As I thought about what to try next, I remembered a pattern that had worked for me many years before.  As the summer comes to an end, the cabbage weeds die off and the baitfish that had been hidden in them are suddenly left exposed and vulnerable to hungry gamefish.  I motored onto a nearby sand flat that had been home to thick weed beds that Summer.  The area had been a big pike hotspot, as the sand flat was relatively close to the deep water of the main lake basin.  As we trolled slowly into the bay on mirror flat water under a blazing sun, I noticed several floating mats of dead and decaying weeds.  We began trolling in 12 - 16 ft. of water and immediately caught fish.  As we worked shallower we caught more and by the time we focused on the 6 - 8 ft. range we had caught more 2 - 7 lb. walleyes in 3 hours of fishing than we had the previous week combined.  The next day, all of the guide boats were capitalizing on dying weed beds and experiencing unbelievable production in very shallow water, despite weather conditions that screamed for a deep, deep water bite.  (I gave myself a good pat on the back for “figuring that one out.”)

            The next Summer warmed quickly and many walleyes had moved out toward the main lake basins by mid July.  After getting smoked one blistering Hot calm morning, I met up with the rest of our group for shorelunch.  Expecting to hear similar grim stories, I was shocked to hear that two of my rookie guides had each managed to put over 50 walleyes aboard, including 2 over 9 lbs.  A warm high pressure system had moved in and with the lack of any wind, I had concentrated on the mid to deep water structures of the main lake basin.  Standard procedures, right? 

Not this Day:

            One guide had switched to walleye gear after his guests hooked several walleyes on pike spoons in a shallow weed bed.  They trolled the deep edge of the weed bed with spinners and later pitched jigs up into the weeds with great success.  The other guide had started experimenting with shallower water by 9:00 AM and by 10:00 AM his guests were pitching jigs and twisters on top of rock piles and were catching aggressive walleyes as shallow as 4 ft.  Conditions were similar to those we had experienced the previous Aug., it was the 3rd day of super hot weather with almost no wind.  Since that day, we have experienced this phenomenon dozens and dozens of times throughout the Summer months. 

            I would like be able to “pat myself on the back” and explain why the fish were there and why they were aggressive, but to be honest, I have no idea.  One of my guides speculated that the surface can be viewed from a walleye perspective, as a type of “edge” and under flat calm conditions this may be the case.  This pattern probably occurs on other walleye waters as well, but the Lac Seul Summer shallow water bite is the most dramatic that I have experienced.  What I do know for sure is that when it gets hot and flat and my basin bite shuts down, I always check the shallows, and more often than not it has saved the day!

            With most of my groups, I explain the rationale behind guiding decisions, but on this occasion I decided to start fishing quickly.  That way if they weren’t there, I could leave right away and maybe save a little face.  We proceeded to pound walleyes one after another for the next 2 hours.

            Eric suggested we switch from live crawlers to Berkley power worms.  They worked every bit as well as the live bait and our catch rate actually increased, because we didn’t have to stop after every fish and dig around in the crawler box.  Eager to pick up a few more pointers from a pro, I asked Eric why he was so skeptical about the “look” of the spot when we pulled in.

            He explained that the wave action looked good, but under many tournament conditions, water that discolored made it difficult to catch fish.  He allowed that many of the pros would have fished the edge of the mudline, but it was against convention to fish surrounded by water that dirty.  As we continued to make backtrolling passes back and forth, we noticed that the boat actually left a clearer track through the muddy water.  The prop wash of the boat was cutting through the milky surface and pushing clearer water to the top. 

            I am sure that a physicist or limnologist could explain why the clay particles react in the water the way they do, but only the result was important to us.  As the waves of a new wind hit the clay bank, the water became cloudy, but it was only the top bands of the water column that became discolored.  The water below was still clear, but the band of turbid clay water above created a sudden shade.  The result was the usual bounty of a wind blown shoreline combined with the low light conditions that often trigger walleyes to feed aggressively.

            Over the years, we have increased our knowledge base of locations that lend themselves to these types of water conditions and active walleye bites.  Now, no longer a novelty, we accept it as a major pattern on Lac Seul.  If walleyes are in or near shallow to mid depth regions and a significant wind blows into a clay bank, especially a cup or inside curve, then you will very likely find very turbid surface water and aggressive walleyes feeding in the clearer water beneath.

