Icefishing midlake hump

[Tom (N.W.Ont)]

I got me a great piece of real-estate to fish this weekend. I've got myself a long narrow island that jutes out into the main-lake basin, a saddle about 25 yards long that bottoms out at 20', followed in a direct line to a rocky hump that tops up at around 9'...the backside of which falls back to 20-25ft.

My question...what would you see as the most productive water? The saddle, the edges of the hump, or on top of the hump? Now, I know an ideal situation would cover them all in a day, but this is a decent sized area and I ain't trolling here. Just looking to increase my odds from the get go.

I will be punching holes with the power auger 'till my arms fall off, but I've never fished this spot in the winter and would like to know what depths the 'eyes tend to gravitate to this time of year.

Lake is meso Canadian Shield with stained water. Perfect!

thx

Tom

[Tom (N.W.Ont)]

I've said it before and I'll say it again. This forum confuses me. A bunch of posts with topics ranging from football to the pro walleye trail all get plenty of answers, but ask about mid-winter walleye location and you get nothing.

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Again, very puzzling behaviour.

[manitobawalleye]

tom
i will tell you what i would do... a little more info would be good... but here goes.... if the island you mention has a gentle slope with weeds to the saddle and hump i would set up in this side of the hump especially if 1 end of the saddle shoots into a bay area with a good feeding shelf... fish the end of the hump/saddle that has the best feeding area... on the island side to the edge of the hump but following that 15-20' contour....
i have never had much luck fishing the very top unless you check it at sunset...
now if there is nothing in the saddle for fish to focus on and both ends of the saddle lead to similar fairly steep breaking drop into basin... from my experience a lot of these saddle areas on the type of lake you mention are just smooth rock and mud
then i would be looking on the deepest water side of the hump as long as the break isn't to fast breaking but probably on the ends of the hump...if you have a contour map look for wider lines one either
side of a bit steeper area...winter walleye's will spread horizontal
more easily than vertically in moderate slope areas but when they come to a portion of steeper break you have a funnel (just like big whitetails)....without seeing the map or knowing more about the habitat i am shooting off... it also makes a difference in how you fish the spot by the forage available... the first spot relates to a good perch population....the second more to shiners/minnows
more info and i could go on and on and go there and get blanked!!!!
where in n/w ontario are you tom...
also late meso lakes here in man... are good walleye spots in the weeds... early meso are easier in march
email me at emailus@escape.ca if you like and let me know how you do
any crappies in this lake????

[manitobawalleye]

tom
1 other thing ....
stick around here for a while and you will find most of the people here can be very helpful...
good luck

[Bobby]

Tom, I would go shallow, ON the saddle. 10 feet or less, like "manitobawalleye" said - wider contour lines as the winter walleye will be horizontal. I'm in Manitoba, norht-central, about 10km from the Ontario border. I too fish stained water sheild lakes. However, I have fished points like you describe with little luck this time of the year. Yesterday I fished a 6 foot deep flat and caught 9 walleye in about 1 1/2 hours, just prior to dusk, and lost numerous others handlining them up the holes. They had small shiners in their bellies and that's what I'd been using for bait. But if I had to fish a particular point like you're mentioning, I would go shallow on the saddle. Find the weeds if possible. Just my 2 bits, what may work for me in my lake may not for you!

[Tom (N.W.Ont)]

Well, here's what happened. We got skunked.

We couldn't get near the hump we were going to fish...too much slush out there and too cold out away from the island. So, we fished just off the island point out towards shore that was probably 100 yards away or so. We had tipups in anywhere from 8 to 20ft. of water and in between, depending on how close you were to the inlands' ledge. A decent looking area, but alas, nothing.

Also fished a point by an outflow across the lake. We had our lines covering water again from 6' to 20' deep with some nice dramatic breaks along the reef point. We at least though mr.pike would come for a visit and were shocked that this spot (a perenial in the summer) didn't produce. I'm going to hang up the auger for a while. I catch untold numbers of fish in the soft-water months, but icefishing is still way to hit and miss for me.

later folks, thanks for the tips.

tom

[manitobawalleye]

tom
january walleyes can be tough especially in deep water lakes...
exactly where do you live... maybe i can recommend a lake...

[Tom (N.W.Ont)]

I live in Thunder Bay!!! Ha ha ha...only 1.5 hrs to Lac Des Mille Lac...one of the best summer/winter walleye fisheries known to mankind!

I'm a bit of a contrarian I must confess. If crowds of people go fish one place, I make an abrupt turn and go fish somewhere else. I hate the crowds, long drive, ice-roads and having to pay to fish LDML. But, maybe I should change my tune and just go...at least I'd be into the fish.

When we were out last weekend, I said the same thing you did to my buddies when we were getting our butt kicked...mid-winter walleye are a bi#ch.

But, if you know of any other lakes, lemme know!

Tom