How To Fish For Walleye Through The Ice

February 3, 2021

Landing big walleye through a hole in less than six inches of ice is tricky because the fish don’t turn and can sure back up. This makes the walleye one of the most sought after ice fishing catches around.

2012050617.13.12.jpg Walleye fishing lures, Walleye

Hook the minnow through its upper lip so it can still swim effectively and doesn’t die right away.

How to fish for walleye through the ice. But you really only need a couple things to get started. The most common technique for catching walleye in ice is vertical jigging where you make a jerky vertical motion to lure the fish and there are more chances that it will bite the bait. The main diet of walleye is smaller fish.

When you find fish by sampling as many spots as possible, you are going to typically catch fish during the prime windows by sitting on the key spots and fishing the traffic that is swimming through. Watching a promising thick line come through on your electronics, it holds for just a moment while you are poised, ready to set the hook to only watch it slowly fade away. Now is the time to shred up the ice with a lot of holes.

“man, we are seeing a lot of fish coming through on the electronics, but they are just not eating” if you have spent time ice fishing walleyes, there is a good chance this has happened to you. As you well know, when the water temps start to cool down, the fish start their usual feeding frenzy to fatten up for the winter. The fish may not be eating, but the question is, can we get them to bite.

First, you’ll want a good rod and reel. Walleyes will eat a lot of different presentations. It will revolutionize the way you fish through the ice, and likely spur you to explore the use of an underwater camera in open water as well.

So let’s get into it. Mille lake fishing guide tony roach has adapted his open water drop shot system to target walleyes through the ice. This is where to start cutting through the ice.

They love perch, smelt, shiners, and minnows, but anything small enough including leeches and nightcrawlers they’ll eat, too. One of the most popular techniques for catching walleye through the ice is jigging. Silver spoons & lures in clear water

During this time, the walleyes are still moving around with the food—or looking for food. The selection nowadays is endless. An inside turn like that is pure heaven for walleyes, and holds them all winter long.

Generally, walleye can be caught from the opening day of fishing season in may through the last sunday in february. There are definitely ways to increase your catch. After literally spending days out there jigging most everything already mentioned, 90% of the walleye’s caught are on a fathead/shiner/sucker.

Doing this will get the walleye’s attention by stirring up the bottom sediment and causing vibration through the water. Once this ends, you have to fish a spot through. When the food goes shallow, the walleye go shallow.

Like stated earlier, the selection of ice rods nowadays is very deep. I could walk into my local sporting goods store and walk out broke just on ice fishing gear. The trick is to jig at the top of the structure.

In december and january, the whirl of walleye activity by sundown gets totally charged up. The fifth and final tip for walleye ice fishing is to use vibration to get the walleye’s attention. I’ve spent most my ice fishing walleye pursuits on mille lacs…a great destination to test “favorite lures” because there are typically many willing biters, but not so easy that whatever you drop down there guarantee’s a walleye.

Jigging for walleye ice fishing. Many fishermen across north america are after the most sought after fish in north america: For inactive walleye ice fishing, all you need is a hook, split shot, and bait.

The walleye is popular for many reasons including that it's a lot of fun to catch and even more delicious to eat. No doubt there are few things as rewarding as landing the first big walleye of the winter through four inches of clear ice where you can actually see the fish fighting through the ice several feet to the side of you. Aggressively hit the bottom of the lake with your lure and bring it up slowly.

Ice anglers who hunt walleyes through the ice know the feeling. Jigging action on your bait calls fish in and entices a strike. The shallowest spots to ice fish are in 3 feet of water.

And the same thing when it goes deep. But know that limits and dates can vary from place to place, size restrictions may exist and fishing for them in a particular lake could be closed or limited. Fishing for early ice walleyes is focused on probing, testing, moving and scouting, rather than sitting in one spot for hours on end in the comfort of a permanent fish house.

Here are our most effective jigging tips for walleyes.

Walleye Fishing Tips And Tricks + Fish Fry YouTube