Time of year: Late-June
Water temp: 73 degrees
Other species: Walleye, Small and Largemouth Bass, Northern Pike, Bowfin, Bluegill, Crappie
Forage present: Rock Bass, Perch, White/Redhorse Sucker, Gizzard Shad, Alewife
Weeds include most native weeds as well as milfoil.
Clarity: 20' Secchi Disk
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[size=150]Question 1:
Where do you start and why?[/size]
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Not sure how I didn't notice this the first time around…
My first two spots would be looking for bait off of the drop on the North/NE side of the lake. That is an interesting edge that drops quickly from 12-14, to 20+ ft. Considering the clarity and weed type that'd probably one heck of a wall/ambush point. Being as water is getting warmer tho, I'd certainly work farther out off of that than normal… it looks like a good area to cover open water and structure relating fish.
Spot 2 would be the 15-20 ft flat area from the channel across the south side of the west half of the lake. Spread out and troll!
#1. Given the time of year and water temp these fish have just recovered from spawning that was probably a few weeks before. I’m starting relatively shallow looking for good cover (weeds) outside what I would assume to be a primary spawning area. I’m going to look at the west edges of 3D and 4D working my way into the east edges of 4C, 3C and 2C.
#2. I’m going to concentrate on the drop off leading NW in 2C looking for good migration routes from deep water to the points and shelves in that section.
#3. The next section I would investigate would be the point in the SE corner of 3B.
#4 Finally I would look at the drop off from the point with the Lighted Buoy in 3B to the northern edge of 2A.
My first spot would be to check the deep weed line in 3c and 4c, assuming the fish that have finished spawning are looking for cover in the deep clear water.
2nd spot would be to work the weed line to the NE in 2b. I like the access from there to the shallows of where the creek comes in to the deep basin. Presumably the early spawners have moved out toward the deeper basin and are using the weed line when active.
3rd spot is the bar in 3b, working the weed line towards the basin in 2a.
4th spot is east side of the bar in 3b , working the break line se toward the basin, again, because of the clarity, looking for structure for the early spawners to use to get to and from deep water.
These are really cool Will, let’s do some more!
1 – Large point, inside cut, and then smaller point in 3B. Could be some baitfish stacked up in the area if wind has been blowing from the SE. I'd fish the deeper break with bulldawgs/medussas and then do another pass in shallower with bucktails and gliders.
2 – Open water basin in 3C. I would troll this area looking for shad schools.
3 – The deeper flat in 2C. I would troll this area first looking for deep weeds and fish the with bulldawg/medussas. Maybe even have 1 person casting the other way to open water if there are baitfish on side imagagine.
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With that kind of water clarity and the huge amount of pleasure boating that occurs on the watershed, I'd fish after dark with a mixture of topwaters and vertically jigged soft plastics.
I would start on the points on the North end as well as the inside cuts at the base of them, then I would focus on the steepest walls along the drops going into either basin. If I wasn't moving any fish or marking much bait, I would move out into the basins and search for bait with my trolling motor. If the bait was near the surface I would throw topwaters or cranks, if it was deeper I would vertical jig…
Suckers would largely be gone by then I imagine so the weed edges where Perch may be or out suspended over the basin where the Shad would be would be my main targets…
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