Finding fish in a shallow unmapped lake

[zooplankton]

This was our second trip to this lake, our ice in N.E. PA. has been thin to say the least this year.......
first visit there was 3'' of ice. I fished 1/2hr  & left. This weekend ther was 10" of ice & open water
in the middle of the lake. My first question is , If there is open water on the lake your ice fishing on
will the fish be attracked to the open water?Ques.#2, this is a shallow based man made lake (345acres)
this lake is notorious for "Jumbo perch" , large Crappie & of course "slimers" aka chain pickerel. the deepest
area I have found so far is 7' of water with the average being 4-5'! should I just throw in the towel on this
place ? or keep searchin? mind you I have found very little sign of any weeds ( it does have stumps in certain
areas)It is kind of discouraging but I am detemined to find them ....again, when the ice is off people in boats
really catch the perch! Could it be that all of the drilling of the holes spook the fish ?.........puzzled...

                                                                           Zoo.

[boatnik13]

sent you a away mssg.

[fiddlehead322]

I doubt drilling holes scares them. I was smacking crappies at a local pond with a bunch of members one nite a few weeks ago. I had a fish on the vex when a friend started drilling next to me. I watched that fish and it never moved ,except to grab my jig. It happened a couple times that nite. 

[mrlongbeard1]

  They're there just keep looking. you could be missing them by just a few feet. And maybe your fishing to deep for that lake try really shallow that may be where the food source is???  Good luck...

[tightline3]

The open water in the middle of the pond might be your problem right now. One of the lakes I fish also has a good population of all kinds of fish and panfish including Tigers, and whenever there is open water all we can manage are a few dink perch. I am convinced the fish will be attracted to any open water on any lake. The smaller the body of water the worse the problem becomes.Sounds like your pond may have a spring out there and that's why there's no ice in that area(be carfull dude).I would think any open water causes a bait fish magnet, and most predators will migrate to the area for an easy meal.I would wait for the place to freeze over then try again. I think you will see a big change once the fish are forced to roam again to find food.Good Luck

[snot rocket]

drill and run. drill a bunch of holes in a general area work each hole for a few minutes ...no bites or marks on vex , move to next hole. just this week we were on a very small lake that holds a lot of fish. took about 3 hours of punching holes in the ice till we found them and even then i could be fishing a hole only 15 yards from that honey hole and get nothing and my buddies getting perch one after the other. and with no rhyme or reason you could return to the same spot next day and get nothing. then restart process. one day last year we drilled well over 50 holes until we found the fish. once we did though we hammered them all day. The lake looked like swiss cheese.

           Snot Rocket

[scavengerj]

As snot said, search and drill. Recently fished a small oblong shaped lake for the first time. Lake has water to about 25'. We were way in the back end of the lake in 7'-9'. We had holes drilled 6'-10' apart. One hole would produce nice perch, the others wouldn't, just gills. Buddy moved to within 3' of me. I still caught perch, he got gilled to death.. Next day, one hole produced gills in 7' and a hole a few feet away in 4' produced big shiners, none produced perch. Next day, a few nice perch came form holes close to the original holes we fished, yet none of the original holes even had fish. Fish are moving through areas at different times of the day and are in different areas day to day. I think though that if you are on a smaller body of water, searching and drilling should put you on fish at some point in time. Then it is a matter of staying with them. The quality fish we caught were in the weeds and within specific places in the weeds.

[Lobes]

If you know there are fish there stay after them but if you know of a few other lakes don't be afraid to spread your wings and hit other spots too. One item you'll pick up here is that there are people catching fish nearly every day.
Don't get caught doing what the Ethiopian's did and just stay in one spot because you just like it there ...

                          MOVE TO WHERE THE FOOD IS !!!
                                           
NBG

[Fat Boy]

I agree with the points above.  Also, find some local guys that fish there, or perhaps a bait shop familiar with the lake, and ask them were good summertime spots for the perch are.  Typically you'll find them in the same places during winter in shallow lakes.  In my experiences, open water doesn't translate always to fish, but it could.  Springs do attract fish and can cause open water.  But a hole where geese or ducks keep a spot from freezing doesn't mean the fish are there.  Another thing you can do is find some satellite pics, perhaps Google Maps or Mapquest, somethine like that, and try to find the creek channel or obvious underwater structure.  In some cases, you may get good enough resolution to see stuff like that, particularly if the lake is relatively close to an urban area.  If you know someone who flies a small airplane, have them take a pic for you!     (PS, don't laugh, I know someone who did that, LOL)

[zooplankton]

Thanks for the advice fiddlehead, are you a member of an ice fishing club? , how neat is that!
I have allot more patients then the people I fish with ..........I'll find-um  .......
                                 
                                                            Zoo.

[zooplankton]

  They're there just keep looking. you could be missing them by just a few feet. And maybe your fishing to deep for that lake try really shallow that may be where the food source is???  Good luck...

Thanks Mrlongbeard1, would you search in unlikely spots? (shallow coves?) I'm up against it this year w/ the weather
I really can't explore like I would want to until we get more ice down here...........


                                                                                             Zoo.

[zooplankton]

The open water in the middle of the pond might be your problem right now. One of the lakes I fish also has a good population of all kinds of fish and panfish including Tigers, and whenever there is open water all we can manage are a few dink perch. I am convinced the fish will be attracted to any open water on any lake. The smaller the body of water the worse the problem becomes.Sounds like your pond may have a spring out there and that's why there's no ice in that area(be carfull dude).I would think any open water causes a bait fish magnet, and most predators will migrate to the area for an easy meal.I would wait for the place to freeze over then try again. I think you will see a big change once the fish are forced to roam again to find food.Good Luck

Thanks tightline3, I'm with you on the open water theory, warmer water will attrack bait & start the chain..........
this lake gets allot of wind, that is also part of the problem ...........
                                                                                               Zoo.

[marcus]

I used to fish smaller shallow lakes and ponds alot . Why not drill a ton of holes set a few tip-ups   or preferably  tip-downs  in different areas.   eventually you will find where the fish are .    I know alot of people dont use tip-ups perch fishing  I do. They do slow big moves down  but short moves it really doesn't affect you too bad.   Dont be afraid to throw in some medium sized shiners   perch are not afraid of big bait.   dont give up   if you know there are jumbos in there keep at it   once you find them you could be on jumbos for a long time    GOOD LUCK

[miket.]

there there, you just have to poke around.

[miket.]

hey zooplankton, did you get my pm . i did get yours and sent you a reply.