Fishing for walleye ice species requires anglers to have a wide range of skills and time-tested tactics. This post offers 7 straightforward tips on locating and jigging for walleye fish successfully.
The first three tips offer you some methods to find walleyes. The final four tips guide you on setting up your rigs and bait properly to catch the fish right after locating them.
So, don’t hesitate. Check out our best ice fishing walleye tips below.
Brilliant Ice Fishing Walleye Tips On Locating and Jigging
3 Tips To Find Walleyes on Hard Water
One of the most distinctive characteristics of walleye fish is that they are always on the move looking for food. Therefore, prepare fishing materials needed in advance and stay mobile so that your lure settles within their feeding distance. Below are the top three tips for locating this kind of fish.
1. Plan Out At Least 3 Key Locations for Mobility
Determine 3-4 critical locations before your fishing journey by using fishing maps and depth charts. Those locations need to exhibit structural transitions in a detailed fashion. To be specific, it would be best if your fishing spots were around or near mid-lake humps or shore points. Typically, walleyes habits at a depth of 15-25ft. However, they also swim along areas transitioning from different depths. For instance, a walleye may jut out 50 yds at 5-10ft, then all of a sudden drop off to 20ft.
2. Drill Multiple Holes Per Location
Another tip for finding walleye ice fish is to drill 10-15 holes per location that you have chosen before. Avoid drilling too many holes. Bear in mind that these holes should be in zig-zag lines or a grid pattern. Apply point structure method on creating holes at each location. For example, you drill five holes along the deeper area, five holes along with the transition, and five holes along the shallow section. Jig your fishing rod in each hole for 5-10 minutes until you see the rod moving, which means walleye feeds on the bait.
3. Angling Walleyes at Night
This kind of ice fish usually looks for food most actively during the time of dusk and dawn. But their feeding hours when fish are much more active to feed than the day are at night. So take advantage of fishing hours to set up before sunset—Fish the walleye ice fish through the morning.
Related post: What Are The Baits For Walleye Ice Fishing?
4 Tips To Jig for Walleye Fish
Among the most common techniques for angling walleyes through the ice is figging. This way will entice and call fish in a strike. Now, let’s scroll down four practical tips for jogging walleye ice fish.
1. Combine Lures & Silver Spoons For Clear Water Fishing
Using silver-colored spoons in clear water helps reflect light to allure and call in walleye. This trick is particularly effective in the early season when low snow covers and walleyes hold in shallow water. Drop your lure 1-3ft off the bottom. Wait until your target walleye fishing devours the bait.
2. Use Bright Baits For Fishing In Stained Water
The bait colors used in stained water should be bright. You can consider using chartreuse to attract the fish into your fishing spots. Bright baits work most effectively in stained water since they help the fish find your lures. Meanwhile, natural colors are usually harder to locate. Combining traditional jigs with erratic jigs creates more vibrations to call in more walleyes in stained water areas. You can use a fire tiger bright jig to search for the fish in stained water when heavy snow jut-outs in low-lighting conditions.
3. Use Two-Pole Approach in Your Shanty
Sometimes you might have to catch fish in the bad weather, so sheltering in a hut for walleye ice fishing can be a great option. However, you may probably counter less mobility to look for walleye. So then, consider using the two-pole approach to call in walleyes and keep them around you.
Firstly, you create two holes side by side. Prepare live bait and place your first rod with a jig in one hole. For the second hole, set up another rod with bait to attract fish. You will see the jigging rod calls in fish and capitalizes on devouring eaters. The rod with live baits helps keep pods of walleye around and seal the deal with finicky ones.
4. Convert Your Baits
Live bait rigs work best during the mid-winter when the low oxygen period limits activities of the fish to feed actively. So, to add efficiency during these periods, convert the lively baits into something more exciting and alluring. For example, you can present live baits such as a fathead minnow jig on a medium shiner or a demon jig. Doing so helps trigger bites during the low activity time.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully, our article has provided you with helpful ice fishing walleye tips so you can enjoy your fishing trip. If you have any questions, feel free to ask. We are always available to help you.
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