On many prairie dish bowl lakes come midsummer, the outside weed edge typically holds a lot of walleye because many of these types of lakes lack a lot of traditional structure. Many of these lakes basically have a shoreline contour that than drops into a very expansive, flat basin. Not to say that fish won’t roam over the basin because fish will, but the outside weed edge is the prominent structure. Combine weeds with some type of shoreline structure like a point or saddle or offshore reef and you typically find walleye come midsummer. Some of these weed locations can also become even better if there is some scattered rock or a sharper break leading into the basin. When you look at a contour map of many of these types of lakes, you will just notice a lack of structure, so make sure to focus on that outside weed edge if a lake lacks structure.
Water clarity can very from lake to lake which determines how deep weeds will grow. Many lakes in the Dakotas, for example, get wind swept and turbid. Algae blooms can also impact water clarity on some of these lakes. There are many lakes where the weed line quits in 5-8 feet of water. Many of these lakes can also be very shallow with a basin that might only be seven feet. North Dakota’s Devils Lake is a massive example of a prairie dish bowl lake along with South Dakota’s Bitter Lake. Some of these larger lakes do have some offshore structure, but we still find walleye along weed edges for a vast period of time each summer.
Tracing this outside weed edge can become easier as summer progresses because as the weeds reach the surface, you can physically see them. Catching fish is often all about running as tight to the outside edge as possible. This boat control can be so exact that just catching fish on one side of the boat closest to the weeds is common. In regard to weeds to look for, northern milfoil and cabbage will hold walleye but a weed variety that I probably find most common and also where I often seem to catch walleye the most on a lot of Dakota lakes in particular is sago pondweed. Sago pondweed is a stringy thin weed that often floats around a lot after strong winds. I have heard some walleye anglers regionally call this weed “grass.” Very thin and long leaves with a thin stalk.
The Program: Bottom Bouncers and Harnesses
When weeds do reach the surface and really develop come midsummer, it is tough to beat running a bottom bouncer and harness. The bottom bouncer will often collect a lot of weeds and enable the harness to run free behind. When fishing bottom bouncers and harnesses in weeds, shorten up your snell to a length between 30-36 inches. Short snells just run cleaner behind the bouncer in weeds. Plain snells and live bait can catch fish, but I find that in turbid water or during algae blooms and warmer surface temperatures, blades or some type of attraction often catch more fish. For really dirty water and aggressive fish, deep cup Colorado blades have the best thump and vibration. Day in and day out, I love running Northland Butterfly Blades with a float. The Butterfly Blade is a prop style harness that turns at really slow speeds. This is crucial as you turn your boat in and out to follow an irregular weed line. Metal spinner blades need more speed and more consistency to keep turning and when the blade stops turning, the presentation often gets fouled or weeded up. I tend to lean towards metal blades when I start cranking up to faster speeds past 1.6 miles per hour and have more ground to cover. Speaking of speed, we often find that we catch more walleye with these programs by using speed to trigger fish and cover water. These fish can often be shockingly aggressive. We generally put the rods in rod holders and kick it down. The fish hook themselves.
Crawlers are probably by far the most common bait to use with these harnesses. Leeches can also work well. Something I find myself doing a lot more and (many other anglers are also jumping on this train) is to use soft plastics on the harness. I think we all started out using Berkley Gulp! Feel it is an advantage to experiment with the color and overall profile. The action and vibration can also often be better than live bait, especially at faster speeds. Now we are using a lot of the Eye Candy. My favorite is the Eye Candy Riggin’ Leech. The Eye Candy floats which helps lift the harness off the bottom and also is much more durable and has a softer, pulsating action. I often run the Eye Candy on a two-hook harness and run the back hook completely through the bait so that it can dangle near the back of the bait. If you are running bottom bouncers and harnesses at 1.3 miles per hour or faster, I feel like the Eye Candy will out fish live bait 8 out of 10 days because of the added color, vibration and efficiency.
Consider a Heavier Rod
When running bottom bouncers and harnesses in rod holders around weeds and or rock, don’t be afraid to use a rod with a heavier backbone. I often use a seven-foot medium heavy or medium extra fast action. This heavier rod action loads up and hooks more fish in the rod holder and also pops the presentation through rock and weeds better. You don’t want a rod action that loads up with a softer tip where the rod doesn’t have the power to pop through snags. Big fish in particular will just load up the rod. All you have to do is pick up the rod out of the rod holder and reel in the fish.
Use Speed to Your Advantage
A final thought, speed is often your friend during the summer on these dish bowl lakes. It can be shocking at times how simply speeding up past 1.5 miles per hour is like a light switch. If you are catching a few fish but feel like you are spinning your wheels, speed up. You cover more water and come in front of more fish, but you also seem to get much harder strikes and hook up better. I will sometimes pull spinners at 2 miles per hour, sometimes faster. When you do start burning spinners that fast, use a heavier monofilament snell that is 20-pound test to prevent twisting.
