As anglers, we only have two jobs to be successful. The first is to find fish, the second is to make them eat what we are offering them. These two tasks often go hand in hand. Ultimately, the common denominator is forage. When you can pinpoint what the fish are feeding on and how that impacts their movements and behavior, you’re going to have success.
The Carp Connection
One overlooked aspect to game fish location is the common carp. Carp actually play a very critical role when understanding game fish movement because the carp roaming the lake are often followed by fish such as walleye, crappie and perch. This has become a trend for me in large, fishbowl lakes such as Lake Poinsett near Arlington, SD.
I was lucky enough to discover this trend while pre-fishing for a charity tournament in early January 2018. Poinsett is a large lake with long contours and not much for structure aside from a few humps and some points. There are a few rock piles, but mainly the trend I had found was being close to deep weed patches on mud bottom in 17-18ft of water is the ticket.
Often we would find that our Vexilars would light up with large red lines often 2-5ft thick close to or just above bottom. We would often catch walleye, but also occasionally crappie or perch every time we had these marks. Originally, I thought that these were extremely large schools of that species that were moving quickly. However, once I set the shack up and cleared the holes out we were able to see all the way to the bottom in 17ft of water due to the extremely clear water. As soon as the marks lit the screen up again we looked down and observed large schools of carp moving through the area. Often the schools of carp would be anywhere from 3-20 fish with the average size being about 5-10 fish. Throughout observing we saw many walleye, perch and crappie following these schools very closely.
As this trend continued to develop and we kept looking down I had one particular school that was 3 carp and then a 27 inch walleye right behind them at the same depth. This walleye slowly came up to my spoon and took it. The next day we saw another mid-upper 20s walleye swimming with a larger school of carp as well. We fished this trend for the next two weeks, including taking First Place in the charity tournament I was preparing for. The interesting thing about this trend is that on a lake that was widely famous for its low light bite it would produce walleye, perch and crappie all day for fish that were following these carp, including that 27 inch walleye that came at 2pm in the afternoon as well as multiple 13-14 inch crappie and 12-13 inch perch.
Our best theory for why this is happening is because the carp are stirring chironomids, which are small bugs, out of the mud with their tails dislodging them into the water column. While in the water, these bugs present an easy buffet for all game species. Although these prey species are extremely small, they are rich in protein and from an energetic standpoint it is much more advantageous for even a trophy caliber walleye to follow these carp at a slow speed feasting opportunistically on small bugs than expending energy chasing perch or baitfish all winter long.
How can you apply this to your own fishing? Whenever faced with a large, fairly featureless lake, look for where the water is slightly dirtier or areas that you are seeing carp on either your flasher, camera or even in the darker shack. Often carp, or even other game species, are stirring invertebrates (insects) out of the bottom and these are high percentage areas for locating game species. Many times the fish are not aggressive or actively feeding, but more opportunistically feeding. This means that for a presentation, a smaller (1/32-1/16oz) spoon with a minnow head, wax worms or spikes is your top option. This produces color, flash and vibration but is a presentation that can be fished slowly and hung in the face of fish making it look like an easy meal. Generally more aggressive lures like lipless rattlebaits or a swimming lure often are not successful, because that is not what these fish are looking for.
Low Light Life
The big news around the Dakotas is expanding lakes that have flooded farm lands. Heavy precipitation events in the 1980s and 1990s have led to multiple lakes expanding from small sloughs to larger bodies of water. Often areas that were originally dry or small duck ponds now not only have fishable game fish populations, but rather booming populations. Prime examples of this situation are Bitter Lake, Waubay Lake, Dry Lake #2, and Indian Springs/Antelope Complex in South Dakota as well as Devils Lake in North Dakota. Other small, even unnamed gems remain dotted across the landscape waiting for a savvy angler to reap the benefits of taking chances and drilling holes in unfished areas.
These waterbodies flooded areas that had previously been farmlands. This increased the fertility of the bodies of water. These farmlands are often high in nutrients because they had often been used to grow row crops or raise cattle. These nutrients find themselves in the water system and contribute to the food web at the most basic level. The first level is phytoplankton, these are tiny organisms that use sunlight to produce food for themselves through the process of photosynthesis. These are eaten by larger macroinvertebrates, such as daphnia or scuds. These are slightly larger invertebrates that can be seen without the aid of a microscope. This level of the food web is critical because it provides food for all fish in the lake at some point or another.
Fish like yellow perch or bluegill have macroinverts as a large part of their diet throughout the year, but all juvenile fish of all species are going to be feasting on these small inverts as they are in the fry stage and growing up to a size that their prey base expands. Even adult fish like yellow perch grow huge on these high protein snack packs that hang in the water column helpless. It is not a secret that many of the trophy perch waterbodies in the Dakotas are packed full of scuds and other inverts. It is very easy to tell these fish as they often have enormous bodies, although very small heads. This is because they are chowing on tiny forage that do not require them to have a big mouth to capture. Fish that are feeding on minnows or shiners often have to have a bigger mouth to cram that larger prey species in there.
