# Shallow Water Walleyes



## maple lake duck slayer (Sep 25, 2003)

I thought maybe some of you guys could help me with this since some of you fish sloughs. We have a lake by my house that is pretty large, but only 8 feet deep. There aren't usually any fish in this lake besides bullheads, but a year or two ago the DNR put 581,000 walleye fry in there. I emailed them about it and they said this fall they netted 10 inch walleye out of the lake and transported them to other lakes. I'm not looking to keep 10 inch fish, but it would be fun if you could catch some. I took the aqua view out there today to see if I could find any walleyes but I didn't see a thing. I headed out to try to find the deepest spots, because I thought the fish would be holding there: more oxygen, ect. As I said, I didn't see anything, not even a bullhead. The bottom is very soft and there weren't any weeds. I was wondering if any of you could help point me in a direction to locate the walleyes. Should I try to find weeds in the deeper water and set up there, or should I just find weeds in general, in any depth and try to locate fish. Another thing is that I had a hard time believing there were still walleyes alive in this lake after a couple years. I figured there would be winterkill and summerkill, but the DNR said there should still be a lot out there. Any help you can give me is very appreciated. The sooner the better as I have Monday off from college and I would like to get out there again. Thanks.


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## nodakoutdoors.com (Feb 27, 2002)

I know of a lake not to far from Fargo in MN that had a similar situation. It was full of 10-12 inchers, nothing bigger. The guys were out fishing the deepest holes and couldn't keep them off the line. This lake in particular was only about 10 acres, so it wasn't too hard to cover.

I would say move around a lot, but it's REALLY cold outside today and I'm sure the last thing you want to do is hang out outside.

If you know of a good drop off or break, try on the deep end.


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## maple lake duck slayer (Sep 25, 2003)

Thanks for the info. It is pretty cold, but I still may go out in the afternoon and try to find something on the aqua view. This lake is about 400 acres, so it is a little harder to cover. Do you know if the deep hole they were fishing had weeds or not? Do you think these walleyes can survive conditions like that, only 8 feet of water?


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## FLOYD (Oct 3, 2003)

As long as there aren't any winters with poor conditions for fish survival, the fish in that lake will be fine. If the right conditions come together, you will have some freezeout, but my home area has many small lakes, and even not so small lakes that are only 7-14 feet deep. Like Chris said, often in these "rearing pond" settings, if you find an area where there are fish, chances are you'll catch so many you'll become annoyed. Good Luck.


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## PJ (Oct 1, 2002)

I think you should try to find where the water source for the slough is. Like a spring. I think thats where you will have the best fishing.


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## maple lake duck slayer (Sep 25, 2003)

I haven't gotten out yet again to see if I can locate them eyes. Weather has been cold+college+work=no fishing. Hopefully I can get out next week and try again. I will post on how I do. It has been brought up that as long as there aren't any poor winters for fish survival, the fish will be fine. Well, we now have 15 inches of snow on the ice. This probably isn't too good, unless there are springs that feed the lake.


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