Shallow water walleyes

[mrfish1991]

Got out last night and again tonight.

Yesterday I fished poinsett with a buddy in the early afternoon. We set up in 17' and fished that for a while. Didn't catch anything there, but did have a big northern circling our baits...but that didn't commit. We packed up and headed to another lake that we got a hot tip on. Got there and set up in 6' and waited. As soon as it was dark got the first eye. That was the only one we ended up putting on the ice, I lost three more right at the hole.

Got out tonight with Creepworm and set up again in 6'. Right at dark we pulled the first one in. They were far between for the first bit we were there. Then at about 8pm the dinner switch flipped on and we caught 3 in 10 minutes. That rounded out our two person limit. Great night of fishing and they sure tasted good.

[rundrave]

yup shallow water can be great way to target ice eyes. Thanks for sharing.

What were the ice conditions like? Safe enough for ATV traffic?

[carpshooterdeluxe]

Difference between saturday and sunday was high pressure saturday, and dropping pressure starting yesterday morning. Everybody I talked to that caught fish yesterday said nothing was active until sunset. Clear water, air pressure, abundance of bugs and tiny perch in all these lakes. I hit a few different lakes yesterday and picked up a few perch right at 5pm, but otherwise it was slow. Buddy farther north had 3 walleyes all day, then they caught 11 or 12 after dark.

[mrfish1991]

yup ice was good...13.5" where we fished on poinsett, and I heard reports of 15" out there.

The other lake we fished was at about 12.5"

Both lakes had atv's and full sized trucks pulling permys driving on them...I dont think I would be that ballsy...but the bottom line is good ice.

[mrfish1991]

Got out again tonight with a buddy from my dorm building. We hit basically the same spot and had great luck again. We brought home 5, but could have easily limited out.

Biggest of the night was a 17" eye. Key color was red again, but caught fish on plain hooks under a tip up as well. Setlines and jigging produced about equal numbers of fish.

Heres my 17"er

Met another FM'er out there who had a permy, I'm sorry but I dont remember who it was. Everyone on the ice seemed to be catching fish. Majority of the people left before the action really heated up.

[eyeowegian]

What lake are you on Mrfish?

[prov1900]

Hey Vince! Next time you go to that place...call! What time of year was that avatar pic taken?

[eyeowegian]

lol...That was below the dam at Yankton in 2009. It was early november...like the 4th or 5th. We had one last 75 degree day and pounded em! Nice part about that, is there are no size restrictions. And some of those bigger fish were actually saugers.

[prov1900]

We went in December (late) this year and smacked the saugeyes pretty good. All nice fish. Only one walleye that day. I think that will get better and better every year, as long as the floods hold off. Been wanting to get up there again, but am always working on the perfect weather days LOL