Getting them to bite

[Custer]

For the past 3 nights a friend and I set some tip-ups out and started to jig for some walleyes.  We caught only two on our tip-ups but none jigging.  I was always told you would catch far more jigging then on tip-ups.  My problem is I can't get them to strike my bait.  I can see the fish on my vexilar, they come right up to it and just look at it for maybe a minute or two and then gone.  I tried Swedish pimples, jigging rapalas/shads, and tipped the treble hooks with heads and tails for scent.  I also put a little crappie minnow on the treble hook and nothing. Between my friend and I we tried many colors and presentations.  We are fishing in 13ft of water by a sunken island surrounded by gravel.  Maybe I should move out to 20ft but that seems a little deep to me for evening and night fishing.  I was just curious if this happens to you guys and what you did to solve the problem.  Thanks.

[JT]

On my favorite lake my shallowest rig is in 15 fow and catch them down to 30fow al thru the night as she is a very clear body of water and alot of mid lake structure.
 they just usually don't run shallow as on other bodies.

[camo_fish]

Custer, like slipbob said, just keep doing what your doing. I too can get them on tipups but drop a jig down there and no luck, no biggy. If they are hitting your tipups then your in the right area. Try a colored jighead with minnow, or on a bucktail. Just keep jigging and running tipups, your still catching them, it's just a matter of time when the real super bite will happen, also like slipbob said. It may only be an hour or 2, thru the whole night, but thats fishing. 
Good luck

[walleye1]

Here's a couple things that I do to try and get those 'sniffers' to bite. Neither works all the time but sometimes they do.

1. Try lifting your rod a couple inches, while jigging, then stop it. Keep doing this and sometimes they'll bite. I've had fish that have followed it more than 6 feet up off the bottom before they bit.
2. Give your reel handle a real fast crank or 2 and then jig the he$$ out of your lure. I think maybe they think the 'prey' is getting away and it can be a deadly trigger. I've had fish that've been looking at a lure forever come up and clobber it after I do this.     

[camo_fish]

Here's a couple things that I do to try and get those 'sniffers' to bite. Neither works all the time but sometimes they do.

1. Try lifting your rod a couple inches, while jigging, then stop it. Keep doing this and sometimes they'll bite. I've had fish that have followed it more than 6 feet up off the bottom before they bit.
2. Give your reel handle a real fast crank or 2 and then jig the he$$ out of your lure. I think maybe they think the 'prey' is getting away and it can be a deadly trigger. I've had fish that've been looking at a lure forever come up and clobber it after I do this.     

Excellent points. 

[wkules]

A method I try which sometimes works is to lift your bait about 2 feet fairly rapidly. Then give it a couple of jigs at this depth. Hold your bait still for about two seconds, then SLOWLY lower it down again. Feel for the the bite on the way down, if you feel the slightest "tic".....set the hook! Sometimes Walleyes will just "mouth" the bait and unless your really paying attention you will not feel it.

[camo_fish]

A method I try which sometimes works is to lift your bait about 2 feet fairly rapidly. Then give it a couple of jigs at this depth. Hold your bait still for about two seconds, then SLOWLY lower it down again. Feel for the the bite on the way down, if you feel the slightest "tic".....set the hook! Sometimes Walleyes will just "mouth" the bait and unless your really paying attention you will not feel it.

Just like vertical jigging on the open water. 

[wkules]

Pretty much

[frostbite]

This is not coming from expireince so take it with a grain of salt, but Infisherman recomends trying a dead stick approach when fish are checking you out but not striking. I just started jigging walleyes this year, and am noticing the same problem, but I don't have a second rod rigged for deadstick yet so I haven't gotten to try this one out yet.

[Kolby]

Are you 100% those fish checking out your jigging presentations are walleyes?  I've had the same experience as you on some of my lakes in Iowa, tipups will get a fish or two and jigging will get a fish or two.  The Aqua View has shown me when a walleye comes in to check it out, he's probably going to hit it, if you pull it up slightly and wiggle it, or just start reeling up slowly. 

