# Ice Fishing - Answers to Viewer Mail



## Dave1 (Dec 24, 2010)

Have a question - maybe you can answer. What would cause the meat of a fish to be orange colored. Speared a Northern Pike in a Northern Minnesota lake - usually the meat is white in color but have had a couple now that have had an orange color and have no idea what would cause this. This particular lake is off the beaten path for the most part and does not have much for traffic. There is only one house located on the lake and I have heard there are some natural springs located on the lake. There are also a few creeks that flow in/out of the lake. The water clarity is usually clear but at times has been clouded by some white colored stuff - not sure what to make of that either. Never experienced these weird traits before but the spearing action is awesome on this particular lake. Any insight would be awesome. Thanks.
Dave


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## dleier (Aug 28, 2002)

I can't say specifically on this lake what it is or may be, but generally the influence on meat color is from an extended influence on either diet or the water. I'd guess there's some different water chemistry in this particular lake which may be contributing to it. You could contact MN DNR in that area as I'd guess 1) they've heard about it before or 2) they want to know about it.
Merry Christmas,
Doug


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## matt1 (Jan 14, 2011)

So here's a shot in the dark. I am a very experienced angler, but am stumped with this one. i recently recieved permission to fish a small private lake. maybe 50 acres. the lake is make up of a north and south basin, both seem to get around 12 feet deep(from what i found today) caught probably 30 crappies, but nothing over 6 inches. word from several sources is that fish between 15-17 inches have been pulled out of this lake before. i found a few drop offs, and sunken weed bars coming up to 4 feet deep, but as far as i know next to no structure is available. water clarity is between 6-8 feet. any clues on where to find these pigs? im assuming they are few and far between, but i hole hopped all morning, and caught nothing over 6 inches. any ideas? any input would help, thank you much 
-matt


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## admin (Feb 4, 2010)

What depths are you fishing? Do you know what the forage base is?


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