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Lotus Lake Walleyes?


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I posted this in the Ice Fishing forums...Oops...Nub...I know.

Just wondering how the heck I should target walleyes on Lotus. I live on the lake and have fished it for close to twenty years now. I mainly fish for crappies, and occasionally will catch a random walleye i.e. with a wax worm 6 feet off bottom. Right now, I can see there are some portables setup on the sand dropoff and the point just East of the Carver beach. Are these areas producing walleyes? What on? PM me with hints if you don't like making your spots/techniques public.

I'll be on the lake tomorrow morning, will be walking out from my house in the large bay on the East side of the lake. If you see me, please dont hesitate to stop by and chat :).

Tight Lines!

_________________________

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I would be curious as to some feedback on Lotus as well. I had my first Lotus experience this morning - lots of little sunnies and crappies, but NOTHING of any size. I was just off Carver Beach in 19 fow from 7:30-11:30. Will hopefully be out there Sunday night. Hoping to get into some better sized crappies and maybe an eye or two...

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I've taken a few eyes in the 13-18" range off of carver beach in 20 FOW or so. I had a pole riged with a spoon and a minnow head and watched the flasher, once I could see the big red blob i'd pull up the crappie stuf and drop the spoon! Hope this helps guys, let me know how you guys do this weekend as I am stuck at work... Good Luck

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This morning there was no way to identify a big red blob on the Vex, there were TOO MANY other fish! My Vex was lit up from bottom to 3' below the ice...all small pannies though. Maybe they'd clear out in the evening a little...we'll see tomorrow night.

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Try moving out away from the group, still off of carver beach but just a little out of the pack of houses, the pannys should thin out a little then! I usualy only fish eyes out there later at night! Good Luck...

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Fished for about 2 hours this morning. Was able to bring home a limit of crappies in the 8.5 to 9.5 inch range. Lots of small fish in the mix but was a very nice day to be on the lake.

Question to those that fish crappies on Lotus. Are you finding that some of the crappies have lesions on their bodies? The lake is almost overpopulated with crappies...I'm wondering if the DNR needs to step in and kill off the lake to kill this disease? Perhaps its from the sewage leak of 2004? Fish still taste good to me either way. Just wondering if anybody else has noticed this.

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I've noticed these lesions as well. Never ate any out of Lotus since the sewage, though. Always been a lot of crappie, they need to stock predatory fish to weed out the panfish.

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I noticed the lesions the yesterday and today (my first 2 times on this lake)...not all had them, and I didn't keep any that had them. We literally just ate the 9 I kept tonight (also between 8.5" and 9.5" - sure would be nice to get some bigger ones).

I didn't know about the sewage leak...YIKES! Sort of makes my stomach churn thinking about it. What happened? Has the DNR done any tests to make sure the fish are save to eat?

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My buddy took pictures of the lesions and sent them to the DNR. We haven't heard back yet and will post if any info comes back. It seems like 50% of the crappies have them.

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Lake Riley crappies had that red spot skin condition too for a few years - It's just a skin fungus - Harmless to the meat for consumption purposes.

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Yeah I've caught crappies and sunfish from time to time with lesions on them. They are probably harmless. However, I keep find myself asking myself why I would eat a fish with a lesion on it when I live in a state with "10,000 lakes" and a bazillion panfish without obvious physical malidies...

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Has anyone been getting any eyes out of lotus lately. If so can you catch them in the am.

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Some eyes get that too, I asked the DNR one time and they said it was a virus and they were safe to eat.

_______________________________________

..WM

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Ya, I've never heard of anybody getting sick from the crappie out there. My buddy kept 10 out of 20 or that we caught last night. Didn't hook into any eyes though, Last night we decided to try the southern side of the lake not to far from the public access, in about 15 FOW. The crappies there seemed to be bigger that the one off of carver beach. Good luck and happy fishing!!!

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Plenty of ice out there....you can drive clear across the lake...of course I don't veer off the beaten path much if at all.

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Thanks Thunder. I'll be out there tomorrow (and be cautious as I know that no ice is "safe"). I'll stick to the path.

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