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Posts: 300
| Somewhat local lake in SD - went out yesterday. Weather has been either 70 or crappy. Wind has been blowing pretty significantly. Casted shallow for about 5-6 hours. Water temps ranged from 49-54. Tried to find the warmest water to start. Saw nothing. Didnt catch a pike (and the lake is full of them) or see a musky.
My questions is - would they be shallow at that temp or would they still be out suspended? Part of the lake was super clear - didnt see anything swimming (pike or musky).
I figured they would be mainly shallow at that temp. |
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Location: Athens, Ohio | My best guess is that, either they were where you were and just were not interested, or they were where you were not. m |
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Posts: 1971
| Muskie could have been paired up and not interested, pike would be done spawning and should have been shallow, and many times extremely shallow, I’ve caught tons of 36”+ pike in less than 3 feet of water at those water temperatures |
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Posts: 1186
| Not sure what kind of weather you had yesterday, there. Saturday here, was a strong 80 degree wind, out of the south east. I did not go out, but have been out in those same conditions in the spring, and absolutely nothing would bite. Not bluegills, bass, pike, crappies, walleyes, nothing. Complete lock jaw. Some conditions can do that. |
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Posts: 300
| IAJustin - 4/15/2024 12:02 PM
Muskie could have been paired up and not interested, pike would be done spawning and should have been shallow, and many times extremely shallow, I’ve caught tons of 36”+ pike in less than 3 feet of water at those water temperatures
Was dealing with about 20-25 mph winds - but in the calm spots - I could see 5-6 feet down extremely clearly and I could not see any pike or muskies at all. I know muskie and pike prefer the windy side - but I was just shocked to see nothing at all in the shallows. And I did fish the windy side too. Just nothing going. |
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Posts: 454
| I'd guess they were still out staging if you didn't see anything shallow. Water temps jumped 5 to 10 degrees in the last week around here. I've experienced the same things TC was talking about, a nice warm up in the spring is sometimes like a major cold front in the summer, and it can shut em down. They are either deep shallow or in between and they will keep you guessing. |
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Posts: 3469
Location: Elk River, Minnesota | Hiya!
I believe it could be a multitude of things, but weather I would feel is the largest player at this point. Windy conditions can cool water temps in the spring as the water is still mixing, so shallow areas that warm up first, might have been getting mixed with cooler main lake water. This I could see shut things down and fish move off the shallows and be in a negative bite. I could see Baits would literally have to hit them on the nose to get a bite, much less a follow.
I would assume you tried multiple tactics both fast, in between and slow, which basically would say the fish were just turned off...especially if your success with other trips to that body of water show active fish. |
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Posts: 300
| Thanks all! Yeah - I have had enough luck at this body of water to be confused about not seeing any pike or have a single follow from a musky. I just thought with the water temps everything in the system would be shallow - but other than the occassional smallmouth swimming hear some shallow rocks - I saw absolutely nothing shallow. Was not expecting that given the 50+ degree water temps. But most of the explanations given make a lot of sense. |
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Posts: 1971
| jvlast15 - 4/16/2024 8:56 AM
IAJustin - 4/15/2024 12:02 PM
Muskie could have been paired up and not interested, pike would be done spawning and should have been shallow, and many times extremely shallow, I’ve caught tons of 36”+ pike in less than 3 feet of water at those water temperatures
Was dealing with about 20-25 mph winds - but in the calm spots - I could see 5-6 feet down extremely clearly and I could not see any pike or muskies at all. I know muskie and pike prefer the windy side - but I was just shocked to see nothing at all in the shallows. And I did fish the windy side too. Just nothing going.
In some lakes being in 6’ of water for pike early is way too deep..I don’t know what lake you’re on but if there are areas of last years reeds, cattails or almost swamp it’s possible the pike in 50 degree water are there recovering in a comfortable temperature range. It’s possible you needed to be on a large 2 foot shallow flat throwing into 8” of water to last year’s cattail swamp |
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