cool side. I'd hope that these fish are warming themselves along the timber on the back. Lures of choice, med dawgs, suicks, and glide baits. If that didn't work i'd drop a couple suckers one boat side and the other about 7 feet down and let it trail about 30 to 40 ft behind the boat. Work that point trying to stay a cast length away from the shore. I'd have the guy in front throwing a bucktail and guy in back with something small to mid-size. Maybe a baby depth raider. Working my way northwest from the point work the deep edge very slowly. I'd probably go back over the north shore again, back around the lake cast shorelines and working isolated greens. Is that a hump or a depression on the eastern portion of the lake? |
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Posts: 1185
Location: Iowa | I would figure out the wind direction first...Wind not being a factor, I would probably start with a weagle worked over the 4 1/2 to 6 foot area fan casting and taking my time...if nothing showed or produced I would move out the the very first point on the left of the shallower area keeping my boat in about 12 ft casting in and fishing a soft plastic like a bright suzy sucker or pink delong eel (something I could work slower but not too deep)...from there if ntohing I would go to the notch on the northwest side and fish a twitchbait like an x-rap 14 hothead color...wind is everything in the spring though and the north side of a lake since the sun hits it longer and the wind is usually out of the south pushing all that water up and warming it with that long sun...from those spots I would find a steap break and work a dawg real slow or a depthraider...if nothing there produces...go to the bar and drink...
Big Perc |
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Posts: 2017
| What are the water temps??? I would need to know water temps..... but that inside turn coming out of the spawning bay would be hit multiple times throughout the day. Lure of choice DDD |
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Posts: 2024
| Primary targets in early spring would first be the flooded trees on (what I presume to be) the north end/arm. I'd focus on the corners where fish might sit and be able to ambush prey better than cruising the flat area between the corners. However, I would definatley fish the area in between. The shoreline leading into the north corner (with the red circle by it) also caught my eye. Could be a staging area for fish fresh from spawning.
If there's a major south wind I would hit the point (in green) and work my way back into the cove. Again, thinking being is this might be a staging area. The other spot that caught my eye was the NW corner. It's close to a deep breaking shoreline and has a decent taper from 5-10'.
I'd be throwing spinnerbaits and twitch baits in the slop and Slammer Deep Divers or gliders deeper.
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Posts: 4266
| Since it is only a 500 acre lake, and it's early in the season with dark water, I think that I would put the trolling motor down and fish everything shallower than 8-10 feet. With 2 guys, you could move fast and cover the entire North side in a couple of hours. I'd pay special attention to the 10' slot that runs into the bay. It's definitely a migration route in and out of the bay, and if it has weeds along it, I'd hit that area several times during the day.
The bay in the NE corner is probably the warmest water, so I would fish it with either single spin spinnerbaits, black/flo. orange Colorado blade, or twitching Cranes if possible depending on the vegitation. I'd also pay attention to the flooded timber, depending on the depth of the water immediately adjacent to the timbered area.
The rest of the lake seems to have relatively deep water close to shore all of the way around, meaning 8-10 feet. I'm betting that at that time of the year most of the panfish would be shallow. Either bedding or hanging in growing vegitation. I'd stick with a spinnerbait in order to cover a lot of water quickly, but I'd also have rods rigged with Baby Weagles and Cranes and SS Shads as well as some Perkettes, 6" HR's and some bigger Sucker-flavored gliders to work along a weed edge if I would find one that ringed the basin or for targetting any weed beds. I'd also have a rod rigged with a 1/4 ounce weedless head and some type of Creature.
Is there an inlet at the south end? I can't tell.
The steep breaks on the North and West shorelines, I would fish with gliders, throwing them right up into a foot of water if it's not weed-choked. I would catch a fish on a glider in that inside turn in the NW corner.
Yup, I'd put down the trolling motor and never pull it out. Time of year and water color means that I would concentrate all of my efforts along the banks. You could cover the entire lake in less than a day. Depending on how dark the water is, I'd also target any man-made structure. Looks like there might be some pads in there too. |
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Early spring, June 2nd. 500 acre lake.
High skies, high pressure system.
