New to Walleye and Sauger Fishing

Hello.

I have never fished for Walleye and Sauger in my life. I have a Nature Preserve lake near me that is just about 50 acres. It has been open for about 6 years, but has had fish in it for much longer. It is an old abandoned quarry, and it’s average depth is about 15 feet deep, with the largest holes being between 20′-25′ deep. No body fishes for the Walleye in the lake, only the Largemouth and Smallmouth bass. Baitfish in the lake are bluegills, redear sunfish, and I believe shad.

I have all the tackle and the equipment that I could need, since I fish a ton for other species besides Walleye.

During these next few colder months before the lake freezes over. does anyone have any sound advice on their depth and location in lakes at this time of year, and what size and type of bait that might work the best.

Thankyou all, and have a great weekend!

Ray

What kind of structure do the bass relate to in the lake? Fall can be a great time to use minnows, and sometimes big minnows, they can slide shallow at times, or moving towards the deeper wintering structure, any main points or humps can always hold fish. Trolling crankbaits can help locate fish if there is little structure and you have the gear, sounds like a pretty small area, check it out and trust your electronics. Good luck! Can be a great time of year if you can put the pieces of the puzzle together.

Start with tip ups in an area with depths from 8-20 in decent proximity. Find if they are preferring a certain depth. Quarry fish tend to swim in circles pushing and finding bait. Once u find depth they prefer, post up with a jig stick and a deadstick in the shack and beat up on em!👍

My bad- misread post-

I’d make sure the lake is actually stocked with Walleye, if it’s an old quarry lake it had to be stocked at some point and if no walleye were stocked that may be why no one fishes them. IL stocks a lot of walleye, but I also know of several lakes where they don’t stock them.

However if walleyes are in the lake, then in my limited knowledge the basic concept is to find a shallower flat that comes up from deeper water. (i.e. a broad hump etc.) This is my understanding of fall and early ice pattern.

Thankyou Dustin greatly!!! There are alot of mid water rock humps which were purposely created, and the bass and crappie like to hang around christmas trees planted around the lake also.

Thankyou Nicholas very much. They do Stock Walleye in this lake. They originally did years ago, and as needed they do also.

Thankyou everyone for your solid advice and help. This will get me pointed in the right direction, and I will see what I can produce. Thanks a mil!

Ray

Quarry lakes are typically extremley clear aren’t they? With that shallow of depths and being so freaking small, find the few feeding shelves the lake has and hit em at night, from a distance! quietly! You can probably cast the entire shoreline and all the humps in a couple hours I would think to find em.

Not exact on shad? Find out for sure and replicate that. Moon out go with baits that will reflect that light, no moon fish baits that will soak in whatever light there is, UV, painted bright colors etc.

if this is the one i think it is, good luck. i’ve not heard of a walleye caught out of there…like ever. there have always been rumors of them but noone i know that lives up there has seen one.

you might be chasing bigfoot but you also might stumble on a gold mine.

is this lake catch and release only?

Hey Ray, last time I asked a similar question, I did NOT get all the helpful responses you did. Good luck to you.

Ray,

Is this true quarry, or strip-mine lake? Either way, they tend to be gin-clear and can be tough to fish. “Shallow” feeding areas may be deeper than you think, even in darkness. If there are weeds, they’ll be deep and worth looking at…ditto for isolated rock bars/piles. Fall/cold water it’s hard to beat a jig and minnow combination. I liked subdued/dark colors in the strip-mines I used to fish near Peoria. If you know the lake well, then you’ll have some ideas to try…those clear bodies can be a tough nut to crack at the best of times, but if you do often you find yourself with a quality fishery. Good luck!

rev is correct. i have a few that i fish around us that they do scuba diving classes in because of its clarity. fish feed and spawn on shelfs that are like 15-20 ft deep. but you can clearly see the beds and the fish. needless to say they are tough to fish. easier in the winter and ice though but still tough.

Interesting to me that you guys have clear quarry lakes. Out here, there are a lot of minerals in the areas they mine so the water is always that deep aqua blue color.