reserviors with little structure

Hey all!!!

Have a technical question here, hoping some of you can help me out!!!

In Minnesota, we have a reservior lake that has little to no structure (no sunken islands, no humps, no rock piles). There is also NO weeds in the lake.
There are no islands.

The lake primarily consist of sand/rubble bottom.
It has a few shallow bays with stumps, but the bays are massive flat style.

It has a rip/rap shoreline, but the drop in water is 2fow for every foot you go out (meaning it drops to 40 fow, 20 feet from shore.

There is 2 bluff walls, that hold a little structure from the limestone rock breaking off and falling in the water. There, the water drops right off into 30 feet, 50 feet from shore.

This lake is very confusing to me, being that there really isn’t anything to “hold the fish”. They lake host nice sunnies, crappies, walleyes, lg mouth bass, smallies, pike, & channel cats. The lake does host a very large population of carp, sheephead, & bull heads.

Most of the lake is approximately 20 feet deep and has a very defined “channel” that runs through it (making it 20 feet deep), the majority of the rest of the water is around 10 feet deep, except by the dam, where it drops to 40 feet.

My problem is that I cannot pattern this lake for any species of fish. One day you find them (any species) and you go back the next day and they are gone.

I’ve been told the system is very similar to some of the Ia reserviors.

Can anyone help me in patterning these fish????

Sounds like Byllesby. I doubt that’s the spelling. I’ve had a ton of trouble finding fish there. Your depthfinder is always on fish, but they’re probably rough fish. I’ve taken a few small fish, but to be honest, I haven’t ever talked to anyone that does well there much past the spring.

Sounds like some of the ND reservoirs as well. Featureless bodies of water with a defined channel, minus the steep drops. From my experience here there are two things I look for, first is wind direction. You must fish the side of the channel that the wind is blowing into. Second, stay on the channel until you find a pocket between the channel and shore that is on the windy side that might collect baitfish. If these bluffs you discuss block most of the wind, then……??
It is even more difficult to fish this in the winter. It feels like you’re just waiting for the schools of fish to pass by.

As stated above the first key is going to be your river bed. Second, I would look for substrate changes. Look for mud or sand going to gravel. I know this is basic but it can be more important in this type of water. These fish are looking for anything they can find to hold on. I run a flaser for this reason alone. When you find a change, make sure to check it. I always have a roll’r jig rigged up. This allows me to determine if I am working gravel, rubble, or boulders.

Good luck, and remember that the hunt is the fun.

Gary, those rock piles created from the walls caving off will be your best structure from the way you described the lake. Scope it slowly with your depth finder till you locate fish, then work on them. Methods are many in this situation and you’ll have to find out for yourself what they want. Crappies will be easy. Slow troll a kentucky rig or tight line a tube jig just above their faces.
Next, I’d look for that channel and work the ledges. It doesn’t have to be much of a drop to hold fish. Even a 6″ drop off will hold fish if that is all they can find in the area.
Above all, find the forage and you’ll find the feeders.
Rock, rip rap, and channel edges.
Might be a good time to start building some fish motels to put in there, if the law allows it.
They don’t let us do that in Ia. but it gets done anyway.

If I was catfishing, I would concentrate on the old channel. Anything else I would look and look until I found the bait. Anything else will be on the baitfish.

Also,Gary should have mentioned stained water,that will have a pea green algie bloom,this is what gets me confused about this body of water because in the fall when the water clairity gets very good it seems the bass are holding right where they should be??

My first question is how many acres we talking here and what is the shape of the lake….would be interested to see a map so I can have a lake here to compare it to in my mind. Advice on the creek channel is on the money. If it is like a couple of our tough big river impoundments here then you are just as frustrated as some of us. For bass, key on your breaks, any rocks (including any rip rap, maybe even as stop #1). Wind would also guide me to my first stops. Wind keys big res predators and there are times that we pull cranks or spinners in 2-4ft of water at 2-3mph to trigger those fish…tough in the wind but can be SUPER effective if done right. Again….would be curious as to size and shape so maybe I can help you even more…..

goody

Feeder creeks. Second, I would go looking for irregularities in the rock walls large enough to hold fish. Coralville, at least, has a lot of coves wherever there’s a break in the rock on an outside bend – during flood years the water cuts out small bays, I suppose. Third, I would concentrate on the old channel, especially where there are turns or irregularities.

If you’re focused on walleyes, I might consider reversing the order, but take that with a grain of salt since my ability to find the eyes on resevoirs like that has been nonexistent.

Yep, the lake is Byllesby. And yes, as Dave C. mentioned, it is green with alge.

The lake is primarily 5 miles long and about 1 mile wide. The channel snakes through. When you look at the map, a guy would think, easy enough to fish…….but it just doesn’t work that way.

Yes, the bluff walls hold fish, but you basically only have 2 different stretches that are about 100 yards long……..Then what????

byllesby

Yup, sounds like our wonderfully tough lakes like Red Rock, Saylorville, Coralville, and in a way Rathbun. The first three I mentioned are tough and expansive, fishing more like a river than a lake. Again, I would key shallow on wind blown areas for the predator fish. If I struck out shallow I would probe the main river channel. Trolling 2mph + with bright colored cranks or spinners in shallow wind blown areas will almost always produce something. If they are that negative, then I would work out to the first break, whether it be at 5ft or 12ft….especially in places where those shallower ledges connect with a deeper creek channel. If there are reasonable feeder creeks, then finding fish in them is a definite possibility. The fish in these big lakes are roamers, following schools of shad/suckers/ciscoes/etc. and take advantage of the wind blown mucky waters. Here in Iowa, it is amazing the numbers and size of fish that are caught in big lakes like that under 10ft of water during the summer time.

goody

My advice for the crappies would be to slooow troll with 2 way crappie rigs with lively minnows.Run these rigs at different depths.Work the fast drops and points where the chanel breaks for the other side.Like Herb said Put in structure allot.It’s allot of work but it pays of for years.I put an x in the places I would sink some hard wood trees and tried to circle the places I would start slow trolling. Hope this helps. [image]http://images.snapfish.com/34439<3923232%7Ffp3%3B%3Dot>2337%3D<34%3D<%3B%3B%3DXROQDF>2323949%3A93662ot1lsi[/image]

For walter and bass I would start with an area that has a deep creek channel swinging in close to any kind of wood or shallow flat with scattered wood on it. Also, those bays with stumps are probably feeder creek arms with creek channels cutting through the stump fields. I would work along the channel edge in these areas casting cranks, bouncing them off stumps, and making contact with the lip of the channel, maybe Rattle Trap’n in the dark water. Creek channel intersections will concentrate fish as well. If the water is pretty dark then 2 to 8 feet deep would be a good depth to spend some time in. If everything else is equal, some stumps or wood with gravel close by should attract fish. Try to roll as many tastey items as you can into one area. Deep water, shallow shelf, wood, rock, sand and the transitions that go with each – those types of areas will create lots of diverse forage for little panfish and baby bullheads. And one more thing with the dark water, the best bite may be at lunchtime. Good Luck,

Kolby

Thanks for the input from everyone,maps say there is a thermocline at 12 feet of water,there are three feeder creeks,with only one with good water flow at low water conditions,this is a hydro dam resiovor,do you anglers feel there is oxygen below 12 feet with the inlets and the dam,an angler can always graph fish deeper than 12ft?
Once again I will mention very stained water and a pea green algie bloom,is the river channel the key?
Most of the channel is in 20ft. and deeper.
Once again thanks for the input!

Usually the thermocline will show up on your fish finder. If you’re marking fish below 20 ft, then there must be adequate oxygen to keep them down there.

Good luck!