The coldest part of winter puts most walleyes in main basins of lakes and reservoirs, using deeper areas than they did during early winter or than they will toward the end of the ice season. Deep, of course, is a relative term, and mid-winter depths vary pretty dramatically from one lake to another.
Table of Contents
What’s the best way to catch walleye ice fishing?
- Map Out 3-4 Key Locations for Mobility.
- Drill 10-15 Holes Per Location.
- Ice Fishing for Walleye at Night.
- Silver Spoons & Lures in Clear Water.
- Use Bright Colors in Stained Water.
- Two Pole Approach in Shanties.
- On Finicky Bites Default to Live Bait.
What is the best depth to ice fish for walleye?
On clear lakes, the best depths are usually in the 10-foot to 20-foot range. However, fish movement does vary and depths as shallow as 2 feet and deeper than 20 feet can often be very productive as well. Live bait is most often used on tip-ups.
What is the best bait for ice fishing walleye?
- Leech flutter spoon.
- Northland whistler jig.
- Clam drop jig.
- Spoon baited with minnow head.
- Jig baited with live or dead minnow.
How do you target a walleye through the ice?
What colors do walleye see best?
Walleyes do have color vision that peaks in the orange-red-green portions of the spectrum. They see colors on both sides of each peak, but sensitivity declines. So they see wavelengths shorter than green and longer than orange-red, but not well. Overall, they see orange and red well, followed green and yellow.
What depth are walleye at in winter?
Throughout a winter’s day, the fish will range in depth from 20 to 50 feet. Walleyes in the tailraces tend to hug the bottom, so you should select lures that reach the river’s floor in a hurry.
Do walleye go shallow at night in the winter?
At midwinter they are often found in 30-40 ft. deep water around noon, while towards evening they move into more shallow water of about 10-25 feet to feed on schooling bait fish during the night .
How do you jig for walleye in the winter?
How do you find big walleye?
What color lures do walleye like?
The data suggested walleye preferred predominately white lures in clear water conditions, yellow or gold lures in sedimentary turbid conditions and black lures in algae bloom conditions.
What is a walleyes favorite food?
They prefer small fish and will eat crustaceans, worms and insects. Try fishing from sundown to midnight, particularly during the heat of summer. Use bait, spinnerbaits, spoons, crankbaits, jerkbaits, ice jigs as well as plastic worms and grubs. Trolling is often a very effective way to fish for these tasty fish.
What size lures for walleye ice fishing?
A small minnow head or a few small maggots are still enough to draw perch and walleye in and not impair the flutter action. Personally, I have had better results with the smaller 1/16 and 1/8 ounce sizes, but when you’re fishing in a current, or fishing especially deep, the 5/16-ounce model produces better.
Do scents work for walleye?
Walleye fishing typically your looking for a reaction bite or an aggression bite, but in some instances some scent on your jig or plug or whatever your fishing is just what you need to get a finicky walleye to bite.
What time of day is best for walleye fishing?
Generally, the best time to fish for Walleye is early morning and late evening. When the sun is high at midday, Walleye move deeper and hold tightly to shade providing Cover. During periods of low light however, Walleye will move in shallow to feed on baitfish holding close to shore.
Do rubber worms work for walleye?
They squiggle. They’re soft and smell funny—they’re worms. And all that holds true whether they are modern-day fake baits or the real deal. The best thing about worms is they work wonders when it comes to catching walleyes in open water.
How do you catch walleye in January?
What kind of structure do walleye like in winter?
Generally speaking walleye will hold to the same structure as they would during fall months during early ice. Slight drop-offs, sandy or rocky flats, green weed beds, and hard structure anywhere from 8 to 15 feet deep are great places to start.
How do you catch walleye in ice fishing at night?
Use glow in the dark lures Especially for night bites under the ice. Glow in the dark lures and jigs give fish something to focus on in the dark depths. Nocturnal predators, like walleye and crappie, have excellent vision and will see a glow lure from a long ways off.
What water temp is best for walleye?
The optimum water temperature for walleye is 67 degrees with a low limit of 50 degrees and an upper limit of 76 degrees. Walleye also prefer low levels of light so in clear lakes they have a tendency to go deeper during the day and come in shallow at night to feed. Get to know the lakes you fish.
What do walleye eat in winter?
So you can catch them at just about any time in the winter. The kicker is that winter is a time when forage such as minnows and aquatic insects are at a low level. That means walleye have to be less choosy when they see a minnow or sucker.
Where can I find a mid winter walleye?
How do you target a large walleye?
What is the best size walleye to eat?
The best eating size fish: walleye 15 – 18 inches, perch 9 – 12 inches and northern pike 22 – 28 inches. We encourage our guests to enjoy eating while they are here when the fish are at their very best freshness and taste.
How do you find walleyes in a lake?
