“Hit it. Come on, hit it.”
Alone, shouting at my flasher, I watched another thick red mark rise off the bottom. It hovered near my bait, and then faded away.
It was early February in northwestern Ontario’s Sunset Country. I was fishing a lake that two weeks earlier had given up its walleyes with ease. Something had changed.
I rifled through my tackle looking for a new presentation. Surely they can’t resist a jig and minnow? Wrong. How about a spoon tipped with a minnow head? Nope, they wouldn’t hit that either.
The gears ground in my head. The picture became clear as I put two and two together: Inactive fish on the flasher — in February. The midwinter blues had arrived.
Downsizing is a favorite trick for getting negative fish to commit. I grabbed for my confidence bait, a Lindy Darter, and selected the smallest one available. I watched my pint-size offering fall toward bottom on the flasher screen. I let it hit bottom, and then brought it up a foot and held it still.
Just as before, a thick red bar rose up off the bottom to take a closer look. I held the Darter still. Instead of fading back to bottom, I felt the unmistakable thump from a walleye strike, and I buried a hard hookset.
Midwinter Blues
The midwinter phase of ice fishing season brings with it new approaches to putting walleyes on the ice. The days of the hot bite are gone. By midwinter, the ice is thick, and the snow pack is deep. It’s a dark and cold world for walleyes. Their metabolism has bottomed out. They move slower and are less aggressive when feeding.
Turning to finesse techniques is often the only way to help coax bites from these lazy midwinter walleyes.
There are no hard-and-fast rules indicating when it’s time to start finesse fishing. I let my on-ice electronics give me the clues I need. When I mark fish, I pay close attention to how they react to the movements of my bait. Are they willing to chase it up off the bottom? Are they moving quickly? Are they hitting? If the answer to these questions is “no,” it’s usually enough evidence to warrant finesse techniques.
Smaller and Slower
There are two principle elements of finesse fishing: slowing presentation movements and downsizing baits.
To a lethargic walleye, something slow represents an easy meal. When it decides to expend energy to feed, the walleye wants it to be a sure thing.
Downsizing baits can be as simple as switching from a 1/4-ounce jig to a 1/8-ounce jig or from a 3-inch spoon to a 1-inch spoon. The difference might seem insignificant, but to a walleye this can be enough to trigger strikes. During midwinter, it’s common to use panfish-size baits to get big walleyes to hit. A 1/16-ounce Frostee jigging spoon loaded with maggots is a perch magnet, but it also rings the dinner bell for fussy walleyes.
It pays to have a variety of baits. Different sizes and shapes are important, but so is color. When walleyes get fussy, something as simple as a different color can trigger hits. I’m a firm believer in the power of glow-in-the-dark baits. I carry a small LED charger in my pocket to give my glow baits a recharge every five to 10 minutes.
With regard to slowing down the movements of the presentation, less is often more for finessing sluggish midwinter walleyes. If big, aggressive jigging strokes were key to attracting and catching fish earlier in the season, minimize these movements for a finesse approach. It’s OK to jig a few feet up off the bottom to attract fish, but when it comes time to make them hit, try moving slowly and shortening the jigging stroke. One or 2 inches is plenty of movement. This is when using on-ice electronics becomes invaluable for gauging reaction.
Much can also be said for dead-sticking with jigging baits. This is a skill that takes time and patience to master. Veteran Lac Seul guide and avid ice angler Colin Gosse has this technique down to a science. Gosse’s go-to bait is a jigging Rapala that he tips with a minnow (or part of one) on the center treble hook. Gosse works the bait with long up-strokes and allows it to fall on a slack line.
“This attracts fish,” Gosse said. “But when it comes time to make them hit, I keep the bait perfectly still just above them on the flasher screen.”
To eliminate the urge to jiggle or twitch the bait, Gosse employs the use of a rod holder beside him on the ice. In a fluid motion, he jigs upward and slides the rod into the holder so the bait settles still.
“I’ll watch my flasher to see if the fish is moving in on my bait,” Gosse said. “Once it gets close, I watch my line and the tip of my rod for any movement. I’ll wait as long as it takes. Fish either hit or they move off, and I start the process over again.”
