Has anyone ever fished a lake that appears to never have been fished? I’m lookiing for tips on doing so. I will be trying a 60 acre lake that I’m not even sure holds fish, but am willing to gamble! There is no max. depth listed on the DNR site, no lake map, and obviously no fish counts.
How would you go about this? Any Tips?
Check out this thread, not finding fish is NOT always the case for sure, check it out and hopefully you have a gem!
http://www.idofishing.com/forum/showflat.php/Number/1197832/fpart/1/lake-exploring#Post1198192
If in Minnesota (may work for other states too), Google Historical Photo’s of Minnesota.
Should get a link to a Google Map with ICON Pins of different colors indexed by years. You can then look at historical aireal photo’s and see what development or others information you can find on the lake and area.
Another good place is call the local DNR Fisheries office. Those guys are usually a wealth of information and know much unpublished information.
I’ve got a few sweet spots of heaven that I get into a few times a year. How much you want to learn is all up to how much time your going to invest, or how much effort your willing to invest.
Here are some random things I have done:
Internet – search, search more, and keep searching. I’m speaking more to WI, because this is where I have devoted most of my efforts. Lake Property Assoc. have formed and been dissolved, Grant money gets awarded, Proposals for purchase by the state that fell through, fyke net studies, and the list goes on and on. A lot of times I have stumbled onto information about one lake while searching for another. Invasive species studies are another source of finding information that may not exist on creel or fyke net studies, but can contain valuable info.
Open water – We have access onto one lake that is privately owned property all the way around. Problem is, no boat landing and its taken almost 19 years to have a property owner allow me to back down their yard to launch my bassboat. Previously, it was a carry-in jon boat. I still rigged up my H/Bird 1197 and used it as a mapping tool. By leaving the tracking line on and using the trolling motor to run around all day, I was able to make a bap of major contour lines. Also, my favorite little lake has NO WEEDS. So by zig-zagging all over, I found found transition lines and granite boulders. A lake that many would think is a 90 acre dead sea, actually has an abundance of mud flat transitions to natural rock piles, crevices, and other structure that 90% of people would over look.
Another thing to apply to “Blind Searching” is understanding how different species relate to that specific type of habitat. I’ve found a lot of spring fed lakes with no weeds hold huge gills – but in very low numbers. Where most people think of gills relating to weeds or tight cover, these fish will suspend for most of their life. What I call Pot Hole fishing is finding quality gills in 20 to 30 fow and usually suspended. BUT, they could also be feeding the larvae emerging from the mud flats or transition lines.
I’ve also come to understand how much more predator fish constantly roam much larger areas. For me, it seems as if the smaller the lake, the more they travel or less schooling and more scattered hunting approach.
Use common sense. I say that more for once someone unlocks the secrets of these little lakes. Many of these little lakes that honestly sees little to no pressure have a very delicate eco system in place. If a lake is 90 acres, it may only have 30 acres of suitable habitat for walleyes. With a mature population density of 8 (on the high side) your looking at a total population of about 240 mature walleyes in that lake. Wouldn’t take long to over harvest and throw that lake out of balance.
There is a lake in northern WI that I have almost 25 years of fishing on that is well under 100 acres. I came across this lake from a study I found on half logs and a grant to enhance the bass and walleye population to combat an abundance of perch. About 18 years of that has been incredible. Walleyes up to 29″, bass over 6#, and 11″ gills. A couple property owners got into fishing and heavy harvesting of anything that eats a leech and can go into a frying pan. Perfectly legal that they catch/eat within the bag limits. But now we are seeing the down side of it. Tiny perch again, lack of predators, and less and less young of the year fish. Won’t be long until its back to how it was – Way over fished. Sorry for getting a bit long on this. These little gems in the middle of nowhere are a real special place for me. 
<—- 
take someone with who could help you and show you some tips
I know a place in Eagan I have been dying to try. Not sure I have the nuts to do it. It is surrounded by private land, although there is a road that goes by one part that should give me legal access. Kind of wish I had a hand auger, because I would hate to be bothered by the residents on the one side of the lake and a power auger would tip them off.
The lake is plenty deep enough. A map exists, but no survey.
I learned a lesson several years ago fishing an untapped lake. My uncle turned me on to this lake in northern WI. It is in Suzuki’s neck of the woods. One property owner owned an entire section of land that surrounded this lake. There was a road that went close enough to the lake to legally get on. The water has since dropped and it is illegal to fish again. You could go out with 3 dozen sucker minnows and be out of minnows in less than 3 hours fishing with tipups. We caught several northerns that went over 15 lbs. I fished the panfish in the spring in waders from shore and hammered them too. I ended up taking up a couple buddies on different occasions. All it took was a couple weeks and they were taking buddies up too. It ended up being a Hudson Reunion up there for a couple winters. It had a huge negative impact on the lake. My uncle was NOT happy with me. I don’t blame him. If the lake turns out to be a good one, make sure you keep it quiet. I’m all for sharing information, but a small lake won’t be able to handle fishing pressure. Good luck. 
I know a Lake in NE Washington that is rumored to be a great lake. The farmer put a barbed wire fence in the lake along side the road making access difficult, but legal. Rumor was this guy chases people off the lake with a gun, so we moved on after seeing the fence.
Been monitoring it in the hopes the guy “moves on” some day.
What I have found most often when I think I found a Gem is that later you little Gem is widely known and everybody that knows keeps their mouth shut.
I been out with friends and they told me, you cannot show or tell anyone about this spot were going to. A few months later another friend shows me the same spot. A year later yet another friend shows me the same spot yet again.
Since nobody is talking, it does not get get to be well known and everybody that finds it practices C,P,R (Catch, Photo, Release).
There is a small lake near Watertown, MN with no public access that used to hold some awesome Crappies. Word got out and a Farmer let people access it for a small fee. Less than 2-years and it was fished out.
Personally, I do not believe there is a lake (that support some awesome fish) that is unknown to at least not a dozen or more guys. They just all keep their mouth shut, do not take friends they don’t know well and they do not exploit the lake themselves.
If you do find a Gem, share the Photo’s and Reports, but Do Not reveal any details on location publicly.
You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
