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Ice Fishing Tips -Check your local regulations! => Walleye => Topic started by: elkstalker on Jan 31, 2017, 11:04 AM

Title: Finicky Walleye
Post by: elkstalker on Jan 31, 2017, 11:04 AM
Fished a reservoir Saturday that has a great population of walleyes, catch them all the time in open water.  The lake is in Idaho, where fishing with live minnows is illegal.  Found fish in 25-30 FOW, was using spoons and jigging raps tipped with a minnow head.  The only one I caught smoked my jigging rap, coming off the bottom to hit about 2 feet up.  I watched about a dozen others come off the bottom very slowly, stare at my bait for 5-10 seconds, then slowly descend back to the bottom.  I tried jigging aggressively, softly, and just wiggling the bait.   I had one strike on a dead stick jig tipped with a minnow, but was 20 yards away drilling another hole  ::).  Oh and it was a bright sunny day, I realize this may have contributed to the fish's level of activity.  Any tips for getting these finicky fish to bite? 
Title: Re: Finicky Walleye
Post by: onestring on Jan 31, 2017, 11:06 AM
When you get them off the bottom keep them coming up chasing your bait
Title: Re: Finicky Walleye
Post by: bigstorm on Jan 31, 2017, 12:01 PM
Maybe it was just an off day? I've had plenty of days in the past where I wold mark a lot down there with very few bites. That is very frustrating. The hardest part if finding them, it would definitely be worth while to try there again.

Do you have any smaller jigs and plastics to try? I have caught walleyes  on panfish jigs/plastics tipped with spikes or waxies before.
Title: Re: Finicky Walleye
Post by: elkstalker on Jan 31, 2017, 02:17 PM
I'm hoping it was just an off day, this weekend we have a front coming through that should bring lower pressure and cloudy skies, we'll see how the fish respond.