I will be travelling the second week of June this year.  I am used to fishing in September where walleyes and Lake Trout are fairly deep.  Is this early enough that they will still be shallow?

Start shallow, work deeper.  Walleyes will still move shallow to feed at this time of year.  If the wind has been steadily blowing in the same direction you can find walleye pretty shallow along the windward chunk-rock shorelines.  I've caught 'em as shallow as 2 feet.  Usually they are a bit deeper though, in the 5-10' range under those conditions.  But don't be afraid to start by pitching a shallow crank right up close to shore.  If you get nothing but minibass, work deeper until you hit 'eyes.

Early and late, also work those shallow foodshelves.  Reef tops or any shallows adjacent to known walleye holes.  I like to search by trolling xraps or husky jerks until I get into walleye and then cast with cranks for more.

mastertangler wrote on Apr 14^th, 2011 at 11:41am:

Sad, but true ...

For a "large section" lower division college class there was a portion of the course syllabus covering what should be placed in e-mails (so I got sufficient information to answer questions) and what kinds of responses the student should expect to get.

Preceeding the predefined e-mail response "DOH!" it said "You will receive this response when I've already covered this material in class not less than THREE times."

dd

It has been pointed out to me in a subtle sort of way that my initial reply to this thread could easily be interpreted a rebuke or a slam of sorts. I hadn't intended that to be the case but I suppose it could be construed that way and in fact would have some merit that such is the case.

I think the question is a good one. My intent was rather to emphasize Snow_Dogs sound advice. IMHO if one were to follow that advice one would be hard pressed to go amiss. The point I was making is I can't help but wonder how many of us apply the info provided by the many fine and knowledgable participants here at QJ. Of course we all pick and choose what seems to suit us best. I felt the illustration I used suited the situation.

How about the rest of the story...........In spite of my best efforts to help my crew they, for the most part, forsook my advice. I understand the concept in fishing that one is most pleased catching fish by ones own methods......perfectly understandable.
The end result however can best be summed up by one very observant crew member out of our party of 6 guys when he quipped "well, there goes half of them" after I collected my tagged fish from off the deck of the boat.................

my group usually goes right around that time.

snow_dog hit the nail on the head, as always. start shallow and move deeper.

id like to add that you should focus on points as well. they stick out into deeper water but give the fish access to the shallower feeding grounds.

when fishing new water, you should always try to troll when you are moving around the lake. this does a few things for you, first you get a chance to catch a fish! always good right? next it helps to ensure you dont move too fast. you gotta think about not paddling too fast so your cranks dont start veering off to the sides and running wrong. lastly, and most importantly, it lets you find sunken reefs or humps.

when you notice that you are hitting bottom with your crank, grab the line between your fingers. when using a superline (i used to use fireline but i switched to power pro this spring) you can feel if the bottom is rocks or mucky. this is very important that time of year.

if the bottom is rocky, chances are the fish will be eating crayfish, so oranges, reds, and browns are the key colors.

if the bottom is mucky, look around on the surface of the water. do you see mayflies? if you do, this is a very good place to fish, however, you gotta get lucky because the fish are probably stuffed full of bugs and may not want to eat anymore. picture it as an all you can eat buffet. colors here are brown, black, and i like to toss white into the picture too. gotta match the hatch.

the next thing i would say is that cranks are a good way to locate active fish. in the spring im not a big fan of tossing cranks because the water is too cold and the fish are more lethargic. they dont want to chase prey and use energy. snow_dog did mention two cranks that are good in that time of year. he knows his stuff. x-raps and husky jerks are suspending models. this lets you fish much slower and pause your retrieve without losing depth. (if you use a leader, check to see if it makes your lure sink slowly or quickly, try to keep the bait as neutral as possible). when fishing slow with suspending baits, natural patterns are your best option. silver/black back, moss shiner, and albino shiner are my personal favorites.

personally, in those conditions, as well as all year round i revert to my usual tactic of a tube jig on the baitcaster and a 4" ringworm on the jig rod. pick a point/reef/shallow shelf and toss the tube jig around. i prefer crayfish colored tubes, so browns, reds, and oranges. opaque or ones with glitter are my personal preferences. bounce the bottom like a crayfish would. this will pick up your actively feeding fish. then once they seem to slow down, swap to the ringworm. if you found an area that is less than 10 feet deep, rig it weedless on a worm hook with a small sinker 8" ahead of it. if you are deeper than 10 feet, put it on a jighead, 1/8 oz. for the worms, white, chartreuse, blue/pearl tail, silver, and brown are the colors i use most often. again i prefer opaque ones or ones with lots of glitter.

i attached a picture of a 44.5" muskie i caught this spring on my first time out fishing. caught on a 4" chartreuse ringworm on 6lb test on April 2, 2011.
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