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tips for locating walleyes through the ice??


ilovehardwater

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i would like some tips oh how to find walleyes on the ice, ive been ice fishing for only about 2 years and i mostly target gills and crappies but would like to pull some eyes up through the ice, ive read that they mostly relate to the same structure as open water fishing, and is a underwater camera necessary?? any tips would be greatly appreciated thanks guys

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under water camera is not nessesary, it is helpfull to locate drop offs and structure but i found that walleyes are scitish around a camera, we usually target depths around 15 to 17 up to 20 then move shallow at night fall, alot of time in the sleeper we set up in 13 to 15 and put tip ups out up shallow 5 to 10 try all over

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thanks big b i usuallly fish in deeper water for eyes 30 ish feet deep maybe ill try to move a little shallower, when i asked if a underwater camera in necessary i meant for locating structure not for site fishing. im going to a more powerful sonar this year and was interested in getting a camera for the sole purpose of looking for structure.

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I like to use the camera for looking at structure as you mention. Sometimes just a few yards will make all the difference. An example of this would be setting right up on a mud to clay, or a sand to mud transition.

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thanks gissert, anyone have tips for baits?? i usually do the minnow tipped jig thing, i do have a few small buckshots, and airplane jigs i use but i never seem to catch dump, anyone have any bait ideas?? all tips are greatly appreciated thanks.

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Spots that produce in the summer are worth checking out. If you fish late into the fall spots that produce then are a safe bet once the ice has its hold. You mentioned the 30' water depth. I wouldnt always start there, fish locations vary greatly between lakes. I catch lots if not most my walleyes in 8-15' of water. Consider lots of things water clarity, Lake depth, weedlines and other structural elements. I like to look for any sort of transition, dropoffs, weedlines, bottom content changes and if you get more than one in an area your chances go up.

Do your homework with maps, stay mobile and locate fish dont wait em out unless you know they frequent the area. Even then its nice to have pre drilled holes spaced out on a piece of structure to hole hop at prime times.

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#1 - This may be dead obvious but your odds are much better on lakes with good populations of eyes. Find out if the lake is a good walleye lake and you are ahead of the game.

#2 - Walleyes follow bait. Find the bait and you'll find the eyes.

#3 - Sort of goes with #2, walleyes are fairly structure oriented. Could be a weedline, could be a hump, a point, a bar, an inside turn, could be the middle of nowhere, etc, etc.

#4 - Primetime. "Most" lakes exhibit a good sundown bite.

#5 - Depth. Guess depth is relative but walleyes typically rise, or come up to feed which means fishing the tops of humps, points, rockpiles, etc is a good tactic. I won't limit myself to these areas however. I'll auger holes and fish the bottoms of the drops, halfway up the drop, and then on the top edge, and even up onto the flat.

#6 - Tackle/Technique. Since we can fish 2 lines in the winter, its really hard to beat the 1-2 combo. That is a jig/minnow or hook/minnow under a bobber on one rod, and run a jigging spoon on the other rod. Leave the bobber rod alone, either on top of your structure or at the bottom, and hole hop all the other holes with your jigging spoon to search out other fish.

Just a few ideas to help you narrow down a game plan. grin.gif

Oh... a camera is NOT necessary. I rarely, rarely use a camera. A good flasher is definitely necessary!

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Underwater cameras really add to the sport, but wont put you on the fish. A good flasher is definitely necessary! Being frendly with the local bait shop is always a good place to start.

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Underwater cameras really add to the sport, but wont put you on the fish. A good flasher is definitely necessary! Being frendly with the local bait shop is always a good place to start.


Yep... The only thing a Camera will help you do is spot the proper weed depth/weed line... I've noticed that Walleye that on lakes where the Walleye are stocked as Fingerlings instead of Fry, that you'll see the Walleye relating more to the weedlines around Primetime. I believe it's because rearing ponds that they spend their first year or two in are often weedy, and it's just classical conditioning for them.

A flasher is a Must if you want to really have a good day of active walleye fishing. Can you catch them with just tip-ups and rattle reels... Yes... But you will do much better actively jigging.

As for lure selection... After how hot the sweedish pimple was for me the last two seasons... I just don't know how I could vote for anything else!

When it comes to using them... Well there's a lot of different methods... But one thing that I've put to the test, and found great results on, is the use of an in-line barrel swivel.

It seems that only the most aggressive of Walleye are interested in hitting a spinning bait. I've straight up watched them stare at a spinning bait... Then it stops and they hit. Jigging as you know causes line torsion, which plays out and makes your lure spin...

So I put a small inline barrel swivel in about 12-18 inches above the end of the line... That way all the line torsion plays out in the swivel with a minimum amount of spin in my lure.

