Searching for Panfish

Small bowl shaped lakes i have been having no problems finding fish, but the larger lakes i am blanking out. The larger lakes hold the larger fish, just struggeling find them the last few days.

Had the fish dialed in before the thaw and as fast as things melted, the fish disappeared.

Drilled over 100 holes yesterday and didn’t find squat. This being the same lake where 2-3 weeks ago i was catching upwards of 60 sunfish with 20 going over 9″..

Where did they go?
Any insight?

Also, since i’ve been catching so much sunfish lately, it would be fun to switch gears and chase some crappies, but have not had much luck stumbling onto them either.

Now is when I start fishing north shorelines, drop-offs and deep water close to north shorelines.. Stable weather I fish shallow, cold front start shallow and move gradually towards deeper water.. Just the way I try to figure it out be interesting to hear what others do!! Good post

So one of the lakes that has produced some amazing fishing in the last three weeks, the bite was on the south end of the lake, which i’m told by a local is the area of the lake where they spawn. I haven’t fished that lake in the summer with my SI to identify all the spawning areas. So i’ll just take his word.
Figuring these fish moved from the 9′ hump to either the northerly deeper water or the southern shallower water i’ve drilled many holes in search of them, but found nothing.

Everything for me on these lakes fell apart when the thaw happened.

These lakes are new to me since i moved to this area this past summer, but i recall the lake that i predominately fished the past 4 years in the spring ice, and the bite was on the south end.

How much about the panfish location revolves around green weeds right now?

I’m just a little stumped at this point and figured that i would have relocated the school after the past week or so of trying.

Lake Area (acres): 632.28
Littoral Area (acres): 393.4
Maximum Depth (ft): 43

Of course there are still many spots to try yet on a 600 acre lake and i’ll be interested to hear others viewpoints.
With over half the lake 15′ or less there’s lots of shallow water to cover.

Green weeds are a huge part of the transition right now. Not only will they start holding bait fish and bugs but they will also begin producing oxygen again..

Found a few after covering lots more water.
Hiding in the weeds.