Shallow Lakers, Recent trip.

Had a buddy ask me to go out for Lakers. I could refuse as Lakers are one of my favourite for winter fun.

We headed up north and walked out to his spot. I drilled a hole and was shocked we were only in 20 FOW. After a short discussion he assured me he had been doing well over the last week in this area. The whole area is a featureless sand flat so I figured if we did mark a fish our presentation may get its attention quickly.
Well 10 minutes in my white tube is crushed so fast I barely even marked the fish. Nice 3.2lb Laker top side. Then zero mark for an hour or so. We moved twice more and settled in for back to back fish crushing my white tube in 22 FOW.

Didn’t mark much all day but when we did we caught them. Only saw one mark all day that didn’t hit. My buddy only had one mark but hit a nice Laker also.

Cool experience to say the least but not for the impatient. A lot of empty screen time but how often do you get to catch shallow water Lakers.

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Looks awesome! Several lakes in my area also get lakers regularly shallow. Some of the deepest lakes in the area have the best laker fishing shallow. I see some guys out their hard huts in ridiculously shallow and do very well. Nice sized fish for sure. Where does the oxygen disappear first in deep winter? Shallow or deep? Lakes just froze so oxygen should be plentiful at most depths.

I was up that way many moons ago with a buddy who took me to a spot where it was just 9fow. While I'm thinking no way, he's landing Lakers. In 9fow!

I did hear the lake we were on guys catch white fish in 4 FOW. We didn’t try but my buddy has seen it himself. Not sure if I have that dedication to try it. 😂. I don’t fish whitefish often anyway.

I spoke to an old timer a few years ago.....he told me that when he was younger they would catch WF in droves under 10fow (Simcoe)......and then he openly pointed me to the spot. "We got them right there".

Nice fish BTW!

I’ve been confused about this, as I’m with most guys and just think I should be immediately going to the deepest part of the lake for lakers. But obviously there is good luck in other depths. How do I decide at a lake when to try shallow Vs deep?? Is it a certain type of lake or habitat or time of season maybe?

IMO regardless of water depth the temp under the ice is pretty consistent top-to-bottom. The fish are where their dinner is. We fish a bigger Lake (with slotty size and 1 line rules) in 60 ft. of water but keep a line up high and visible. Today we caught a couple keepers down deep but boy did we get a show up high. I have seen some close in weird fish behaviour from Lakers homing in. Even saw a giant whitefish cruise under at about 8 feet. Awesome catch mate what a rush on a few feet o line when they smash'em eh? Great job.

I know an older fellow always sets one line at bottom on 35 ish, and the other just a few feet below the ice

We’re all brainwashed to think lakers and whites are deep and it’s hard to break out of that thinking

A simple but not necessarily a hard rule is early season anywhere in the water column, generally attracted to inflows of a lake adjacent to deep..,.... mid-season deep

I've gotten them shallow (30fow) on winter plenty of times. I find whenever I mark one in the shallower depths, they are always suspended and actively feeding. Pretty much if you see a mark, your gonna catch it. In the deeper depths I tend to find them in greater numbers, but they have to be persuaded to bite.

Awesome day. Good eaters.

Nice catch great size to eat enjoy

Nice fish!!!!