Five Winter Walleye Fishing Tips

If you are an avid walleye angler, you probably like to fish all year long. Winter walleye fishing tips can help you find the fish, master the skill of fishing in the winter and how to have a fulfilling day out on the ice. If you know that the water you are fishing has walleye in it, then you can successfully fish walleye in the winter. Although some anglers fish for other species during the winter months, you can find walleye that are feeding.

You just have to be patient and they will come. Location is the key to walleye fishing in the winter. When there is ice on the water, you want to fish by the basins in about eighteen to forty feet of water.

You can also fish the shallow water when the water is just starting to ice over. When fishing the deeper water, fish the mudflats and basins. However, more than location, the time is important. You want to fish early morning hours or evening hours. If it is snowing and overcast or cloudy, you will have a better day than when the sun is shinning brightly through the ice. Try starting an hour before the sunrises and for about two hour after, or a half hour before dark and into the dark.

Bait is something that is important to keep in mind when you are winter fishing for walleye. Use a heavier Rapala jigging rap or a spoon. Use a monofilament test line on a short, slightly heavy ice fishing rod. When the fishing is slow, you should present the bait slowly, but when the feeding is aggressive, you can be just as aggressive with your presentation. One thing you might try is ripping the spoon and then letting it freefall. This seems to stir up the fish and they come running. You can use a minnow cut off right below the gills. This way, when you get a bite, you are going to feel it.

When you first get out on the ice, remember the areas where you fished underwater structures before the ice. Chances are good that the walleye will still be in that general area. The best thing to use for ice fishing for walleye is a sonar unit. This will prevent having to drill holes all over the ice while you are trying to find the fish. If you are using a fish shanty, you have to be precise when you drill your hole. If you are out in the open, you may want to drill holes around the perimeter of the school.