Stumped on a lake in NJ, What would you do?

[fishingprodigy]

Hey guys, I went to a lake for the first time in NJ. Species present are pike, pickeral, lmb, trout, crappie, sunfish and carp. The lake is surprisingly small, and only about 5-7 feet at its deepest point. The water is muddy throughout, and the day I went the water temp was about 37 degrees.

I fished for 3 hours and ending up snagging 1 crappie. I did have a pickeral take the tail off my fluke though. I saw a nice 2-2.5 lb largemouth swimming the shallows chasing bluegill but I couldn't get it to bite. According to a regular there, I wasted 2 hours of my time fishing an unproductive portion of the lake, the tail end where water flows out. He said the only part I should be concerned with is the top end where a small stream flows in.

I spend my last hour fishing this top part, and that was where I caught my crappier, saw the lmb, and had the pickeral bite. Thats also where I saw 3 other fisherman fishing literally 10 feet from each other, all regulars that said they fished there 4+ times a week. Obviously, there is a ton of fishing pressure there but at least of these regulars practice catch and release.

The various baits I tried are lipless cranks and suspending jerkbaits, but it was so weedy they were unproductive, spinnerbaits and buzzbaits, dropshotting and weightless super flukes. If you were on this tiny, unusual lake, what would you done?