            One of my top guides expanded this pattern last Spring.  On his way from the lodge to one of the warm bays of the north shore, Cory McKiel took a short cut across the main lake through a set of channels in the center of a maze of mid lake islands.  The islands are actually part of the main lake basin, are surrounded by cold deep water, and had historically been areas of marginal production for big walleyes during the Summer months.  With surface temperatures in the high 40s to 50 degrees, noone had considered fishing the islands in June, let alone May.  A steady wind had been blowing on a C shaped clay bank in one of the passes and Cory just couldn’t drive by the muddy colored water without making a trolling pass.  They didn’t catch a lot of fish, but  3 - 25 in., a 26 in., and a 28 in. walleye in 20 minutes definitely got the guide staff buzzing.

            After more scouting, the guide staff has come up with the following recipe for a new spring pattern.  Even though standard convention is to fish the warm shallow fertile bays (55 - 60+ degrees) during early season, high volume is not usually accompanied by very many big fish.  It seems that even though the waters of the main lake are cold, there are still walleyes present, even early in the year.  There may not be that many and they may not be that aggressive, but on average, they are big!  The consensus of the crew is that the limited amount of shallow water in the basin/islands area is relatively small and thus concentrates the few fish present.  Add enough wind blowing onto a shallow water clay bank shoreline to color the water and you have just enough incentive to get those big fish to bite, despite the low temperature.  This pattern resulted in several Master Angler qualifying walleyes (over 29 in.)  early last season and we look forward to scouting more new water this coming year.

            The shear size of Lac Seul has led my guide staff to think about walleye structure on a different scale.  The prevailing winds and currents of a small lake may result in a “drift” of sand on the lee side of an island that is maybe a 100 yds long and 25 yds wide.  Most every walleye angler would recognize this as a sand bar and a potential walleye spot.  Increase the scale by 10 times or more and try to envision a version of a bar that is over a mile long, perhaps 200 yds wide, that tops out at 15 feet, and drops off on all sides into 70ft.  Is this a bar?  Is it a Flat?  We call them “Mega-Sand” structures and especially in July and August, big walleyes call them home.

            If I had come across such a structure 5 years ago, I probably would have scanned it quickly with my graph, searched for a weed bed on top, possibly fished the end of the point with a jig, and then dismissed it as walleye wasteland.  During the Summer months  on Lac Seul, I now spend at least 50% of my time plying this type of water, especially for big walleyes.

            Brett McCallum is one of my Senior crew and is the most proficient “Mega-Structure” guide on staff.  During the months of July and Aug., he averages one 28 in. walleye every day, and was close to one 29 in. fish every other day this past season.  A great deal of his success can be attributed to his natural ability to watch his graph and develop a 3 dimensional image in his mind of the piece of structure he is fishing.  What would appear to most anglers as a large featureless flat in the middle of the lake, becomes to him a blown up version of a sand bar.  His approach to fishing it is similar to what most anglers would do with smaller structure.  He breaks it down into pieces.  He looks for the edges, the top, and the breaks and then he covers water quickly with bottom bouncers and spinners usually with crawlers, but sometimes with minnows. 

            The key is to find the preferred depth range for that days weather conditions.  With wind and clouds, the search begins shallower or on top of the structure on the windward side looking for active fish.  After a front or with less wind, the search goes deeper.  Backtrolling at all times to cover water with an eye on the graph, the guides watch for balls of baitfish as well as marked walleyes.  Subtle inside corners, changes in grade and termination points can all concentrate fish, especially in the presence of wind and favorable surface currents.  On occasion, Brett will work off the structure and look for fish suspended over the main lake basin.  The approach requires discipline and faith, but gets much easier when you “know” your water and after you’ve landed several giants.

The Tip of the Iceberg

            Walleyes in super shallow water in Summer, The turbid water connection, and “Mega-Sand” structure walleyes are just a few of the discoveries we have encountered on Lac Seul over the past five years.  I am anxious to see what more surprises we will find over the next 5, for I feel that we are still on the steepest side of the learning curve.

Lac Seul can be challenging, but in the end, isn’t that what makes the puzzle fun?  It is that challenge and the pursuit of Giant walleyes that are at the very heart of why I love to guide on Lac Seul.