Mac1

You might want to try trolling a spinner bait. I had great luck in Ontario on a white w/ red bleeding spinner bait.

x2 on the soap and water. Also try drying them in direct sunlight.

Man your bait monkey must be fat and happy.

A floating jerkbait will rise on a pause. A suspending one will stay at depth on a pause.

x2 on the Senko. I would weightless t-rig it and cast right next to the cover. Let it sink, if you don't get a hit on the fall give it a jerk and let it sink again.

X-rap Shad shallow and shallow shad rap. Mepps spinner. Hula grubs.

Very nice. Crawzilla.

Just a thought, a #1 or #2 mepps might be the ticket. I'd love to hear if you have any luck. Gotta love finding new water.

I would be sorely tempted to give it a good working over. Nature does have a way of suprising me.

Hey Muddy, It really depends on the water that feeds the d**n and how old the dam is. I used to fish one in northern Wisconsin that had some nice fish. As far as legality it depends on whether its public or private land and your states regulations.

Welcome!!

Welcome Cincy, This forum is the best way to spend down time in the frozen north.

I would stick with what you are confident using. A suggestion I would make is to t-rig a grub (blue pearl or smoke) if the shad bite is on. Light weight for a slower fall.

I'm with RW on the X-rap ghost.

I never pay attention to endorsements. If I'm considering a new lure to try I listen to people that are not paid to push a product. That's one of the many reasons I enjoy this forum so much. Honest feedback and recommendations.

I also fish the Hula Grub. Great bait, and the bonus is if the fish bite off the legs you have a Fat Ika.

5-10ft I like the Jointed Shad Rap and the x-rap shad 10ft+ DD22 suspend Best luck is on a pause.

2009 Goals 1-Catch at least 1 fish on each new lure......Bad Monkey! 2-Fish new water 3-Catch the biggest Smallie on the annual Ontario pilgrimage. 4-Help my niece catch her biggest fish evvvver!!

On the king shad I like the gizzard shad or the japanese shad and xraps my favorite is the ghost size 10. What you should do is try to match the forage base for the waters you fish.

Makes me want to try some hooks in the old garden hose!

Whenever I fish new water I focus on edges. By that I mean any area where two different types of structure and/or cover meet. And toss my confidence lure for that situation.

I love bouncing a crawfish colored wiggle wart off the rocks and a silver shad rap in and around cabbage.

Suspending jerks and senkos (4")

Excellent post. I would definitely choose the unpressured lake. I would like to throw a curve ball into the conversation. Could evolution also be a factor? Wouldn't ,over time, fish holding in non standard locations be more successful than fish in typical ,high pressure areas. In other words, in your situation abnormal behavior would become the dominant survival trait. So I would think that the fish in the two lakes would be in significantly different areas.

Correction that should be USDA. Click on natural resources and environment and then wildlife.