Dirty water = shallow fish, anyone else?
 

This year my home lake has been plagued with really dirty water. Everyone is having trouble catching fish, and it all up and down the lake you hear reports that people fishing from the bank are catching more than guys out in boats. That should have clued me in, but it took awhile for me to make the connection. Lately when the water goes super dirty I fish shallow... like really shallow, I drift down the shoreline throwing my hook right to the waterline and I've actually been doing pretty well with pike and walleye on days when nobody else I know is catching much. The fish I've been catching are choked right full of the minnows they've been gorging on in the shallows, contrary to the popular opinion that they just aren't biting. All of this makes sense to me that they would be more comfortable, feeding on the concentrated schools of minnows in less than 2 feet of water when the water is dirty. And probably have an easyer time finding and catching their meal than further out. Just wondering if anyone else has experienced this?

A couple observations I've made so far, involving both walleye and pike.

The dirtyer the water the larger size of fish I can expect to find in real skinny water. To be honest I'm not catching much in the way of trophy fish, but some are fairly respectable, and on lots of these days everyone on the lake is happy to catch anything at all.

With the high water table we've got lots of flooded willows and driftwood along the shores. I think this cover is helping things, but the feed is always there regardless, so I think this will still hold true when the water levels are lower. Curious to find out.

To much chop and all bets are off. A brisk walleye chop that might make for a good day in deeper water (so long as its not chocolate milk dirty), seems to chase the fish out of the extreme shallows.

This is especially true for rivers. When rivers are high and murky fish are throughout the river, right up to the shore bank.
When it’s low and clear, the fish are in the holes.

A few lakes I fished as a kid nothing more than Perch or minnows could be caught off the dock on a typical day (only a few feet of water in depth). But on the days the wind was howling and the lake was rough (to rough to fish with a boat) I could catch Walleye and Pike off the dock almost every cast (some of significant size). The game fish where coming into skinny water on those blustery days as the water close to shore had become very dirty with all the debris being mixed around by the waves to ambush Perch and minnows.

To this day when out at these lakes if the wind is going I still grab my rod and giver a go. The more wind the better particularly on sunny days. I still catch plenty of Walleye and Pike right off the dock to many people’s amazement. My kids go nuts and just love joining me.

Have had success in the past on the Bow during runoff right up against the bank running stoneflies. Caught some of my largest trout on the river then.

End of day fish be like we gotta eat...

We had a similar experience a few weeks back. We fishing right at a river mouth with dirty choppy water and literally caught fish after fish all day long. Moved off the spot for a couple hours to search for some bigger ones. We moved to calm, clear water and the fishing was okay but very slow in comparison to the first spot. Went back to the river mouth and started slaying again.

big and dirty, for my favourite fishing it cant be beat. nothing like dropping a bait straight down under the rod tip and pulling out a fish that most people would only dream of. dinos will feed right to the shore, up in the thick willows and thats when it gets really fun! :sHa_shakeshout: then again when arent they fun!

Pretty sure all of our sturgeon have been caught within 10 ft of shore this season. Many of then within a couple ft.

True story. Happened upon my brother at a southern Res. He had his boat up on shore on a wind swept shore of a southern Res. I asked him what he was doing, he said catching walleye. He was jigging off the back of a 16ft boat that that had it's nose on the shoreline. Literally in 3 ft of water on a mud line, catching lots of walleye, a real eye opener.

In larger rivers many of the fish feed within 20 feet of the shoreline. Where clearer creek water at the creek mouth mingles with the dirtier river water is the hottest place for hooking fish lips. The dirty/clean mingling water only has to be a foot or more deep to hold fish. At the mouth of one particular creek on the NSR in a foot of water I have caught a few 10 to 16 lb pike.

In lakes the shallows are where the predator fish hunt. During spring and summer is where schools of minnows cruise in 2 to 6 feet. Predator fish especially like if shallow water is a bit dirty. The walleye, pike and big perch like sitting at the downwind side of a lake when the wind is blowing. I have watched jumbo perch lined up along a shore and every time a 3 foot breaker wave came in you could see them in 4 feet of water and all their noses were facing the shore. Use a darker colored lure in dirty water too. I have caught 8 lb. whitefish in 1.5 feet deep water too (at Smoke lake).

On a lake where the wind or breeze first starts blowing on the water surface, that calm water/wavy water edge is the hot spot for trout. Land a fly or pull a spinner through that surface edge is great. Otherwise if I am just stationary bait fishing with a float at a stocked trout lake I will often fish within 6 feet of shore if it is 3 or more feet deep.