Nebraskaland

48 Nebraskaland • May 2026 SHALLOW WATER One of the most overlooked fishing opportunities at McConaughy is the ultra-shallow bite that occurs May through as long as July some years. Over the past 10 years, I almost exclusively fish with a fly rod from March through most of June. One of the indirect results of fly-fishing is that I am always on the shorelines seeking out shallow active fish. This method has allowed me to understand why fish hold on certain shorelines and not on others. Often at McConaughy, the wave action has created a trough or drop directly off the shore that enables predator fish to push and ambush bait fish feet off the bank. Many times, I have walked the shores and casted my fly rod 5 feet off the bank and watched a 28-inch wiper tail walk like a tarpon after I've hooked it in the ultra-shallow water. In May and June, I never enter the water without throwing a long cast or land the fly right along the shore's edge. If there are fish in that area the strike will be near instantaneous. After probing the area without any fish, I will then wade into deeper water, gradually working the shallows until I'm waist deep. While working these shores, especially in a windy environment, you will get a mudline that creates an ambush point as well. Often when people say they are fishing the mudline they are out deeper on a more expansive mudline blowing off of a shore. I am most interested in the 10- to 30-foot-wide mudlines with jagged shapes or a variation within the mudline. Wherever one of these mudlines intersects the shore directly, that is the ambush point I'm looking for. Knowing other structures on the shore, like a small cup or a steep 1- to 3-foot drop to deeper water, is the magic point where you will find almost any species of fish in May and June. GETTING STARTED To begin, I follow a few rules of thumb I have figured out over the years. One, Mac is a wind-driven fishing lake. Most times, when the wind is blowing, the fishing is good. When it is not, it can be quite difficult. Two, every day, five separate fish species eat a bug, a leech, a shad, an alewife or a crawdad at five different places on the lake. Rare is the day when nothing is biting somewhere on the lake. Three, often whatever's working on the north side of the lake is also working on the south side of the lake. So, say there is a live bait dragging bite going on at Admiral's Cove in 5 to 15 feet of water. Chances are you can go directly across the lake to Vans Lakeview and drag bait in 5 to 15 feet of water and duplicate it. And four, probably my "golden rule" is fish your own fish. If there are a hundred boats dragging bait in 5 to 15 feet of water, chances are you can go find your own spot and fish all by yourself doing the exact same thing on the lake. MY SETUP When I am fishing McConaughy, I have six rods rigged up and ready to go at all times. These rods include: 1. A 10-foot, 7-weight fly rod with an alewife imitation clouser. 2. A medium-weight 7-foot spinning rod with a quarter-ounce lipped jig. 3. A heavy-weight casting rod with a 1-ounce white-and-chartreuse spinnerbait with a gold blade. 4. A 7-foot medium-weight spinning rod with a quarter-ounce jig rigged with a 4-inch chartreuse f lash Keitech or 3-inch silver grub. 5. An 8-foot, 6-inch medium-heavy rod with a low ratio bait casting reel and a bone-colored Whopper Plopper. 6. An 8-foot, 6-inch medium-heavy rod with a low ratio bait casting reel and a 5-inch silver flutter spoon. This family came down for a swim where minutes before the author was catching walleyes even shallower than they are wading. FISH ARE RIGHT HERE The author targets jagged mudlines intersecting the bank as opposed to solid, larger mudlines.

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