Ice Fishing Tips -Check your local regulations! > Walleye

Best depth for walleyes

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matt:
I fish quite a bit and the only fish that seems to skunk me time and time again is the walleye. as a general rule of thumb what does everyone think that best depth is to set the bait and what type of bait is most commonly used. Any help would be apreicated. Ohh and if location matters I fish the watters of upstate New York from Albany North

Greg Gustum:
Hi, when I fish for walleye here in Wisconsin, i fish any where from 1 to 12 inches of the bottom, ocasionaly you will find them suspended like crappies, but your best bet will be near the bottom, hope this helps good luck.

Norm LeBlanc:
Matt. I fish Ontario Canada and I also find app. 3-12 inches from the bottom works best,Eyes also like to spend the winter in shallow waters. App. 8-15 feet.

Hope this helps. norm  

Ben:
matt,
you must find a shallow hump about 3'-6' deep with 10'-20' of water near by. the best bite time is a hour before sunset to a hour after sunset. set tip-ups on the hump about 6"-8" off bottem with bass minnows for bait. fish the deep water just off the shallow hump during the day and early evening with a minnow 4" off bottem with one pole and a sthingy or jig tipped with a minnow on your second pole. it all comes down to how well you know the bottem structure of the lake your fishing and being able to pick an area which holds walleye. I've wasted alot of days just finding a good area on a lake I was not familiar with.  

Karl S:
Matt,

I'm an ex-Minnesotan from California now. It's sometimes difficult to find good ice fishing spots for Walleye because daytime spots are often different than where you want to set up for the evening bite. If you can find a spot that has a deeper basin or trough in close proximity to a larger flat then you may be in business. I don't like skinny points that drop off. I like a big flat with depth of 8 to 20 feet with a deeper cut that drops down to 30 or 40 feet. I want to be next to a large food shelf that has a sand/gravel/clay bottom (relatively hard). A few rock piles are nice, but if that's the predominant feature of the shallows-you are in the wrong spot.  Nice to have some weeds in the shallower sections too. On bright/sunny days, I like to drill some holes out in that 30 to 40 foot water and jig with those minnow looking Rapala ice jigs that have a single hook on both ends and a little treble hook in the middle. Tip that jig with a perch eye/eurolarva/wax worm or small strip of fish on the little hanging treble hook. I like perch eyes best. I like the medium or larger size for the deep water. Drop that jig to the bottom and snap jig it up and down. Use about a 3 foot medium/fast snap up followed by a relatively slow settle back. You want to maintain contact with the lure on the way back down. That jig will work a lot of water down there. The second you feel anything - quick jerk it. They will often hit on the drop and you'll just feel a mushy sensation. Nail em now! Try moving your depth up at 3 foot increments if nothing bites. Sometimes the daytime Walleyes will be suspended below baitfish or crappies etc. that you see on your sonar. The walleyes can be surprisingly aggressive. I'll set up a second pole (tip up) maybe in the 20 to 25 foot range where the basin rises fast to the shallow flat. You might get a Walleye or Pike here during the day. This technique works for me on those sunny days. If it's cloudy or snowing - move your operation shallower with the jigging on the 20 to 25 feet break and your tip-up on the flats. Switch to a smaller Rapala or use a regular jig tipped with a lip-hooked minnow and fish it a little softer with less hard jigging.

Good luck.  

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