Dark water. Perch, sunfish and suckers as forage.
first = RED
i don't think of June 2nd as "early spring". i'd look for fish that have moved out off the first breaks away from the likely spawning areas. deeper water, but it's by no means "deep" anywhere on this lake. start with some search stuff: spinnerbaits and bulldawgs probably. work 'em fast, work 'em slow, see what the fish show interest in. gotta be drifting a sucker or two around out here too. (one of my goals is to fish somewhat deeper this year, starting right from the opener.)
second = BLUE
if that isn't showing fish, move up shallllllloww and poke around. bang spinnerbaits and twitchbaits into the logs and shoreline or sight-fish some sunbathers with a tube. bonus bass are fun.
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Lake.jpg (57KB - 119 downloads)
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| where is the lake located? that would make a big difference as it might dictate water temps, say if it was in northern WI or southern IL, big difference in where the fish might be june 2nd. |
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| I'm goin to the south end to fish cuz nobody is fishin there!  Fish like the south end of lakes too in June...which isn't really "spring" is it?? |
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Posts: 7049
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | Why dont we say the water temps are 57. Been a cold spring until what you all seem to think is the early summer period. |
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| Find the warmest water and check out any feeder creeks if present. Otherwise work the whole lake keying in on weeds, rocks, and other structure |
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Posts: 2089
| Docks make for some great cover in dark water, especially early in the season.I'd do what Beav said. Steve |
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Posts: 1059
Location: Medford, WI | As Beav mentioned...put down the trolling motor and get fishing! I'd fish the northeast bay very hard burning a white or black bucktail and 2nd person gliding a bright orange manta quickly over/through the weeds. Fish that bay all the way to the north on the east side and then all the way back down on the west side.
As we're coming out of the bay, snap on a regular bulldawg and depthraider and each chuck casts parallel to the shore of the "point". Fish that hard and slow....shallow to deep.
Put the trolling motor on high to burn over to the northwest corner, but still be throwing that bucktail and manta along the north shoreline for any lookers. Going into the NW corner, I'd fish it deeper first w/ dawg and DR, if nothing, then go in shallower and fish it closer to shore going the opposite way.
Next, troll (if legal) south to the W/SW portion of the lake where there's rocks (GR). It's one of the only spots on the lake with rocks; so I think it'd be worth it to throw some bigger dawgs and depthraiders in that area.
If we didn't see anything at all or no patterns...I'd head straight back up to that north bay and fish the heck out of it with bucktails, mantas, and Jackpots.
I like this whole lake dissection idea; gives you lots of ideas that you may not have thought of yourself and makes you more alert of things when you go out to a lake which you may have grown "accustom" to and only use the usual tactics.
-Jake Bucki |
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Posts: 199
Location: Anchorage | Shallow, Shallow, Shallow. Start in 2-3 feet with jigs and Suick/Sledge. Nothing there try the weed edge, 5-7 ft. depending how dark the water is. Keep the boat shoarside and twitch a Crane or 6" Jake back shallow. Still nothing, get off the weed edge, 8-10 ft. with Lil' Ernies and Spring Dawgs. |
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| a few other things I would try...get out off the breaks, on the flats, throw joes and dawgs, let sink to bottom, jerk up a once or twice, repeat...
high pressure should have the fish tucked in tight to cover/weeds, shallow
or a bit deeper on the flats hunkered down on bottom...i would not "run and gun" in this scenario, but then again, I rarely run and gun...
57 degree temps? june 2nd? brrrr must be northern wisconny...
i'd fish the whole lake not limiting myself to the north end...by june 2nd they are done doing there spawning dance and have moved out to main lake areas, the whole lake should have catchable fish...i'd pay particular attention to where the baitfish are located....i.e. shallow, or deep on bottom and go from there...using smaller baits to start with erratic rips and long pauses making contact with weeds and or bottom in the dawg/joe scenario to try and trigger strikes...
if we can guess what lake this is do we get extra credit bonus points? |
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Posts: 7049
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | You can guess the lake, but in reality there are no muskies in the lake. When we've done this in the past with a lake with muskies in it users always jump up and say "that's lake Such and Such, here's where we catch fish!". I think posting a map like this is a good learning tool for people wanting to see how others would fish a lake, under certain conditions, without having fished it before. |
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| I agree, I was just messin with ya...
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Posts: 7049
Location: Northwest Chicago Burbs | I think it's Meta Lake, if I recall correctly. |
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Posts: 8788
| Thanks a LOT Slamr, There goes my lake X!!!!!!
Wait a minute, did you say no muskies? No wonder!! |
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| I've got to go with what Beaver said. Sounds like a good plan. |
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