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Conventional Thinking

Hey all, just wanted to throw this out there and get some replies based on experience or opinion or both. Conventional wisdom tells you to fish the northwest side of the lake this time of year. The sun beats that shoreline longer, etc etc. Going against conventional wisdom and following experience my trip on Friday led me to Cane beds on on the south side of the lake, as well as channels on the south side of the lake. I had success in both areas. I know all fish are individuals, but there are considerable populations that are going against the grain as well.

Sunday, my buddy and I were fishing those smallies, and I knew that there were a bunch of guys practicing for a tourney on the Winnebago system for this coming weekend. We caught all those smallies from a bay off of Winnebago on the south end of the bay. We could see boats at a distance pull into the north side of the bay, fish for about 20 minutes and roll, nobody even came close to where we are. NOw a lot of the guys fishing in their defense do not spend the time I do on the lake.

Just wondering, why these fish don't follow the rules that have become conventional thinking. Is it maybe that there are so many fish on the northwest side that they take the next available cover (that wasn't the case, the guys were pulling water according to a couple guys I talked to), or is it that maybe the bottom composition doesn't lend itself to support feed. (The area we were in has milfoil during the summer, as well as baseball size rock, to pea gravel, just awesome for crayfish, and the sheepshead gave away the smallies).

Just thought I would pose the question and see if anyone had any thoughts on it.

Chris

Chris
Apr 20
2005
Sounds like there were definitely some differences. Not knowing your climate my first question would have been about water temp, and then possibly were these staging fish that likeed the bottom for beds and the cane for cover? Was the north side a muddier bottom or a perhaps solid rock? Although rock might surprise. I got to see lots of bass bedding on solid rock this spring. Bob
Apr 20
Great questions Bob. The temps on the main lake are about 50 degrees. But we had a dropping Baro & 0 wind and 70 degrees for 3 days. So there was a mass migration (I am thinking) into the shallows to feed. So I am guessing the crayfish were coming out of their haunts and were made available to the Sheepshead & Smallies... OH, also, another thing we noticed. About a 6ft Lake Sturgeon was constantly surfacing tail in the air. No doubt he was also taking advantage of the feast. That was the only surface commotion we had seen, but something to remember none the less. There may have been more than 1, but he/she was large and staying in a consistent area.

The north side of that bay (which is about a half mile away), is also gravel, but a little shallower (We were fishing about 2.5 to 3.5 ft, with 8 to 10 ft nearby). Maybe we caught these fish just coming up out of the deeper water. Either way it was a good day, but I figured I have to ask the questions and try and figure it out :-D

Chris

Chris
Apr 20
   

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