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A school of white bass skipped across the water chasing shad
20 yards off the port side. A nice largemouth leaped for the
sky off the bow. Suddenly, a big muskie porpoised next to
the boat. Now you might be wondering what came next. Nothing.
I just sat in the driver’s seat of my Tracker Targa, sipping
a cup of coffee and listening to the sound of a flat at daybreak.
You see these are the things that make a flat so special.
A flat is not merely a muddy sloped piece of underwater real
estate, but, in fact, is the delicatessen of the lake. This
is the greatest example of the lake’s food chain in action.
Let’s take a look at how these sounds really act out under
the surface. The shad have gathered here to feed on the micros
that inhabit the soft muddy bottom. As they feed, their vibrations
and movement have attracted a pack of hungry white bass. The
whites slash into the scattering school of shad like a swarm
of bees defending their hive. The commotion on the surface
has attracted even more predators. Gulls are the first to
appear. They dive and light on the surface, scooping up the
shad as they are being pushed up from the deep in a desperate
attempt to escape the relentless attacks from the whites.
Whoosh! During the feeding frenzy, a white bass has lumbered
on the surface a little too long. A huge muskie just had him
as an appetizer. A largemouth bass has also joined the frenzy.
He too is on the surface pounding any shad that strays from
the school. Deep underneath the school, there are other predators
that have not yet made their presence known. The whites break
off the attack for a moment. The gulls have driven the school
of shad back down. Now, it is the walleyes’ turn. They are
hitting shad like batters in a batting cage as they descend.
After a bit, they too have had their fill. With the battle
over, the flat looks like the day after a battle on a battle
field. Dead and wounded shad start settling to the bottom.
The big cats move in to feed on what’s left. They scour the
bottom clean like giant street sweepers. Here, nothing goes
to waste. A cruel and often brutal battle rages time after
time and day after day, right under our noses. Let’s look
at how to locate flats and when to fish them. When I am going
to fish a new body of water for the first time, I always do
my homework before I get there. If possible, a couple of weeks
before I leave, I pick or order a map. I always try to find
one from Fishing Hotspots. In my book, these offer the most
information for the buck. Remember, this is going to be one
of the most important pieces of equipment in the boat. Take
your map and, in an open spot, make yourself a legend. A legend
is a color-coded explanation of symbols you will be using
on your map. The reason I use symbols and colors are to keep
my map clean looking and easy to read, even in the worst weather
conditions. For example, a flat is always shown as the color
red. I circle each flat on the map in red. I never write any
information in the circle . I leave this area open for GPS
waypoint marks and positions. Instead, I find an open spot
on the map to record information I gather each time I fish
it. I will number these in red as well. For main lake points,
I use green. For drop-offs and humps, I use blue. This keeps
all of my information organized and readily available any
time I need it. The information I record at the end of each
day is as follows; weather conditions, such as wind speed
and direction, cloudy, etc., the date, the water temperature,
and water clarity. Over time, this becomes a valuable bible
for that body of water. Flats can hold fish at any time of
the year. That is why they are the first spots I will hit
when searching out a bite. Picking a flat to fish is not rocket
science. I always fish the flats the wind is blowing on or
that have had wind on them on the days before. The key to
fishing a flat seems to be wind related. I have fished a flat
one day and smoked the walleyes, only to be shut down on the
next day because it was calm. That is why I like to do a little
running when I fish. During the course of the day, a flat
can turn on at any time, especially if it was calm and then
gets some wind on it. Paying attention to weather changes
during the day is important. I have seen huge stringers of
walleyes come off flats in a very short time. When it gets
right, the fish will move in and the action will get fast
and furious, only to shut down an hour later, so much you
would think there were no fish on it at all. There are several
ways in which to fish a flat. The first and usually most productive
is trolling crankbaits. Trolling cranks is one of the best
ways to fish a flat for one reason. It enables you to cover
water quickly. Thus, eliminating unproductive areas of depths.
Flats can often be hundreds of yards long, even miles. Therefor,
covering ground can be one of the best ways to see if a flat
is holding walleyes. A lot of traffic from pleasure boaters
and other fishermen can make trolling tough at times, so here
is a tip. Keep the lines close to the boat by adding an Offshore
Tackle Snap Weight to the line. You can keep the amount of
line out to a minimum while keeping the baits in the strike
zone, which is more often than not on the bottom. Once you
have located where and the depth the fish have set up on the
flat, slower presentations can be used. One of my favorites
is pulling spinners and crawlers. With this presentation,
some speed can be obtained for water coverage while incorporating
precise boat control to maintain depth and position on the
flat. For this presentation, a bow-mounted trolling motor
cannot be beat. Especially if it has a lot of power, such
as the Minn Kota 101 36 volt. I can pull all day with this
motor with power to spare. The third presentation I will use
is to drift the flat, dragging Lindy rigs or jigs tipped with
crawlers or leaches. This presentation will shine if the fish
are a little sluggish or stubborn. One piece of equipment
you will need for this presentation is a drift sock. The one
I use is called Drift Control Sea Anchor. The Drift Control
anchor slows my drift and stabilizes the boat. In other words,
it lets me control the drift, not the wind. This is very important
when you are fishing a spot on a spot. One word of advice;
when you go to purchase one, get the right size. The bigger
the boat, the bigger sea anchor you will need to slow the
boat’s rate of speed. These are just a few ways to fish a
flat. If you would like to try it with me, you can call Predator
Guide Service at 309-347-1728 or by e-mail at trolling
@mtco.com. Now get out there and give a flat a try. You
might be surprised what you can hook into. If you are thinking
about booking a trip, book now as dates are limited for the
fall sauger runs. SEE ‘YA ON THE WATER! spots I will hit when
searching out a bite.
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