Walleye in the shadows

So had a thought today as I was going over some waypoints on my computer. I noticed that on midlake structures, a large portion of my waypoints are on the north sides of breaks.
I’d like to know if there are others that notice this.
So it would create a shadow on the deep side of the structure. Not much of one, but its there. And,…the shadow would be bigger due to the light refracting at the surface and it would be more so in the winter because the light travels through the ice as well. With a low sun in the south and steep breakline, I can’t help but wonder if this is the case.
What do you guys think?

I’m just saying

Matt – I absolutely believe you are right on with that idea. Up on the reefs of Lake of the Woods, where I spend a lot of time in the summer, we see the exact same thing. On sunny calm days, especially, the biting fish are concentrated on the north side of the reef. My theory is that this allows walleyes to sit in the shade and ambush minnows and perch that come by illuminated by the sun. On cloudy days or with a lot of wave action, we see the fish pretty evenly dispersed all the way around the reefs. Same thing with evening….as soon as the sun starts getting low in the sky, the fish scatter out more randomly.

Interesting,….I’ve never read or heard anyone discuss “shadow fishing”. It ertainly makes poerfect sense in my mind. I’d love to pull up a screen shot of pro countour software and show you an example of lake with waypoints all on the north ends, but I’m second guessing that idea

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Interesting,….I’ve never read or heard anyone discuss “shadow fishing”. It ertainly makes poerfect sense in my mind. I’d love to pull up a screen shot of pro countour software and show you an example of lake with waypoints all on the north ends, but I’m second guessing that idea

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Go ahead matt, we’ll close our eyes…..

Not much different than what most bass guys have been doing for years. The shaded side of any structure is generally the best side

In the spring of the year, I like to start my evening on the shady shorelines pitching jigs for walleyes and then in the summer will do the same thing musky fishing on the east facing shorelines, especially if you can get some wind on ’em!!!

Mark

Hey Matt,

I think that is a very interesting topic. On lakes or river systems without dominate current flow or a prevailing wind which may override the shade theory. I wonder?? Winter time?? Hmnnnnnnn. Very interesting thought. I know I will have that in my mind when ice fishing now.

Matt:

I think you’re right on, but like Brian said, the effect is most pronounced on days with bright sun. Anyone who’s used an underwater camera understands the effect of light at both depth and location.

A few years ago, I tried putting down a camera on the shaded side of a weedbed that was still high; I was absolutely frustrated. It’s a lake where I knew I typically had good water clarity. Not that day, and the sun was bright! Then I studied the camera the whole way down. Great viewing until I got behind that dense weedbed and things got fuzzy quick, in < 15 FOW! No eyes in that system, but that weed-edge has produced some great bonus bass when trying to find gills. I think you shed a bit more “light” as to why.

Great post!

Joel

Ya I no doubt believe in this tactic. I was at LOTW last year on a bright sunndy ice fishing and my dad kept catching walleyes left and right while nobody else was doing anything. I later realized wallys like the shade. So I made the hypothesis that since the my dad was on the farther side of the house where the shade of the house was right on his holes. not sure if its “correct” but he sure slayed em… just a hypothesis and I later started fishing shaded reefs and drop offs and I believe it was so interesting that it worked. Really cool thing to try and its even better when u start catching the eyes… just thought I’d add

It was definately the case on Leech this weekend during the day after the fish had moved deeper. They were using the steep break line for shaded ambush. Got some fish on the north facing slopes

Leech report

I can honestly say I’ve never given it that much thought, but now that you mention it I have a lot of successful spots that relate to north slopes. I’ll have to study these techniques some more. Thanks for the tips!