finding walleyes on late ice

[trapdaddy21]

during early ice i do extremely good job finding eyes on flats, but it seems once the ice gets over a foot thick and more people come venturing my way the eyes really slow down. i'm thinking of finding a new spot on the lake away from the cluster of people. once the ice gets over a foot thick what type of structure do you find fish in, deep holes, drop offs, ect.

[TroutFishingBear]

Rocky drop offs around 20 ft are the best during the middle of the season until the evening bite. When the evening bite rolls around, go back to your old spot
Fishing isn't usually going to be as fast in midwinter anyway, no matter what you do.

[iceintheveins]

Generally at late ice you can count on finding walleyes close to where they spawn in the spring. Generally this means gravel or rock rubble bottoms, or where gravel or rock meets sand. I would fish 10 - 25 feet still.
My best walleye evening ever was late ice on a small reservoir in the latter part of february. I caught a 10 pound and then a 7 pound walleye on consecutive drops. Both were females swollen with eggs, and both ejected eggs onto the ice. They are both still in the lake. I would never keep a large fish like this, even without getting a photo as I was fishing alone.

Tyler

[troutinator]

I fish the first deep drop off near a spawning stream & do very well on late ice eye's,just keep away from current(safety).

[TJG]

You will find walleye at this time of the year in their late fall, early ice & spring spawing areas. As mentioned above these are early morning & evening bite spots, or shaded areas. Ledges, points, rip/rap, steep drop offs close to deep water & old river beds hold fish mid morning to mid afternoon. Ice thickness really has no bearing on the bite, yes light penitration has a bit to do with it but bait fish movements, structure, weeds dieing off, oxy levels & instinct have a lot to do with activity & movement all day.

[Thebob]

 That is what everyone tells me,TJG, but it doesn't seem to work where I fish. I fish Boysen, in Wy. a reservoir that tops out at about 75-80 ft (when its full), and I think covers about 6500 or 7000 acres if I remember. Its what's close.  I know where to find them in the fall, and pre-spawn/spawn times, but by about mid Jan- ice out, I can never find a fish. I've seen eyes come through the ice, but they're few and far between. I've even taken a few. I catch 4+ punders usually, so I won't complain when I catch one,but if I get 1 in a 10 hour day, I'm haveing a good day. The only place people tell me is consistantly producing is below the spillway, and last time I was there, I slipped, and tried to break my @$$.

Typically, I fish 10-20 ft, near where I know they spawn and catch a lot of rainbow, or  25-35 ft, and catch lots of perch, ling, and the occasional eye. I have tried as deep as 45 ft, but that rarely results in anything, and when it does, its usually a ling about 30+", but I don't like to eat them, and the slimy, snakey buggers are a pain to get off my hook. I prefer not to fish for them. I've fished on the bottom, I've fished off the bottom, I've fished up to the ice. No place, no depth,  and no bait seems to work consistantly.  About the only place I havn't tried is the face of the dam. I know it produces in the spring, but I have yet to see a hole drilled there. It was the last place to freeze over, so I figure it may still be thin, or the locals may know something a transplant like me doesn't.

Does anyone out there fish Boysen, or a similar lake, and have some suggestions on what type of structure, or depth to try?

[Roper]

I have never fished Boysen, but am coming up there on Friday.  Let me know how it goes. 

[Kolby]

I don't fish your area but I think the "mid ice blues" hit just about everywhere in the walleye world.  There's nothing I enjoy more than the challenge of rousting stubborn, mid-day mid-ice eyes. Here's my take on the tough bite times.  If you bowhunt anywhere in the midwest it's similar to the "October Lull" in the whitetail woods.  The calm before the storm if you will.  I think mother nature has a way of making living creatures rest before periods of intense breeding activity.  BUT, they still have to eat. 

Fish will be in the same general areas they were at early ice only now they are going to be TIGHT to any little irregularity on that structure.  As water temps plummet to all time lows and water clarity reaches it peak, the fish will slide a tad deeper - stability.  A productive spot at early ice might have been the size of a tennis court in 25 feet of water.  Now, it's the size of a pool table in 35 feet of water.  Fish may not show up on a good flasher as they tend to hug bottom more so now than ever.  So you have to drill lots of holes and fish ALL your holes, this is not the time to quickly go from hole to hole and only fish where you mark them.  Find little spines or drop offs that maps may or may not show.  Making it even tougher, the strike zone of early ice might have been 10 or more feet at times, now it's probably a couple of feet.  But if you're smack-nuts on 'em they'll bite - all day long.  I try to look at this period as one MAJOR cold front, until a few more weeks and fish begin to concentrate in pre-spawn areas, and get back to chowin.

You say it's known where early ice locations are and prespawn locations are, I would spend an hour and a half swiss cheesing some deeper structure around the early ice areas, and start working the points and secondary points on my way to the spawning area.  Also keep in mind that in bigger bodies of water the fish tend to show up at their prespawn locations EARLIER than say a 1500 acre impoundment, where they can pick up and move anywhere in no time at all.  From what it sounds like your fishing the correct areas, but maybe not exactly on that "pool table".  Your picking up the one aggressive fish out of the group that wandered a bit.  Listen to that fish, he's telling you, "Hey there's more of us down here, but not exactly where your sitting!"