Murky Water?

[zepman]

This past weekend out on the local lakes was really kind of different. For one, the fishing was the worst I've seen it in some time for the opener and two, the water clarity resembled that of the Minnesota River on the lake we were fishing. That extreme wind we had last weekend must have really roiled these lakes up from top to bottom. Started out opening morning fishing some breaks off of some large flats that usually produce very well for us. Caught a few here but not enough to keep us there very long. Immediately switched to pitching jigs in ultra shallow water while working our way deeper trying to contact some fish-again very litle. Then off to some emerging weedlines throwing cranks over the tops of the vegetation and also pitching live bait/split shot rigs along the edges and directly into the weeds. Nothing. My group fished very hard for the 4 walleye we took home this past Saturday. The ones we kept were decent fish betwen 17-19 inches but the #'s just weren't there like they should have been. I really think the water clarity or lack there of played a big role in this. Anyone else experience or feel the same from the local lakes you visited on the opener?

[KMR85]

noticed madison wasnt very clear, but it never has been since i started fishing it couple years ago. no walleyes in my boat either. i saw two small 5 inchers caught and 1 ~16" go into someone's livewell and i was there from 730am to 200pm.

[fishingboy2008]

i have noticed that the water clarity isn't all that great eathier on these area lakes. u can maybe see down about 2 feet on a nice sunny day and if there are alot of clouds its even less then that. however i was out on madison last sunday and tried quite a bit of things. at first i just started casting shad raps into the vegetation for a while and nothing. then i switched to slip bobbers and jigs and nothing. then i just tried using just a regular 1/16 ounce jig tipped with a crappie minnow and that seemed to do the trick for the crappies in about 7 fow. my brother just switched to original floating rapala and he ended up catching a 19 inch eye in about 4 feet of water. so does anybody no if the eyes are out deep or are they moving into shore around nite time to feed? i think ill be headed out to madison to give it another try this friday. any information would be great.

[crappieflop1012]

The water clarity was pretty bad this past weekend out on Madison, but I don't think that catching fish or problems to catch fish were from water clarity. Me and brother were out there at 7am on saturday and manage to stick one eye at about 8:30am after that the bite was on with fish after fish. Just a little advice go try the narrows in about 10-13 feet of water using a white jig head with a leech or a fathead. Put it right on bottom no bobber or anything and stay stationary and bounce it every once and awhile... That should do the trick for ya. Most of the fish we caught were in the 15"-17" range. The biggest being 23". So all in all it was a fun time out there. Good luck and have fun and stay safe...

[Team Otter]

The 'eyes in this part of the state are always moving towards shore.

[eyepatrol]

Water clarity on Tetonka has been phenomenal. Can see down 11' to nearly 12' deep. I don't see clarity like that until I get up around Highway 55!