The lake has pike and walleye and perch, as far as bait fish I dont know what's in the lake, I know there are crayfish.
> try craw patterns along with fire tiger (yellow perch) and get some sexy shad patterns as well, a lake that size most likely has some in there.
The lake depth changes a lot cuz it's in a valley, the floor rolls if that makes sence it drops to 30-40 feet and back up to 5 feet then starts dropping again. I will be fishing from a boat, it has been hott up here for the past week, air temp has been sitting around 25-30c(77-84f).
> first order of business is going to be finding the fish, with those temperatures being higher than normal there they may be staged up on those drop offs. If they are try some deep crankbaits or slow roll lipless cranks and spinnerbaits up the slopes on the dropoffs. Texas Rigged plastics with a bit heavier weight than normal can get fish staged like this as well. Other thing I would try would be to vertical jig small spoons (1/4-1oz) since you said there are walleye and perch in the lake, if you can get in to a group of fished staged on a dropoff or on he bottom you can catch all sorts of fishing doing this.
And the water on the lake is heated from a hydro station, the last few times I've been there it's been 85f it could be even a little warmer. The lake is in the prairies so the banks don't have a lot of trees it's pretty bare, the lake does have a lot of reed beds
> hit the reed beds with spinnerbaits and weightless senko style stik-baits. watermelon red and green pumpkin are always good colors to try on the plastics. for the spinnerbaits I would try some chartreuse/white patterns.
Oh and there is a run off of water coming directly from the hydro station into the lake. Hope that helps
> anywhere this is current, there will be bait. If you aren't having much luck fishing the weeds and dropoffs try fishing the runoff. OFten times fish will stage there to catch bait swimming by, throw lipless cranks and spinnerbaits in this area.
Hopefully a few of these tips will help produce a good day on the lake for you and your friend. With you saying its been much hotter than normal up there, the bite most likely won't be on fire and theres a chance the fish will be holding a little deeper. Hit the weed beds and shallow areas of structure (if you find any) early in the morning and move off to the dropoffs and points as it warms up. I'd hit the runoff mid day and then as afternoon comes around go back to the dropoffs and as it gets dark head back to the weed beds. Once you establish a pattern on the fish you should be able to tear in to em pretty good. Good luck!!
