Lake Arthur in early April

We're going to take our boat out for a run down for a day or two in early April on Lake Arthur before we haul it up to Lake Erie for the rest of the season until November. I've only ever fished Arthur twice and both times were primarily on shore (last June we rented a pontoon for half a day but had better luck shore fishing afterwards) and so I'm look for any advice you guys have about fishing it. Our boat is 22' so we're going to try to avoid water less than 4' deep at all times, but I think some of the coves and arms are still a decent depth. This is mainly going to be a trip to test out our new electric trolling motor as we can't use our main at all in Arthur (250 hp), but with the thrust of the trolling motor we should still be able to hit 10.0 mph.

Anyway, what species are biting well in early April and are there any certain areas (channels, bridge piers, cabbage beds, dams, etc) I should be looking for them? Theoretically, if the bite was equally well for all species in the lake during this time (which I'm sure it's not), then I'd want to target Wipers, Muskies, Pike, Crappie, and Cats (Channels and or Bullheads). But if the bite is sub-par for any of them in early April then I'm also perfectly content catching Largemouth, Sunfish, Walleye, Perch, and really anything that bends your rod! I've heard talk about an old creek bed and that it's a good spot for many species, but I can't seem to find any info about where that is located. Also, does trolling, casting, or bait fishing tend to work better for Wipers and Esox? Any baits or lures that work well for any of the species in the lake such as Jerkbaits vs Bucktails for Musky or Topwaters vs Shiners for Wipers? If you guys have any other advice or tips to give me as well, feel free to post it or PM me!

Thanks for the assistance, everyone!
-Dive/Sean

Okay so... 10mph in a 22 foot boat with a TROLLING MOTOR?  I have to call BS on that.  Seriously.  And look, I am mister puttputt.  I max out around 6mph on the toon and I'm all redneck happy, so I don't begrudge you some slow speed/big boat action.  
 
Anyway, forget about the creekbed if you mean muddy creek.  You can't have that monster anywhere useful down the 528 side of the lake.  There is plenty of productive water off the 422 side that is 10-20 fow though.  I'd say you want the Bear Run launch (I've seen some big boats launch from there) and stay on the lake side of the bridge.  I ~THINK~ there's enough water straight down the lake to get you to the "secret" island everyone likes to fish, but I can't be sure of that.  I ~KNOW~ there's enough water for you to fish the bridge minus the first couple pilings on either side and the middle of the lake between the launch and the swimming area.  
 
As for what you might catch... much harder to say.  Though I'm able to catch a few nice wipers, I'd by no means try to advise anyone on how to do it.  Most of my best catches are fish too dumb to realize they're hitting my crappie gear.  :)  If you fish for anything long enough you'll tangle with a few channel cats.  They will eat/hit <insert literally any bait/lure/jig/etc here> and they are quite fun to catch (though some guys complain about them).  April is a bit early for a good cat bite for my style of fishing, your days will be hit and miss.  You can always huck lures for largemouth.  The lake is churning with the stupid things.  Your best bet is shoreline weeds and structure, but I've caught LMBs in 20 fow on cut bait out there.  
 
That's probably not the most helpful info, sorry about that.  Arthur is really not the kind of lake you hit for a few days and enjoy yourself.  The guys who like Arthur put in many, many days finding out what works and when, and not being able to get back into the fingers REALLY puts a damper on fishing there.  regardless, good luck.  I hope you have a good time.

  It's already like mid April not early April down there so anything goes.
 
crappy

python73
Okay so... 10mph in a 22 foot boat with a TROLLING MOTOR?  I have to call BS on that.  Seriously.  And look, I am mister puttputt.  I max out around 6mph on the toon and I'm all redneck happy, so I don't begrudge you some slow speed/big boat action.   Anyway, forget about the creekbed if you mean muddy creek.  You can't have that monster anywhere useful down the 528 side of the lake.  There is plenty of productive water off the 422 side that is 10-20 fow though.  I'd say you want the Bear Run launch (I've seen some big boats launch from there) and stay on the lake side of the bridge.  I ~THINK~ there's enough water straight down the lake to get you to the "secret" island everyone likes to fish, but I can't be sure of that.  I ~KNOW~ there's enough water for you to fish the bridge minus the first couple pilings on either side and the middle of the lake between the launch and the swimming area.   As for what you might catch... much harder to say.  Though I'm able to catch a few nice wipers, I'd by no means try to advise anyone on how to do it.  Most of my best catches are fish too dumb to realize they're hitting my crappie gear.  :)  If you fish for anything long enough you'll tangle with a few channel cats.  They will eat/hit <insert literally any bait/lure/jig/etc here> and they are quite fun to catch (though some guys complain about them).  April is a bit early for a good cat bite for my style of fishing, your days will be hit and miss.  You can always huck lures for largemouth.  The lake is churning with the stupid things.  Your best bet is shoreline weeds and structure, but I've caught LMBs in 20 fow on cut bait out there.   That's probably not the most helpful info, sorry about that.  Arthur is really not the kind of lake you hit for a few days and enjoy yourself.  The guys who like Arthur put in many, many days finding out what works and when, and not being able to get back into the fingers REALLY puts a damper on fishing there.  regardless, good luck.  I hope you have a good time.

You might believe me if you saw how big it is. It's a Minn Kota dual prop saltwater riptide with 160 pounds of thrust, the thing takes two 12V batteries to run. The trolling motor is just as big if not bigger than the outdrive for the main motor. The back of my boat looks like a killing machine right now with three props on it! LOL. We've taken it pretty shallow before, down to 18" of water in graveyard pond in PIB. But I just prefer to keep it slightly deeper for safety reasons. So, can I assume one will be able to find a good channel cat bite no matter where you are in the lake? Thanks for the info, by the way!

If you indeed get your 22' to 10mph with the electric, please take a photo of your gps and post. I'd be all about picking one of those motors up. I can get 10mph with my 15hp and alone on my 17'.

I usually find the crappie bite the best in April. Larger fish can be caught, but not nearly as reliable as the crappie. They should be staging for spawning. Find some wood or weed beds, and should find some. If you don't get any in 20 minutes, move until you find some. Usually early April, the artificial work just as well as minnows, but some days nothing beats fat heads, at least for me.

528 as noted by Sam is a love/hate area. Most likely with 22' boat, I'd expect hate, unless you are lucky enough to hit the 4-5 days per year with no wind in that area. Any SW wind, which seems to be 80% of our wind direction with warm fronts, a 5mph forecast wind, will be 10-15mph. The area is full of weeds, so most likely if you find a good looking spot, you'll be blown over that spot before you can fish it... Very frustrating area to fish, but seems to be where many juvenile gills and other fish hang out, which obviously has other fish stopping by for a snack.

The alewives mostly stick around in deeper water, until dusk or dawn, then will move shallow. If targeting eyes or wipers, then you'll want to find the alewive schools. Trolling while you look for those schools works. Once you find a school, add a waypoint and circle over that area a few times.

$10 for the Navionics app on your phone. Can't beat it. The chip for your fish finder is better, but if only fishing 1-2 times per year, not really worth the $100. The phone version does not show the road beds, you'll need to chart them yourself.