The end result, for all species... IT TRIPLED my hook up percentage... Man I tell you it's nice to cut down the frustration of staring at the flasher, watching a fish come up to it, stare at it, and swim away. Now the (Contact Us Please) things actually bite more times than not!

Just make sure when you're reeling up that you don't let the swivel get to the top eye, because it can break off.

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DWW, do you use a snap to "tie on" the pimple, or do you tie it on to the split ring? I am also trying to do better for walleye, and I have been using only a snap, no swivel, and no barrel 18" up. Will try the barrel inline this year for sure. Thnx.

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On some days, a whole minnow on a jig can be too much. Try using just half of a minnow-either end, the scent it adds can make your lure seem that much more realistic. Other days, the bigger the better! Change it up if you aren't getting bit. Later.

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DWW, do you use a snap to "tie on" the pimple, or do you tie it on to the split ring? I am also trying to do better for walleye, and I have been using only a snap, no swivel, and no barrel 18" up. Will try the barrel inline this year for sure. Thnx.


A snap Swivel with your lure on the end of it is kind of the worst of both wortlds...

A Snap Swivel pretty much negates anything but Walleye in an aggressive pattern.

The last 5 and a half years now I've kept a detailed journal of my fishing adventures... Both for collecting data to improve my angling percentages... But also for recording stories that my friends and I can sit back and share.

And in all things fishing, (Except of course open water lindy rigging) you're always better having a knot connecting your lure/jig/hook than a swivel or a leader etc... .

If for no other reason than when you're pan fishing you can fish at a 45, to keep from getting picked off. Tilting the way your knot meets the jig to a 45 degree angle instead of up and down will force those pick-off artists to commit for a higher hook up percentage. (IIRC fishing at a 45 increased my hook up percentage by 20% from one year to the next.)

*****

Now as for how to use the sweedish pimple...

My highest percentages (Came with the help of a Vex)

Example taken from a trip I made in a wheel house with my buddy to Mille Lacs for 3 and a half days living on the ice. Working a Mud Flat.

During that trip daytime on Mille Lacs was perch time... All day jigging away for perch...

It was a pretty simple jigging strategy... A couple of hard jigs, brings them over... Then pause... Watch it sniff (on the vex) Make one medium sized jig, and stop... WOOF... Perch on...

It was pretty much like that all day... Jigging 2 feet off bottom to keep clear of the bottom clutter... perch coming up... All good and fun...

Every now and then though the bottom cover would thin... Perch were gone... And then on the vex this big blob of light would move in... Ascend from bottom and start sniffing.

A Walleye had moved in and the perch scattered!

Did a lot of playing around with jigging strategy...

Turned out the best was to load up a full minnow (Small seamed better on the sweedish pimple, large worked better for the deadstick rattle reels)

Drop it down about 6 -12 inches from bottom... Tie a bobber stop and load a bobber... So when you're jigging and you say set the rod down to take a leak, it doesn't go into bottom.

While hitting bottom can ring the dinner bell for a walleye, excessively hitting the bottom on a mud flat isn't good... The mud and silt take a long time to settle back down again... And a walleye doesn't want to chow a minnow in a cloud of dirty water any more than you want to eat a sandwhich in a cloud of diesel exhaust!

So if you're fishing a spot all day... Stay near bottom... You can tap it from time to time But don't be pounding up a mess on bottom every minute!

Now you can't always tell that you've got a Walleye that you're dancing with... Only real sign is the old perch scatter and Blob....

But when that happens... Jigging strategy that yielded the best results the last 2 winters...

Jig hard for say 5 jigs (Attention getter)

The Nodd for 20 seconds (Jigging technique where you keep your arm still but merely squeeze in pulses with your hand.

The one Medium jig...

Then Dead Still... Assuming you've got that swivel taking your line torsion out he should hit on the pause...

If not... Nodd... The Pause... Nodd... Then soft Jig... Then Nodd, the Pause...

If he disappears at any point... Drop down to the minimum line... And give it one hard jig... Followed by 3 medium jig pulses.

****

One other little note... One way you can tell a Walleye... Is that 95% of the time a non-aggressive Walleye will refuse to jig up more than say a foot... They're real snobs like that!

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A snap Swivel with your lure on the end of it is kind of the worst of both wortlds...


I agree on that, not a "snap-swivel" but I mean just just a really small snap. I also follow what you mean about jigs, I never use them on jigs for the reasons you mentioned. I just figured that a Swedish Pimple or other "jigging" lure already had "hardware" attached, so a tiny snap might allow it swing freer, and be negligible. I totally follow the swivel up the line idea.

