Ice Fishing For Walleye
Most ice fishermen fish for crappie, perch and bluegill because they are more prevalent and easier to catch than walleye. That doesn’t mean that anglers would rather catch panfish than walleye. Walleye are definitely desired more than panfish, but many anglers have problems catching walleye consistently. Good crappie fishermen will catch a lot of walleye as well because walleye and crappie are located in the same areas. Early in the winter season, you can find walleye in 8 to 18 feet of water. As winter progresses, go slightly deeper and you will find fish.
If you are fishing for crappie and walleye, a small minnow on a jig will work for both species. If you are just focusing on walleye, you can go a little bigger with your bait. Jigs can be slightly bigger and minnows in the 3 to 4 inch range will work.
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Trolling Crankbaits for Walleye
Trolling crankbaits for walleye can sometimes be the best way to catch walleye on crankbaits for a number of reasons. If you fish for walleye, you know that these fish can be a real pain in the butt to catch sometimes. You can mark fish on the graph all day and at times they will not eat any jig, live bait or lure that you cast at them. Trolling crankbaits to cover water and pick off one walleye here or there may be the key to having some success on these days.
Trolling crankbaits will also pay off when you’re just trying to cover some water on a big lake or a new lake. Once you find the fish, you can mark your spots and use jigs, live bait or just cast crankbaits instead of trolling with them. If you prefer to keep trolling, then mark your spots where you get bit and continue working back through these areas.
Another reason to troll crankbaits is that it can get tiring casting crankbaits all day. Instead of casting all day, trolling can save some time by eliminating unproductive areas. You can focus on casting the spots where you got bit from trolling crankbaits.
The types of crankbaits that usually work best are longer, slender styles of crankbaits that resemble perch or other types of bait fish.
Make sure your baits are getting down to the proper depths when trolling for walleye, otherwise, you’re wasting your time. If you’re fishing 10 to 12 feet of water, your crankbaits should be running anywhere from 8 to 12 feet deep. Bumping the bottom can be effective, but it can also lead to lots of snags. A crankbait trolled a foot or two above the bottom will catch the active fish and keep you from wasting time getting out of snags. Watch your electronics because walleye will often suspend over deeper water. While these fish may be tough to catch, fishing near the bottom will not get you the bites that you want. It sounds simple, but fish where the fish area.
Trolling with leadcore line can help you get down to the depths that you need to be fishing.
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Crankbaits for Walleye
Crankbaits are right up there with jigs and live bait when it comes to walleye fishing. Walleye are known for feeding heavily on different types of bait fish and when they turn on, there is no other bait or lure that can put fish in the boat like a crankbait. When walleye aren’t feeding, it may take lots of casts just to catch a couple of fish. Most walleye anglers know that walleye can turn on and off in a heart beat, so you just keep casting and casting and you will reap the awards eventually.
While all types of crankbaits will work for walleye, your longer, slender types of crankbaits will outproduce other types of crankbaits on most days. Try to pick crankbaits that resemble perch or shad.
Some great spots to fish on lakes are rocky points, flats near deep water, weed lines, rocky shorelines and even docks and other types of wood cover located near deeper shorelines. Remember, walleye do like to move in shallow to feed, but they will spend most of their time in deeper water.
On rivers, any current breaks, bridges, dams and bends are good spots to start. Wood, docks and other types of shoreline cover that provides a current break will usually hold walleye at some point during the day.
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Kneel and Reel Technique with Crankbaits
This is not one of the more common techniques, but it is used by many anglers and it can be effective in the right situation. When the fish are deep and you need to get that crankbait down to 18, 20 or even 22 feet down, there are only so many things you can do to help.
Flourocarbon line sinks and this may give you an extra foot or two. Some of the best deep-diving crankbaits on the market will reach the 17 to 20 foot depths on very long casts. Adding a weight about a foot in front of your crankbait will work and finally the kneel and reel technique will help get you an extra couple of feet.
Think about where you normally have your rod tip places as you are winding in your crankbait. It’s probably a foot or so above the water. Try kneeling down in your boat and point the rod tip as far down into the water as you can while still reeling in your lure comfortably. With a 7 foot long rod, you can get your crankbait to dive a few feet deeper.
When the bass are deep, this is a technique to try. Just to warn you though, if it works for you, your knees are going to be hurting in a hurry. Using a cushion to kneel on can make your day a little more comfortable.
The kneel and reel technique will work for all types of fish that can be caught in deeper water with crankbaits. Bass, walleye, pike and muskie are the most common.
Resources:
- Find crankbaits at Cabela’s
- Visit our Crankbaits page.
Bottom Bumping Crankbaits
Bottom bumping is a popular technique for largemouth and smallmouth bass, but it will also work on northern pike, walleye and other types of fish that like crankbaits. Bottom bumping is when you fish a crankbait that runs deeper than the water depth you are fishing.
For example, if you are fishing a rocky reef that comes up to 4 feet deep, then a crankbait that runs 6 to 8 feet deep would be perfect for bottom bumping over the rocks on this reef. The erratic bumping of the crankbait on the bottom will cause aggressive strikes and reaction strikes from bass.
This technique will work in deep water and shallow water. In deeper water, longer casts with flourocarbon line will help you get down to the bottom in deeper water, but most deep-diving crankbaits aren’t going to bounce the bottom in water deeper than 15 feet.
