Never caught a walleye

[busler15]

Well, Ive never caught a walleye in my life, but i see them being caught a lot, open and on hard water.

-What tips can you give me to help me catch a walleye?

-Would you take a jigging spoon and tip it with a grub or minnow head   or would you just take a plain jig head and hook on a minnow?

-How deep and what structure would you use on a 175 acre lake with a max depth of 45?

[holeinhide]

Walleye can be quite tough to catch. In small lakes the populations tend to be low as walleye like to move allot and can eat them self out of house and home quickly. I have fished a lake in NE PA that sounds about the same as your description  I found the fish tend to stay in deeper water by day and feed shallow by night and follow the structure from deep to shallow. The fish really loved to run along a rock ledge that ran from 7' to the 45' mark over 15' of length. I find that the set up changed with the mood of the fish on slow days a smaller jig with a minnow tail worked slow (all most dead stick) worked best and on a hot day any jig worked.

[icontact]

Well, Ive never caught a walleye in my life, but i see them being caught a lot, open and on hard water.

-What tips can you give me to help me catch a walleye?

-Would you take a jigging spoon and tip it with a grub or minnow head   or would you just take a plain jig head and hook on a minnow?

-How deep and what structure would you use on a 175 acre lake with a max depth of 45?

Although the same may be said for other species as well, walleye especially are very stucture oriented fish, at least in Alberta. Your biggest challenge in Alberta is usually finding fish, especially in the winter when it's not so easy to whip around looking for structure and fish with the sonar. I almost never fish a lake for walleye that I have not fished in the summer time and marked the spots I fish on the GPS. The more you fish a lake, the more familiar you will become with what spots are best for each season. Right now the mid lake humps in the lake I fish most, are excellent for walleye, and the midlake structure really concentrates the fish this time of year. I hear of guys picking up the odd one on the flats as well, but finding fish on the flats in the winter especially is way to time consuming. If you are fishing a lake for the first time in the winter I would stick to the main lake points that usually extend under the ice as well, and will also concentrate fish. The great thing about walleye fishing is your always learning and never ever really figure them out completely, which keeps it interesting and challenging.Good Luck!

[littleoldlady]

You said it well, icontact.  If you can get a depth chart of the lake, it is a big help for figuring out the structure. My husband
and I fish one small lake in particular, and always head out in the late afternoon...best time to catch them is sundown and shortly
after.  The lake we fish has a narrows leading into a bay...we fish the narrows.  We don't use anything special; just our light action
icefishing rod and reel sets.  As for bait...don't let this gross you out.  Whenever we get perch or walleyes, we save the eyeballs for
bait...and it works like  you wouldn't believe.  He has been using a five of diamonds with an eyeball..I was using a flyer jig with an
eyeball; we generally get a keeper each (50cm) or larger.  The other night they were really feeding in about 12 fow. and shallower.
Enjoy.  They are great eating!!

[walleyechaser]

its tough to give you many tips without knowing the layout of the lake you are fishing.  I catch 75% of my walleyes well after dark.  I've caught them as shallow as 2 feet and as deep as 60 feet.  Typically after dark they migrate shallow but you have to be quiet on the ice when fishing eyes in shallow water.  They can be very spooky fish.  Pre drill all your holes when you first get there and hole hop once twilight sets in. 
Good baits I've found have been the rattle spoon and swedish pimple tipped with a whole crappie/ perch sized minnow.  They bite very light and you need to be ready for that.  Another good option is deadsticking a minnow under a bobber.

Locations would be areas of transition (weed lines, gravel to mud bottoms) and the edges of breaks.  Also if you find small shelves in the lake that can be good.  Drill out all around and on top of it.  If you have areas with scattered weeds and gravel that are in a good mid depth fish that.  They are usually productive.  Be sure there is deeper water nearby.

[busler15]

Will this help? This is a DEC contour map of my lake. Where would you try? The dot in the northeast is an island, and Ive seen them actually pulled out from there, but in between the island and the nearest point it is actually 30 ft deep and the walleye i see caught come from there.
http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/fish/lakemaps/clrlk2map.pdf

Well i thank you for the other help you gave me

[perch-man]

I think Icontact and Holeinhide have given you some pretty good honest advise read it and use it . I am sure you will have your first walleye on the ice soon

[icontact]

Will this help? This is a DEC contour map of my lake. Where would you try? The dot in the northeast is an island, and Ive seen them actually pulled out from there, but in between the island and the nearest point it is actually 30 ft deep and the walleye i see caught come from there.
http://www.dec.state.ny.us/website/dfwmr/fish/lakemaps/clrlk2map.pdf

Well i thank you for the other help you gave me

Around the island would be a good place to start for sure. But I would probably start on the south side of the lake on the point where the contour lines are very close (fast dropoff). This and the bay/point on the opposite side of the lake look like great spots for walleye.As long as there is a bit of shelf on the top of these dropoffs I can see walleye being off the side of these in 20-25 ft of water through the day and then move up on top at night. If you have river spawners and the incoming creeks still flow in the spring, I would start moving toward the west end where the two incoming streams are.In late Feb/early Mar the walleye will start staging there waiting for the water to open and the streams to start running.

[pcsminer]

If you want sure fire eyes about the middle of feb. start fishing near the mouths of any river or creek inlets if the ice allows u to. dosen't matter depth i've caught in as little as 3 feet of water.

[walleyechaser]

I'd for sure investigate where those creeks enter and exit.  Also the 10 foot flat on the east side of the lake would be my very first choice if I went out there.  Find the breaks both the shallow and the deep and work those
edges.

[holeinhide]

Around the island would be a good place to start for sure. But I would probably start on the south side of the lake on the point where the contour lines are very close (fast dropoff). This and the bay/point on the opposite side of the lake look like great spots for walleye.As long as there is a bit of shelf on the top of these dropoffs I can see walleye being off the side of these in 20-25 ft of water through the day and then move up on top at night. If you have river spawners and the incoming creeks still flow in the spring, I would start moving toward the west end where the two incoming streams are.In late Feb/early Mar the walleye will start staging there waiting for the water to open and the streams to start running.

I gotta go with icontact I like the drop offs, look for wood or rocks on the drops early evening and morning as the fish will use them like roads to get deeper during the day and to move shallow at night.

[TMBWarriors]

Hi there ,The better part of clearlake is by the steep dropoff .I fished it 2 yearsago and we caught a couple small eyes .We had a vexilar and it was showing lots of fish but they were stuburn.Try hyde lake,butterfield,redlake,manyplaces to try.Maybe we can hookup and fish sometime.Your first eye will hook you forever.Mine came from the mighty indian river below the dam.Good Luck!!!!!!!!!!

[fishstalker]

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http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=7081639732061337609&q=ice+fishing&hl=en 

[busler15]

Well, After the season I still havent caught an eye, but I had one on at the hole and he broke my line! I didnt have strong enough line on, 4lb trilene xt mono..... not good enough.... should have known....

But hopefully this spring will bring one in early may!

[busler15]

This summer I landed my first eye! It was 25" and just over 5lbs. I caught it trolling a berkley firestick minnow. Now I have an underwater camera as well as an x67c so I am looking to get some this winter as well!