Depth doesn t matter, he added, because fish will be going in and out on the flats, so they re pretty much going to stay in that area. You can expect to catch most of your fish in 4-7 feet of water. After a few days of cold, bluebird weather, we can often expect a nasty ice storm or two in early to mid-February. You ll go without power for about 12 hours, and then you ll spend another day dragging dead branches out to the back lot to add to the pile you made in the aftermath of a similar storm last year. When the roads clear, you ll be ready to hit the lake again.
Fishing can be extremely tough on days like that, but success is entirely possible.
Here s how McVeigh handles them. When the ice finally melts off the boat ramps and you can get to the lake, you ll be looking at stained water that s between 35-38 degrees, McVeigh explained. That s extremely cold water for this area, and the fish are going to be sluggish. They re pretty much going to be in the same places as they were before on the edge of channels, the edge of sloughs and the edge of points but they re going to be on the ones with the more drastic dropoffs. If you know of any traditional spawning flats, they re going to be on the ones closest to deep water.