Sylvan Lake

[Deano85]

Hi, im looking for any tips anyone might have on fishing sylvan. Im guessing walleye and whitefish are easiest to catch? Any good general areas, techniques to use?

[nevercatchmuch]

do a search and a few things come up.
I've only used spoons and crank baits with success for smaller pike and walleyes

[Deano85]

I went trolling out by sunbreaker cove and caught 3 pike and 2 walleye in about 2.5 hours. I was wondering if there were any good places to troll around sunbreaker cove. I saw a bunch of boats parked east of the cove right off a point, range road 21 ish. Is there a drop off there? Thanks

[nevercatchmuch]

good question.... I don't have a fish finder or depth finder so will be interested in the answer

[Deano85]

http://www.sylvansailing.com/images/Sylvan%20Lake%20Bathymetric%20Map%20-2005.jpg

Yep, there is a big drop off there. They must of been jigging for walleye.

[DarkAisling]

Nice map. I used to build loads of bathymetric maps for Northern Envirosearch.

[floppychicken]

..is an interesting lake to fish. The water clarity is usually pretty good and fishing on a 'Sunny Day' can be tough. Fishing on a 'Cloudy' and/or Windy day can be pretty awesome.

Since the lake's bottom is pretty flat, and not a lot of structure, the weed-beds are your friend ! Find the drop off's and clusters of weed beds and cast around and along them... You'll have tremendous success with not only BIG walleye, but REALLY LARGE PIKE as well. The Pike and the Walleye also Like the bays and especially the ones that the bait-fish are being blown into and the ones that are a bit murkier, providing cover for open water hunting..

Also, if you're catching REALLY little PIKE, stay put ! Where there are 'really small' pike (I'm talking 1/4 lb here...) then there is a VERY good chance that there are much BIGGER fish in the vicinity! I'm not sure why this is... it could be because the smaller pike make a great meal or because the smaller pike are targeting a bait fish of a 'specific' size... Either way, I've found that there are usually a good number of BIG WALLEYE in the area. On one occasion, we caught 20 or so, 4 to 9 lb Walleye in exactly this type of situation (on a different lake) in less than a couple of hours.... Sylvan's Walleye don't seem to be quite this big but you can definitely pull out the odd 6lb er' outta there and the same scenario seems to apply.

Now if you have a depth finder, (which you REALLY should) you can also fish the deeper water and find the structure (deep weed-beds, rocks, ledges, logs, whatever...) and mid-lake humps ! These can provide a great fishing opportunity as there aren't a whole lot of them on Sylvan. But in order to find them, you need the Depth-Finder. I'll likely never fish any open water without one ever again.

This week should be INCREDIBLE fishing out at Sylvan. There won't be a TON of boats either, due to the rain and crappy weather but since it's been so hot, the cooling effect should produce some VERY 'ACTIVE' fish indeed.

BTW, I'd be pretty sure that Sylvan likely holds a good number of 25lb + PIKE ! I wouldn't be surprised if the next 30lb er' was taken out of that water.... (I've seen 'things' in there...:scared: )

Anyway, just my opinion on fishing Sylvan. Hope some of this helps.

Cheers,

/FC...

[Deano85]

I know this sounds stupid but what is the best way to locate weed beds, other than the ones you can see on the surface.

[fluxcore]

I know this sounds stupid but what is the best way to locate weed beds, other than the ones you can see on the surface.

fishfinder or mask and snorkle

[floppychicken]

fishfinder or mask and snorkle


:lol::lol: Yep, that's about the only way !

Usually by sight is the 'best way'. Go over top of em' and through em' and you'll see where the 'begin, end, start again', etc... Try finding a weed bed that's REALLY thick and that thins out quickly or hits a drop off. I like to fling a Rattlin' Rap in there and reel it in nice and quick so it 'just clips' the tops of the weeds.... It Drives the fish nuts ! Another way to drive em' stupid is to get a few 'offset hooks' and bait em' with soft plastic baits, used for BASS (I prefer the sinking type..). Drop those down into the weed 'pockets' and along the weed lines. They also work really well behind a bottom bouncer, although I prefer the floating kind for that... Either way, both methods can produce some pretty sweet fish. :)

Cheers,

/FC...