Resources:
- Find crankbaits at Cabela’s
- Visit our Crankbaits page.
Door County Walleye Fishing
Door County walleye fishing can be very good. It may take some time to learn the ropes on the waters around Door County, but it is worth it because there are some trophy walleye to be caught up here.
Sturgeon Bay is popular for catching walleye, especially in the spring and fall months. Walleye will move into the Sturgeon Bay to spawn in the spring. They can be found fairly shallow with some anglers even reporting some success from shore fishing. Fall is another good time to fish for walleye in Sturgeon Bay. Weedlines and rocky reefs will hold walleye in Sturgeon Bay.
The waters of Green Bay will hold walleye from spring through fall as well. This where many of the 8 to 10 pound walleye are caught every year. Most of the better reports seem to come from the southern parts of Door County, but you can find walleye all throughout Door County.
Some of the top baits to use are crankbaits and spinner harnesses rigged with nightcrawlers, minnows and leeches. When you find the walleye, a jig tipped with a minnow is tough to beat.
Some of the popular areas to fish in Door County are:
Sturgeon Bay, Little Sturgeon Bay, Riley’s Bay, Sand Bay, Sawyer Harbor, Pottowatomie State Park, Egg Harbor, Peninsula State Park, Ephraim, Sister Bay, Baileys Harbor, Rowley’s Bay, Washington Island, Ellison Bay.
For more information, please visit Door County.
Swimbaits for Walleye
Most walleye anglers prefer to fish crankbaits over swimbaits any day, but don’t overlook an attractive swimbait for walleye. Swimbaits can be very effective when walleye are feeding in shallower water around rocky points and weeds. Sometimes, presenting something different from what they are used to seeing will generate a strike. Fast and slow retrieves will work, so make sure to vary your retrieves until you find out which retrieve is producing better on that given day.
Fish Relate To Cover and Structure
Cover is essential to most fish species. Weeds, docks, wood, brush, flooded grass, reeds and fish cribs are all types of cover that fish love. You can expect to find many different types of fish around cover throughout the year. The depth of the cover plus the current water temperature will dictate what types of cover fish will be using. Sunny days will also help push fish into cover as they try to find some shade.
Structure is the different bottom countours. A flat bottom contour usually doesn’t hold many fish. A bottom that goes from 4 to 6 feet down into 15 to 20 feet may be a good area to fish. Many types of fish will come shallow to feed, but they like having deep water nearby to escape to. If there was cover on this piece of structure, this area would be even better. There may be fish cribs or brush piles or a weed line along this dropoff. If that’s the case, this will probably hold all types of fish at some point - bass, bluegill, crappie, walleye, northern pike, muskie, etc.
Try to find areas that have shallow water with deep water nearby. Any humps or sudden drop-offs are good areas to start with. If you can find cover in these areas, you may have found the best spots in the lake to fish.
Cover and structure are very important to fish and most anglers can put more fish in the boat by finding areas to fish that have irregular bottom countours that have some type of cover as well.
Jig Fishing Boat Docks
Boat docks are great cover for a variety of species such as bluegill, perch, rock bass, largemouth bass, smallmouth bass and walleye. Most fishermen that target docks are bass fishermen though. That’s because docks almost always hold bass from spring through fall, especially if there is access to deep water nearby.
To catch bass on the docks consistently, there are a few things you need to know. During low-light conditions, bass may not be holding as tight to the docks. Bass like to use the docks because they shade certain areas from the sun. During low-light conditions, there is nothing to drive them way underneath the dock. You may still catch plenty of bass under the docks, but there will be bass spread out around the docks and within a 50 to 100 foot cast from the docks.
During sunny days, the docks will provide shade for bass and they will take advantage of the shade almost every time. When the sun is straight up during the middle of the day, expect to have to make casts way underneath the dock. This is where they will be. When the sun is not straight overhead, the shade will actually be under the dock and out to one of the sides of the dock. Most of your bass will come from the shady areas. If your lake has a lot of docks to fish, just concentrate on the shady areas and keep moving. You’ll catch more bass by the end of the day this way.
To make the most out of each dock, try to fish the edges of the docks first, then move farther and farther underneath the docks. This way, you up your odds of catching multiple fish off of each dock. If you cast way underneath with your first cast, you may spook some of the other fish if you get a bite and pull a bass from way underneath. Work the edges first then go underneath. You’ll catch more bass using this technique as well.
Fishing Resources:
- Shop Bass Jigs
- Largemouth Bass Fishing Library
- Smallmouth Bass Fishing Library
- Top Bass Fishing Trips
Dragging Football Head Jigs in Deep & Shallow Water
I think most anglers would agree that football head jigs seem to be the better jig for using the dragging technique. Dragging a football head jig is similar to swimming a jig, but you want to make sure you’re on the bottom. Cast the jig out, let it fall to the bottom, then start to wind it in with a slow, steady retrieve.
Football head jigs work really well when fished this way and you can use them in deep or shallow water. Make sure your rod has some sensitivity so you can feel the bottom contour. If you feel a rock, a log or any other type of cover on the bottom, stop your jig for a second and just shake it. Fish relate to cover, so give them just a few seconds to watch that bait shake right in front of their face….then be ready to set the hook and hold on.
Dragging football head jigs is a technique meant for bass fishing, but don’t be surprised if you pick up an occasional walleye, northern pike or even muskie this way.
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