So why do invertebrates have such an effect on fishing? The biggest reason is because it is critical to understand that these bodies of water with booming scud populations are filled with food for fish, especially perch. This means you are not up against hungry fish, so they can be very difficult to catch. Often the bite window is very small because they have so much food, this also makes it very aggressive though. The best way to hedge your bets is to fish in low light conditions. This is often when the scuds are most active and thus this makes the perch most active. These waterbodies often have booming walleye populations, which are a low light predator regardless. This means that it is best to fish early in the morning or as the sun is setting as it is often the best chance to target the largest fish in the lake, whether it be a 15 inch yellow perch or a 10lb walleye.
It’s also important to note that these fish are not used to working hard for their meals. This means that often the larger and most aggressive lures do not work, however I have found that a small spoon (1/32-1/16oz) with wax worms, spikes or minnowheads is often just enough flash and color to stand out and draw the fish’s attention, but not be overly intimidating. It is important to not work the spoon too aggressively once the fish are on screen and generally a slight wiggle in their face is often the best approach.
Stir the Pot
It’s been established that invertebrates play a huge role in the feeding ecology of not only the smallest fish in the lake, but also fish of trophy caliber. They may be followers letting the carp do the work releasing their meals or they may be grazing on scuds hanging helpless in the water column. However, this is not a game of chance. There are ways that anglers can draw fish in as well as increase the odds that these fish are going to bite.
Fish are extremely opportunistic feeders. This means that when food is present, or they think that food is present, they take the opportunity to get the easy meal. Imagine walking into your favorite restaurant and finding out they are giving away free meals all day long and everyone in the county is in there eating. You might not have been hungry when you walked in or drove by, but as soon as you see everyone eating for free if you’re anything like me your stomach is going to start howling like a wolf. This is often the same thing for fish. The best attractors for fish are other fish. If they think that their buddy is somewhere enjoying a free steak dinner they are going to check it out. Anglers can use this to their advantage and draw fish in, even when there are no fish around.
This is all about your jigging cadence and bait selection. I mentioned earlier that once fish are on the screen more subtle movements are often best: however, when fish aren’t on the screen the best way to draw them in is violent jigging strokes. In the Glacial Lakes region of South Dakota, the majority of the lakes are often very clear under the ice as algae and other sediments have settled to the bottom and they are not being stirred up by wind. This means that fish can see a long ways. In these waterbodies, flashy flutter spoons worked high, 4-6ft off bottom, often can draw fish in from great distance. It is an excellent jigging approach and a great way to draw fish in.
However, on more stained bodies of water like Lake of the Woods this approach is not near as effective and a different approach works. This approach is absolutely beating the bottom with your lure creating a large poof of silt and mud. Why is this so effective? On Lake of the Woods perch anglers can often tell they have had a good day because of the mess of blood worms around their holes. These are exactly what they sound like, small worms that are buried down in the mud that the perch root out of the bottom and eat. The same concept applies to the other chironomids that are being stirred up by the carp as discussed before. This creates a disturbance that under the stillness of ice looks like an atomic bomb went off. This attracts other fish to the area thinking that there is a meal.
I like to use a compact presentation like a rattle spoon or slab spoon. This allows solid contact with the bottom and creates a significant disturbance in the silt and mud. After a couple good impacts I like to give a violent rip and some aggressive jig strokes up out of the bottom, much like the approach for the flashy spoons. This is effective for so many species for so many reasons.
The first species is yellow perch. They are used to digging invertebrates out of the bottom and it mimics another perch foraging and thus attracting buddies, much like the diner with all of your friends in it. There really aren’t fish here, one fish going to check it out because it thinks there might be is going to draw others. Should you catch that fish, the thrashing of it will also create a disturbance and draw more fish from a distance in to check out the situation.
The second species is walleye. This jig stroke doesn’t have to mimic a fish foraging. It could be a small prey fish that is either wounded or dying using its last strength attempting to pull itself off bottom, but then failing time and time again. This looks like an easy meal that will literally fall right into a walleye’s mouth. This is another case of a fish feeding opportunistically when the meal is worth the little work required to obtaining it.
The third species is northern pike. The same thought process of a dying baitfish applies to northern, however if a small perch is investigating what it believes is another fish foraging then it may not notice a large predator right behind it. This makes for an easy meal for the stealthy northern.
Do not be afraid to work low in the column like this. We are trained as soon as we start ice fishing that the higher we get a fish, the more likely it is to bite. This is a good mentality, but not necessary written law. It is important to know that these fish like perch and walleye are used to getting their meals off the bottom. They have no issue digging your presentation off the bottom. The reason most people work it off is so it attracts fish, which is true. This presentation does an excellent job attracting fish, but also maintaining that natural approach. If the bait is on the bottom, the fish are going to be focusing on that bottom as well.
Conclusion
It is highly beneficial for anglers to recognize the prey that their target is after. This helps set up location and presentation patterns before they even get to the lake. Most of these lakes are very similar, and though location and depth may be different, the same concepts are going to apply to most of the lakes in the same region. Simple observations on the water, or even examining what you find around your hole or in the stomach of a fish you keep, is the best way to make these determinations. Not only does that help paint the picture of what is going on below the ice but also makes you a more educated angler, helps build interest in young or new anglers, and is also pretty dang cool.