Go Bait
Although not always necessary, live bait is a good choice when finessing finicky walleyes. A combination of scent and appearance makes it unbeatable when the going gets tough.
The same concept of downsizing applies with live bait. Smaller minnows in the 2-inch range are a good choice. At times, tipping baits with half of a minnow will receive more attention than a whole minnow.
When fish turn their noses up at minnows, it pays to have an assortment of wax worms and maggots on hand. Use them with panfish strategies to put walleyes on the ice.
Setlines and tip-ups are another deadly weapon in the finesse fisherman’s arsenal. They combine two important elements — live bait and a slow presentation — which makes them so successful.
I like to keep my setline 10 feet from the hole where I’m jigging. The theory is that jigging attracts fish to the area and the setline offers up an easy meal. Another trick to use with a setline is to run a modified drop-shot setup. Tie a jig to the end of the line. Twelve to 18 inches above it, tie a small hook. Tip both hooks with a minnow. The small hook higher up the line often takes the fish.
The Right Moves
Tracking down the whereabouts of midwinter walleyes can be the easy part. As a rule of thumb, they won’t be far from where they were caught at first ice. Points, flats, bottlenecks, humps, reefs and saddles are all textbook midwinter walleye haunts. Looking a little deeper on the same structure is another winning formula.
This past winter, I came across a deep-water midwinter walleye bite. I had given up on walleye fishing during the midafternoon and shifted gears to lake trout, which inhabit the same lake. I made a short move from my walleye spot over a sand flat and drilled a series of holes off the point of an island that faces the main lake basin. I dropped the transducer in the hole closest to the point. It read 40 feet, so I figured I’d start there and make my way out deeper.
I used a 4-inch tube jig — not exactly a finesse walleye bait — and dropped it toward bottom. As the tube spiralled downward, I watched on the flasher as a red mark shot off bottom to intersect the free-falling tube jig. I fumbled to close the bail, and then reeled in the slack line and set the hook.
To my surprise, a 17-inch walleye came up through the hole. In the next five minutes, I landed five more walleyes. They all chased and hit hard. Twenty minutes earlier, I couldn’t buy a hit from a walleye in 25 feet.
Was it luck that I caught those walleyes? Yes. Did I learn something from that experience? Absolutely. Making a move to another structure and depth made all the difference. Catching those fish had nothing to do with downsizing or slowing down my presentation.
Should I Stay or Should I Go?
The debate of run-and-gun versus sit-and-wait applies to finesse fishing for midwinter walleyes, too. When it comes down to it, employing both strategies to catch fish is the best option.
During prime-time hours early in the morning and again in the evening, my strategy is to be at one of my confidence spots. If I’m marking fish, I am more than happy to stay and try different presentations and techniques until I connect.
A small move of less then 20 feet can pay off. Many anglers have witnessed the “hot hole” phenomenon where one person is catching fish and no one else nearby is getting a sniff. This is why short moves can work. Drilling a lot of holes to begin with makes it easier to hole hop. Lazy midwinter walleyes might not be willing to move far to check out baits. But drop one right on top of them and the odds go way up.
I save my run-and-gun fishing for midday. This is when I go into search mode and hit different types of spots. This usually results in grinding out a few fish here and there. Hit four or five spots in the afternoon and pick off a few fish at each spot.
Downsized Equipment
It’s important to match rods, reels and line to the baits being used. Downsizing to a 1/16-ounce jig isn’t going to do any good if it’s tied to 10-pound test on a heavy-action rod. An ultra-light rod with 4-pound test is the ultimate finesse setup for hard-to-catch walleyes. A light rod and 6-pound test is another great combination. Invest in quality graphite rods with sensitive tips for feeling hits. Spring tips also provide the advantage of seeing light bites.
Another tackle advantage comes from eliminating snaps and snap-swivels. Tie directly to baits and use an in-line swivel 18 inches up the line to prevent line-twist. It still amazes me how many people use massive snap-swivels to attach baits and then wonder why they’re not catching fish.
Having sharp hooks is another easy way to increase your catch rate. When working hard for bites, make each strike count. Sharp hooks make a big difference.
When the action slows down on your favorite walleye lake this winter, try some of these finesse techniques to help ward off the midwinter blues.
