Explain this one...Pigeon Lake last Saturday

[keep6matt]

So we arrived at Pigeon about 8:30 AM and start trying out the usual spots anywhere from 12 to 16 FOW and it was slow, caught maybe 4 or 5. So we seen many boats heading across the lake from PP toward Mullhurst side so we thought lets take a cruise over there. So as we we pretty much in the middle of the lake we started to mark fish and I said lets stop and try for the heck of it. So my friend stopped the boat in the middle of lake in 25 FOW and its the flattest bottom ever and he drops his hook down puts his rod down, lites a smoke and bang, fish hit it and poof over the side goes his rod and reel!! LOL I laffed quite hard at him and then put down a bottom bouncer in hopes to catch his rod n reel. Not even a minute later and bang, fish on!! Nice large chunky 56 cm walleye. (that turned out to be the largest walleye caught of the day) Release it, bait up and bang another, then another. We are looking at each going are you kidding me? Well that continue on, drift fishing in the middle of the lake and catching pretty constantly. So what is this all about? Walleye chasing perch hiding in the middle of the lake? I would love to hear your theories on this one....btw we ended up at PP at end of the day (usual spot) with at least 15 + boats there and caught a few only and noticed no one else was really catching anything, weird as this is almost always a productive spot.

[Smokey]

I've had successful fishing a few other spots other then the ol' floating city on any given day. And then there are times the only place I can catch is with all the others.

[waterninja]

i think everyone has spent time thinking...ahh they gotta like this lure....or that presentation....or this spot...or that spot...this depth...that depth...sunny day...cloudy day...cold day...hot day... morning...evening till you start losing your mind and start talking to yourself. who the heck knows what a fish is thinking!?
did your buddy retrieve his rod?

[keep6matt]

Originally Posted by waterninja

i think everyone has spent time thinking...ahh they gotta like this lure....or that presentation....or this spot...or that spot...this depth...that depth...sunny day...cloudy day...cold day...hot day... morning...evening till you start losing your mind and start talking to yourself. who the heck knows what a fish is thinking!?
did your buddy retrieve his rod?

No we tried and tried and to no avail, I sure hope the barbless hook unhooks from the fish, thats my only concern. It wasn't no top end rod n reel by no means, my buddy is the "Zebco" type of angler lol.

[Labguy]

the pp is fished to death, you can catch 50 to 100 walleye anywhere on the lake, other than pp lake is awesome, fish cops set it up so there are only so many launches , and they can patrol better , seagull island , non stop wally's

[keep6matt]

LOL thats epic Lab,,,,actually we were very surprised how slow it was, as I said the PP with its usual 15 to 20 boats was at a stand still, actually when I hooked into my third walleye, a few boats came in quite close to us lol. I think the constant thunderstorms throughout the week turned the walleye off.

[dragon]

thats funny because sunday we were on the flats in 3-4 FOW putting around and every time you see one you tossed out your jig infront of them and BANG.

[ineptflux]

We were doing somewhat the same thing at Calling Lake (hopefully i can get apic thread up soon) this past weekend - pulling some nice walleye up suspending at 35'-45' with a 52' bottom. Biggest was 60.5cm. Was quite fun!

[NSRfishing]

dragging a jig on the bottom drifting anywhere on lake has always been more productive than pp bait or no bait i think most at the crowd to cheap for gas

[338Bluff]

sounds like I had better print my tags and head out.

There are some good off shore spots in Pigeon.

[ETOWNCANUCK]

you took the road less travelled and caught a few more fish you would have had you followed the others across the lake.

I usually light the smoke first then cast.

[AppleJax]

As the water temp increases the walleye head deep where the oxygen and baitfish are. Consiquently fish mortality increases angling from these depths in the height of summer as they get temperature shocked on top of the pressure change being pulled from the depths.

[338Bluff]

Originally Posted by AppleJax

As the water temp increases the walleye head deep where the oxygen and baitfish are. Consiquently fish mortality increases angling from these depths in the height of summer as they get temperature shocked on top of the pressure change being pulled from the depths.

The fish off the shelf are in 25 FOW and the fish in the middle of the Lake are in 25 FOW.

Is 25 FOW too deep to be fishing? Or does the problem really become worse at depths greater than 30 (which is only a few of our lakes in AB).

Just curious.

[AppleJax]

Originally Posted by 338Bluff

The fish off the shelf are in 25 FOW and the fish in the middle of the Lake are in 25 FOW.

Is 25 FOW too deep to be fishing? Or does the problem really become worse at depths greater than 30 (which is only a few of our lakes in AB).

Just curious.

Obviously the deeper the worse it would get. Just my take on why they are deep. Icant answer your question if 25 is too deep to be fishing. That answer is up to each individual fisherman.

[Winch101]

Was there 2 yrs ago ,ran out of bait ... 4 pks.. Caught walleyes
Every depth,5 ft...and deeper...and ever where on lake ..one after the other....almost no dinkers
Was like a fly in lake.....they are just following that bait fish around .

Feed and breed ,that's it .... Lots of grass out in the middle .....perch cover
So the eyes are there ....

[Nakoda boater]

I like the deep fishing, Caught lots 40-60 fow and try to play them out some so they come to the surface slower in hopes of a better survival rate and so far this yr they have all swam away fine.
Here is to more successful fishing trips!

[huntsfurfish]

Fishing regs suggest 23 feet or shallower.

fishing in 30' or more will kill much more walleye. Anglers might as well keep em all, as they will have a very high mortality rate

Fish swim away and likely die later(delayed mortality).

Best to fish water 25' or less for walleye and perch.

[EZM]

Originally Posted by Labguy

fish cops set it up so there are only so many launches , and they can patrol better ,

I wasn't aware that the "fish cops" had jurisdiction over private boat launches, or boat launches constructed by developers nor did I realize they were consulted prior to the provincial or federal parks services installing a launch.

Maybe they are monitoring your cell phone calls on the lake too.

[f_train22]

Fish can show up in the most random parts of lakes...I remember I once went to the middle of a lake to have lunch and dropped down a pickeral rig with minnows all the way to the bottom at 40 ft just to play around...caught a 12 inch perch. No idea why he was cruising at that depth.

[pickrel pat]

Originally Posted by f_train22

Fish can show up in the most random parts of lakes...I remember I once went to the middle of a lake to have lunch and dropped down a pickeral rig with minnows all the way to the bottom at 40 ft just to play around...caught a 12 inch perch. No idea why he was cruising at that depth.

because big perch love deep water.

[bonedogg]

possible inversion coming up? who knows

[munki63]

I was on pigoen the same day and I couldn't keep the pike off my hook, at one point I thought to myself "this is ridiculous, I came out to relax on the boat"