Locate the prime sweet spot—every structure has one—and go fishing during the twin peak periods of first and last light. I also have a cheat sheet of such out-of-the-way locations stored in my GPS unit, making it easier to pinpoint the sweet spot-on-the-spot that every structure offers. You also agree to receive email updates on new posts and offers. Keep the smaller ones, put the big ones back. The closer you get to spring the more movement you're going to see from deep to shallow and for longer durations. Be the first to rate this post. Follow us on social media and keep up-to-date with Canada's fishing and hunting authority. It’s amazing how many nice fish you can catch in 1 to 2 feet of water. As for shallow, structure-free, bowl-shaped lakes where walleye seek out deeper pockets and holes, they’re at their best in mid-winter.
6. On vast, featureless seas such as Lake Winnipeg and the Bay of Quinte, however, mid-winter is the prime time to shake, rattle and roll, using loud, vibrating, lipless crankbaits to attract and trigger the fish. "It's all linked to metabolism. It could be a subtle, isolated patch of gravel, or several boulders lying on top of one another that distinguish the point, bar or reef from everything else around it.If you don’t have a cache of isolated structures to plunder in mid-winter, however, and you’re forced to rub elbows with the masses on community holes, don’t despair. Keeping a constant vigil on your electronics is critical to find walleye congregating in the slack water next to current on the back side of a hump or fish that drop down into the deeper holes near the hump.
by Will Stolski Mid-winter can be a tough time to chase down walleyes…a combination of fishing pressure and cold temps often lead to lethargic fish and a finicky bite. Even an experienced angler has a bad day in the river, so give it some time and enjoy the fishing.
By signing up for our newsletter, you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Service. Plus, during the coldest winters our lakes freeze just thick enough to prevent getting a boat on the water. Ice fishing provides some great winter walleye action for Northern anglers, but the water rarely freezes thick enough to venture on ice at my home waters in Missouri and for anglers all across the south and west.Walleye on the lakes around home go deep in the wintertime and are tough to catch. Another easy shallow-water walleye magnet is a neck, where the lake narrows to a few casts across. If you're in southern Ontario, tune your radio to Sportsnet 590 The FAN AM or visit www.fan590.com and listen live online.And keep up-to-date with Canada's fishing and hunting authority! Winter is a prime time to catch walleye below the dams because the fish migrate up river in search of a feeder stream where they intend to spawn on riffles. On remote, low-pressured waters with scads of structure in the form of points, bars, reefs and saddles, I can often catch walleye on the same spots during all three winter stages.That’s not the case, however, on the more popular lakes where ice-fishing pressure takes its toll by mid-winter. And at the same time, the February doldrums arrive and walleye—as well as most other fish species—go into their mid-winter funk.When this happens, I compensate by searching for the smallest, least-obvious structures that the crowds overlook. Winter river walleye jigging techniques ... Side imaging allows anglers to probe shallow, flooded water for structure without spooking the fish. These baits pay off particularly well when you set up a deadstick rod over a second hole immediately adjacent to your jigging hole.The benefit of jigging a lipless crankbait is that the walleye will easily see it and hear it, and rush over to investigate. You will be sent an opt-in email to confirm that you would like to receive emails from us.
At first ice, not all of the fish have moved into the depressions—it’s more of a gradual filtering-in process. This is especially true if you’re ice fishing in a crystal-clear walleye lake.As keen anglers know, walleye are highly sensitive to light; it’s the change in light level that takes place during the 90 minutes surrounding sunrise and sunset that triggers the fish to feed aggressively. Catch Gord on the Outdoor Journal Radio Show live every Saturday morning 8:05AM EST. The mouths of small feeder creeks (or big rivers; doesn’t really matter probably) have been good to me in winter for shallow water walleyes. By mid-winter, however, every walleye in the lake will have gone to the deep spots.Just remember to exercise restraint and understand that you’re fishing over a huge concentration of the lake’s walleye population. At first ice, not all of the fish have moved into the depressions—it’s more of a gradual filtering-in process. There's little movement in the winter, especially if there's suspended forage for them to just rise up and feed on.