I will also be trying all else you mention smile.gif so thanks. Just don't want you to think I was one of those guys who snap on a 1/16 or smaller or bigger jig to a big ol' snap AND SWIVEL, hehe,

Thanks,

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Quote:

Quote:

A snap Swivel with your lure on the end of it is kind of the worst of both wortlds...


I agree on that, not a "snap-swivel" but I mean just just a really small snap. I also follow what you mean about jigs, I never use them on jigs for the reasons you mentioned. I just figured that a Swedish Pimple or other "jigging" lure already had "hardware" attached, so a tiny snap might allow it swing freer, and be negligible. I totally follow the swivel up the line idea.

I will also be trying all else you mention smile.gif so thanks. Just don't want you to think I was one of those guys who snap on a 1/16 or smaller or bigger jig to a big ol' snap AND SWIVEL, hehe,

Thanks,


The last thing you want is for it to "Swing more Free."

Way too many people "Over Jig."

Subtlty is the key if you have anything other than a knot connecting that pimple to the line then things like Nodding (The gentle pulse of your hand in a rest position) aren't going to transmit correctly.

Instead with anything other than a knot attachment, any movement you transmit into the line is just going to be the bait slopping around down there.

You want real precision so you can mimic this minnow that's in it's death throes... It rails against it's inevitabilty... Then gasses out... Then passes out... Then spasms at the pain of death...

It doesn't just flop around more... Then flop around less... Then Flop around more.

You can't think of it as Bait and lure that you hope will intice a bite through motion... You have to think of it as a theatrical act put on by the thespian duo of your wrist and the lively minnow.

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Gotcha DWW, thanks for the additional info.

BTW, I don't think I have ever heard "Thespian" included with fishing talk before, ha! "Not that there is anything wrong with it" wink.gif (hehe, yep, I know what the word means, but always good for a chuckle)

Thanks again! Will try it all this winter, can't wait.

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Gotcha DWW, thanks for the additional info.

BTW, I don't think I have ever heard "Thespian" included with fishing talk before, ha! "Not that there is anything wrong with it"
wink.gif
(hehe, yep, I know what the word means, but always good for a chuckle)

Thanks again! Will try it all this winter, can't wait.


I've noticed that there are a lot of different styles when it comes to fishing, and even more so when it comes to ice fishing...

You've got the guys who go out there to drink and maybe catch a fish.

You've got the guys who fish ice like it's summer time just more up and down.

You've got the guys who repeat what worked once upon a time waiting for that clandestined repeat of past glory, and while they usually find it, if you total up the number of pointless hours between glory dayz it's more that I'm willing to pay.

Then you've got the guys who toss every gadget they can buy at the ice, but only know how to use half of it.

Then you've got guys who move every 20 minutes. and kind of have their own science.

I take a more cerebral approach... I don't do anything "For the hell of it." Everything is on purpose, and everything is for a reason, and when the fish hit I do my best to understand why... And you know... I have yet to get skunked ice fishing... But when it's a below average day, I try to figure out why.

Blaming the weather just doesn't go far enough for me.

My fishing journal is just such a weapon for angling success... That while I may not have a lot of Epic Days (My best is a 24, 26 and 27.5" walleye inside of 3 hours) I also have a lot of medium percentage days, and best of all no skunks!

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I always fish a tip-up for 1 line and jig with the other. Sometimes the tip-up is the only thing that produces, sometimes the opposite. Make sure your tip-ups are working properly and set within 3-16 inches of the bottom depending upon weed growth (camera is great for finding edges of weedlines). Certain spots/lakes I won't jig at all and use both tip-ups. Early season get a few buddies, then you can spread out the tip-ups and cover a big area or depth range. Drill extra holes ahead of time so you can move more tip-ups to the area producing the most action at prime time.

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I always fish a tip-up for 1 line and jig with the other. Sometimes the tip-up is the only thing that produces, sometimes the opposite. Make sure your tip-ups are working properly and set within 3-16 inches of the bottom depending upon weed growth (camera is great for finding edges of weedlines). Certain spots/lakes I won't jig at all and use both tip-ups. Early season get a few buddies, then you can spread out the tip-ups and cover a big area or depth range. Drill extra holes ahead of time so you can move more tip-ups to the area producing the most action at prime time.


The problem with that Tip-Up spread is that it ends up that you always get the most hits on the outside lines... It's kind of like the fish are aware that there's a row of something in the way (Which for them I imagine they percieve as being fox tail with it's tip frozen in the ice, and from what I've observed eyes hate fox tail)

****

I caught a 26 inch Walleye on a tip up once in 30 feet of water, and I tell ya that was one of the most fun fights in my angling life!

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