Walleye in shallow water

Took the boat out on a small southern Minnesota lake. This lake is loaded with walleyes due to the high water the last few years. It has about 1 inch of clarity so it is super dirty. The lake maxes out at 5′ deep. The surface water temp was almost 90*. Can walleyes survive these temperatures? The lake is also loaded with perch. Saw no dead fish on the surface which is good. Just curious how the fish live in basically a duck slough. It’s been a very dry year so water is low again. During ice season these fish have about 2ft of water to swim in below the ice when the water is high and still manage to survive. What do these walleye do in the summer? The water is like a paint on the surface with all the algae. Crazy to think they can survive these coditions.

This was taken at a lake last year and we hammered the walleyes there this spring. Crazy what conditions these fish can tolerate.

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There’s no channel? I’m thinking of the lakes as you near the headwaters of the Cannon River. Extremely shallow but maintains one or two channels with very slow flow most of the year.

there is a lake like that near me. 6 ft is the deep hole. And I hammer walleyes there in the ice season and nice crappies. Its a pure mud bottom all muck. But there is a creek going in and 1 going out. Ice is always spotty on the lake. Some spots 2 ft thick some 6 inches.
We set up tip ups and stand on shore, if you make noise they won’t bite.

The issue is oxygen. Every fish needs it, some more than others. In the winter the water column can be depleted of it when we get a lot of snow on the ice for an extended period of time. Its called winterkill. Some of these smaller lakes have artificial bubblers/aerators to keep fish alive in the winter and avoid winterkill. There could also be a natural spring at the bottom somewhere.

most likely has some form of a spring.

Does spring water contain oxygen?

Yes, but I do not believe it has the usable type. All water contains oxygen. I believe the usable type is called dissolved oxygen, but not for sure. Somebody here will know.

just remember what we see on the surface of the lake does not mean it goes that far down to affect the fish.