Author Topic: Found the small ones....?  (Read 2385 times)

Offline frostbite

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Found the small ones....?
« on: Jan 26, 2004, 12:31 AM »
I've got my permanent parked on a lake that boasts some nice walleye, in good numbers. So here's the situation: I've found some nice perch, and the cigar sized walleyes(and one nice eater 18")  in about 12' of water on a mild break from 6' down to 15'(muck bottom) outside a weed edge, observation tells me that being on the weed edge is not yielding any flags at all(watching other fishermen), and we do try different depths every trip, within our reach.  Here's the problem: Wisconsin is having a "aveRAGE" winter which means too much snow to pull a shanty around, and too damned cold to sit in a portable for very long. I know this break and weed line hold fish I just don't know when and where. Any advise would be of help.
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Offline OTIS

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Re:Found the small ones....?
« Reply #1 on: Jan 26, 2004, 11:35 AM »
Have you tried larger lures, minnows, or jigging Rapalas?
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grumpymoe

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Re:Found the small ones....?
« Reply #2 on: Jan 26, 2004, 11:45 AM »
frostbite.....i'm fishing a new lake for me this winter, and it is intensely covered with weeds. i was overly concerned to start with, as far as attracting fish and trying to determine presentation depth. low and behold, numerous fish are actually feeding right in and on the bottom of the weed bed. i do have to admit, that on quite afew occasions, i pull up my share of lettuce ;D ;D i dont know what kind of water depth you have around the weeds, but if its more than 4-5 feet, i would certainly try fishing right over and in them..... lol grumpymoe  p.s. we all know weed beds hold bait  :P :P

GEEMAN

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Re:Found the small ones....?
« Reply #3 on: Jan 27, 2004, 09:56 PM »
Been fishing a particular ( VERY clear )lake here in WI for the past 15 or so years. Have found quite a few walleyes in and around the weedbeds. Most weeds we fish are in roughly 10 feet of water. When we atrted fishing that lake we fished typical walleye spots but never had much luck. One day while fishing for Northerns over the weed beds we started catching walleyes. Since that revelation we have caught them on the outside , over and the inside of the beds.
Having parked our shack right over the weeds in winters past I have seen walleyes slinkin around right on bottom in those weeds during the day. I'm pretty sure those Walleyes are in there most of the year save to spawn and when the weeds die off and the Oxygen levels drop. Like Grump says , weedbeds are pretty much full of forage so why would the walleyes leave ?

Anyhow ,Seems the best luck we've had overall is fishing the inside edge of the bed.
In fact this year I did some exploring and fished a small weed patch ( less than 30 feet around ) that's 100 + yds towards shore from that main weed bed. It's all sand between the main bed and this small patch but the walleyes come to feed there. Have fished that small bed a fair bit this year and have caught walleyes as shallow as 2 foot of water. Pretty amazing ( to me anyways )since a guy would think that those fish would pretty much stick to the main weed beds closer to deep water. The best part is NOBODY fishes that area of the lake !!!!

If I were you I would try fishing the inside edge ( if there is one ) OR start searching deeper water outside the weedbed in the lakes basin. The lake I've fished here usualy shuts down this time of year. Can't say for sure but I'm thinking these particular fish are headed to deeper basin areas due to weed dieoffs/lack of oxygen. Dunno , just a guess.
Another thing to consider is pressure. Are there a LOT of dudes running around ? That can shut the bigger fish down too. You may do better moving away from the crowd ? Sucks to be snowbound but perhaps a portable mission is in order for you ?

Good luck ! I'd like to know how you do.

 



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