Crappie and eyes will hang out in similar areas especially if you have any deep brush or stumps.  I see many Crappies coming in to investigate my offering and then swimming off, which is fine in my book.  How do your eye catches compare to local fishing reports or other fishermen/baitshops you talk to?  These clues should tell you if your presentation is truly off and they are walleyes or if you need to move to a different area.  Or drop $200.00 on a Scout and find out for sure what they are.  Let us know what happens.

[eyedoktr]

If your tip ups are catching walleye and you can't jig them up, it tells me that they want a verrrry slow (if any) moving bait. Try just wiggiling your rod (the fishing rod) once in a while but for the most part, keep it still.

[Custer]

Does anyone use  glow beads or glow hooks when fishing for walleye on tip-ups.  I seen some people tie on a Swedish pimple and then put a minnow on that.  What are your guys best setup for fishing walleye with tip-ups.

[iceintheveins]

They must just not want any movement. I usually actually in my lake has best luck in evening  fishing in about 25 feet of water. Shallower sometimes produced as well.  The more dark it got the shallower the moved.
Try just barely moving a live minnow on an anchor jig. If they aren't at least occaisonally hitting when they show up on sonar, you need another presentation.

Tyler

[cityfishin]

Does anyone use  glow beads or glow hooks when fishing for walleye on tip-ups.  I seen some people tie on a Swedish pimple and then put a minnow on that.  What are your guys best setup for fishing walleye with tip-ups.

I was crappie fishing the other night and the only thing they would hit was a pimple with a glow bead above it. Sometimes (so I've heard) too much glow with get them spooked. Just a little glow is all that's needed for walleye. I was so impressed by my glow bead success, I rigged my dead stick with a glow bead to try on walleye next time. I'll let you know how it works.
It seems like a good idea to fish 2 lines in the shack. 1 deadstick and 1 jigging setup. Sometimes the jigging gets them to come in and investigate and then the deadstick makes them bite. Keep going at it.

[Thebob]

I haven't done much through the ice for eyes, ( I tend to concentrate on things I know how to catch, so I don't pull out my hair)  but I have the same problem with them at times in the fall, just before ice up. In a lot of cases the problem isn't your presentation, but rather how insainley light the little buggers bite. You're heartbeat will provide as much jump to your rod tip as their strike will, and you'll never feel it. They seem to just mouth your bait, and with the least bit of resistance, or if they don't like the taste, they're gone.  I think that could probably be why you get a few on the tipups, and nothing jigging. They give it a good gumming, and before they notice there is resistance, its already down their troat.

Keep your eye on you're line on the down stroke. Most of the hits I get jigging are eithor while the bait is falling, or when it is standing still. The line goes slack on the decent, or there is the slightest twitch when you're bait is standing still, and you've probably been hit. If you can see them on the sonar, and you see no sign of a tap, throwing a little action into it, and letting it sit again usually results in a nibble for me. If it doesn't, then I throw a couple of quick cranks into it, and let it sit again, rince and repeat from the beginning.

I've been doing lots of jigging for perch on the hard water this year. Early in the morning, through about 1, they have been hitting pretty good, but they do the same thing that the walleye do in late fall, after that. Most everybody on the lake stops catching them, but by employing the above tactics, the fun goes on until I get cold, or run out of coffee.  I probably miss 4 for every one that I hook, and the same goes for fall walleye, but between my father and I, we probably catch twice as many as anyone else that we've talked to late in the year.
 
I really don't know for sure. After the first year of walleye fishing on Boyson, I gave up on the little buggers through the ice, because I cant find the %^&$ fish. I have enough fun with the perch and trout to keep me buisy until the ice goes off the lake, and I can beat the he!! out of pre-spawn fish. When the male sauger move into their spawning grounds, a 100+ fish day is not at all out of the question. I've been salivating about that since October.