Ice Fishing Secrets For Catching Perch And Walleye In Minnesota

The first and utmost important secret for ice fishing for perch and walleye in Minnesota is finding the fish. Once you find the fish, you can then use some different ways to hook them.

The first thing to remember is the hole size cannot be any bigger than eight inches. This gives you a small area to work with, so finding schools under the ice is important. A fish locator works during the ice fishing season, since it is hard to know where the fish are even if you know where the underwater rock structures are and weed beds.

For walleye, early ice periods are better. Fish the smaller lakes that freeze over earlier. For the most part, these lakes do not have perch, but there are plenty of walleye. As soon as the ice is ready for foot traffic is the right time to fish for walleye.

The walleye are a little easier to find on the smaller lakes. The only thing to remember about ice fishing for walleye is that you have to find where they are sitting waiting for the baitfish. Rule of thumb would be to find the schools of baitfish and the walleye should be close.

For perch, you will want to be on the larger lakes that take a little more time to freeze over. The perch generally school around five to fifteen feet of water. The underwater breaks will be the best place to look for the perch. Do not concentrate on just the shallower water. Perch will go deeper if the baitfish is there. Look for areas on the lake that has gravel and sand or rock and mud on the bottom. This would be a good place to start looking for perch. Once you locate the perch, you can start drilling the eight-inch holes.

The majority of ice fishing for walleye and perch in Minnesota is done during the day and not just at night. The warmest parts of the days are when you should look for eyes. The dusk or dawn theory does not apply when you are ice fishing.

Any time of the day when the sun is warming the ice a little is the best time to fish for walleye and even perch. Late mornings to early afternoon is when the weeds peak. As the weeds peak, more oxygen is supplied to the water. This only happens when the sun is out and the water is warming slightly.

Walleyes are not only found in the weed beds, but in flats around the chasms. This would be in depths of water anywhere from thirty to sixty feet of water.
Look by the reefs and points for walleye on sunny days. As for perch, you can fish the shallower depths of water where the bottom is sandy and muddy. Both fish can be caught during the day without needing any artificial light to see what you are doing. It is not uncommon to see the anglers on the ice fishing for perch and walleye together.