top jimmy
01-31-2009, 11:46 AM
what is the best technique for fishing walleye in the winter?
Go to lakes that are well known to hold large quantities of good walley.
Go to spots on the lake that are known to hold these large quantities of walleye.
Use a rod - ranging from light to heavy - depending on the size of expected fish, using line ranging from 2-20 lb depending on the size of the expected fish, using bait and or lures that are known to catch these fish.
Take care
REW
p.s.
Most of the time, I use a 26-28 inch medium light, or medium action rod, using either 4 or 6 lb visible mono line, with a light jig tipped with a minnow or minnow head to catch fish.
Most of the time, I will have my lure at about 6 inches from the bottom of the lake. However, I always keep an eye on my depth finder and see action of any sort, anywhere in the water from the bottom to the top of the ice - I will quickly move my lure and or bait to the point of activity.
Although walleye are most frequently found within 2 feet of the bottom - and actually within 1 foot of the bottom - you can actually catch them up to within a few inches of the ice.
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This just happened to me day before yesterday. I had been catching Sauger virtually on the bottom of the lake. Suddenly, I noticed some activity, very near the ice. I figured that there were some bait moving in along with some white fish. I had been catching white fish along with the sauger at different locations in the water. I raise my blade bait to the location of the bait near the ice and jigged the lure. I noticed a line moving down toward my bait - which was about 2 feet below the ice. I paused, gave the lure a slight movement, and the fish hit the lure. I figured that I had a large whitefish, but a few minutes later I had a large walleye on the ice.
At the time I was fishing in water that was 38 feet deep. So this walleye was about 34 feet above the bottom at the time of the catch.
Take care
REW