super clear water walleyes

[siemers]

I was looking for some tips about Ice fishing for walleyes in super clear water. My in laws have a cabin on a lake that has super clear water, and I fish it as much as I can. Are there certain colors jigs I should be using? I haven’t had much luck with walleyes on the lake. Any tips would be much appreciated. Thanks

[J_D]

I have a cabin on a lake with the same situation . We use small trebles with the best walleye bite from 600-800 pm. Some days daybreak/sundown can be good, but the 6-8 bite is what we concentrate on. Early in the year hit the low light timeframes, Jan-Feb an hour after dusk or an hour before daybreak is key.

[tunrevir]

In a lake with super clear water your bite is going to be best at low light and after dark. I would stick to the most natural presentations you can that match the forage of the water you fish. Stick to hard breaks near weed edges and look for classic rock and gravel bottom areas nearby. Not knowing the body of water some experimentation will be needed to decipher where the fish are but those 2 ingredients I gave you should get you closer to fish. basic minnow setups are going to do better then more aggressive artificial presentations in general but I would still work natural colored baits like perch chubby darters or jigging raps with a touch of glow or UV paint schemes, rattling spoons are worth a try as well but generally natural presentations are going to be better. Good Luck!

Tunrevir~

[BoxMN]

My cabin is on little lake, not really a walleye lake, but has them (stocked) in it, and some biggies. Also 20+ foot clarity, so pretty clear.

We just picked up a 23" eye on a rattlewheel with a small glow single hook Frosty type jig and medium shiner. I know it is more a fluke, but we had another on, and last year a couple 25-26" ers come out of the same spot, all about 7-10 PM, on live bait that wasn't being jigged.

Also last year got a 15" eye during the middle of bright (and chilly) day with lots of traffic and bunch of noisy people in the shack (like 12 people!) and fish fry going on - on a perch colored Chubby Darter tipped with Gulp minnow head. That one didn't last 10 minutes between being on the bottom of the lake, and being in my tummy

Anyway, I certainly didn't give any pro info here, ha, but we scratch some out while fishing crappies mostly, but I think I am going to try targeting them more with Jigging Raps and Chubby during the day and nice lively minnows on deadsticks or rattlewheels at night. Good luck. PS I use light line on everything, would rather get more bites/fish and lose some, than never get bit in this clear water.

[leechlake]

our cabin is on a lake that according to the DNR is the second clearest in the state. In Summer we catch fish in 12-15 feet mid day mid summer sunny days but we use slip bobbers to keep things away from the boat. We catch fish in 18-24 under the boat using lindy's.

Ice fishing we do standard things but it seems more subtle and more natural works better than rattles. I wouldn't get stuck that you need to change things up a ton from a standard clarity lake but just tweak things a bit. A foot of snow and a foot of ice must cut down light penetration at least as good as a nice walleye chop.

[siemers]

Thanks for the tips guys.

[walleye18]

fishing gin clear lakes for eyes is a "low light period" type of pattern.

fish early morning and at twi-light, low sun/light periods.

Might want to go with a light of line you can.

I have fished gin clear lakes in WI/MN and MI. I can tell you that dropping from 8 to 6 lb line does make a difference....once fished for crappies/perch and sunfish on a lake in WI where we dropped from 6lb to 4 lb then to 2 lb test line. There as no comparison with the 6 lb and 4 lb line verses the 2 lb line....prolly about a 10:1 advantage with the 2 lb line....big fish too!

[mwal]

My cabin is on a lake with a 23 ft seechi disk reading which is really really clear. Use 4 or 6lb Fluorocarbon leader to small treble hook to 3 to 4 inch sucker. After 40 years of fishing this lake and other lakes in the area that are just as clear we only fish for walleye 1 hour before dawn till the sun is fully up or the last hour until 2 hours after complete darkness. Also have all holes predrilled and no running around. We have had zero luck on any spoons,jigs. Some luck on jigging raps but none consistent.In summer these lakes are best during these same hours or during extreme windy cloudy days. The fish do not tolerate lindy rigging so most bobber fish and make long distance casts with light jigs. Best luck has been 3 to 4 inch sucker under tip up 18 inches off bottom. White suckers are the main forage in this lake.

Mwal