Remember these key tips if your goal is to catch more walleyes and saugers this winter. 

Regardless of where you fish, to have success, it is vital to have a number of tricks and tools in your walleye tool belt.

“The fish are coming through on our electronics, but we can’t get them to eat.” Has this ever happened to you? Is it that the walleyes and saugers will truly not eat, or, is it that they are looking to eat via a different presentation or offering? Even if they aren’t in the eating mood, what can you do to create a reaction bite? In many situations, by changing something about your presentation or offering, you can ultimately ice more walleyes.

There are definitely ways to increase your catch this winter. Here are 10 techniques to add to your ice fishing tool belt to become a walleye-catching machine.

1. Bread and Butter  

Jig, jig and let it sit in the strike zone. Jig, jig, jig and let it sit in the strike zone. This technique catches thousands of walleyes every winter. Yet, there are times when the walleyes and saugers seem a bit unresponsive. What then? That’s when it is time to mix it up. 

2. Rattataptap

When you see that fish come in and it isn’t smashing your bait, try shaking your rod tip as fast as you can. I also tap my fingers on the butt of my rod as fast as I can to send vibrations down to the lure. This often induces a solid “tap” or that extra weight of an ‘eye or sauger at the end of your line.

3. Thrill of the Chase  

When a walleye is watching your lure but not hitting it, try jigging the lure while raising it higher and higher in the water column. This emulates the prey trying to get away. When that fish is following up, don’t slow down. Keep the lure rising just ahead of the chasing fish. Either that fish will fly up, close the gap and hit your lure, or it will come off the bottom a bit and go back down.  

When it goes back down, try teasing it up again or try another technique. Get ready because when a walleye is chasing your lure up, you will get slack when it hits. Set the hook!  

It’s helpful to tease them up by reeling and jigging at the same time vs. just raising your arms. Take it from me, raising my arms while I pull the lure up makes it nearly impossible to set the hook when the fish hits — since my arms are already extended up.

4. Pound the Bottom

Another successful technique to not only get fish to bite, but to also attract fish is to pound the bottom with your lure and lift off slowly. This gives off vibrations in the water, and also stirs up the mud or sand to mimic some living creature the walleyes are used to eating. Be ready when you lift off the bottom, and if there is any extra weight, set the hook. Sometimes the walleyes will grab on ever so slightly, and it takes an aware angler to detect the subtle bite.

5. Get Radical

When fish seem sluggish, I often go against the grain and rip a Rapala Rippin’ Rap or other type of vibrating blade lure. An aggressive 3-foot jigging motion creates vibration through the water, effecting the walleye’s lateral line.  

Even when things are slow, one of two things will happen. Out of nowhere, a bright red line (fish) will appear on your electronics. In this case, the fish is hot and all I need to do is put my lure in front of the fish, jiggle it and most of the time, that fish will nail it. The other scenario is that the erratic vibration and rattles will pull the fish in and they will end up swimming over to a nearby dead-stick setup with a live minnow  — and the bobber will go down. Either way, it’s a winner.

6. Go Micro

When the fishing gets really tough, one technique that has helped me fill the bucket is going small. Oftentimes I will take a very small panfish-size jigging spoon and add a wax worm or crappie minnow head to it. I will work this close to the bottom, and have actually done very well when other anglers can’t touch a fish.  

I have a fishing buddy who even keeps some freeze-dried waxworms in his ice fishing box in the event that he has to turn to this method as a last resort. On many occasions, this turned out to be just the ticket needed.

7. Work the Combo

Jigging a lure with live bait of some type, such as a minnow head or tail, has typically produced the majority of walleyes for me. I will say that some days, the dead sticks or bobber lines will outproduce a jigging line.

Under a dead stick, I use a jig-type lure with a live minnow or a plain hook with split shot set a foot above it with a live minnow. When fish are in a very negative mood, a plain hook and live minnow is often the best bet. Placing the split shot closer to the hook will prevent how far the minnow can swim, which for walleyes in a neutral mood, is exactly what they desire.

8. Jigging With a Round Jig Head

I know some great ice anglers on Lake of the Woods who will always have one line rigged with a traditional jig. They either hook the minnow through the head or thread the hook through the mouth and out the gill, pushing the minnow as far up the jig as possible. Then they hook the minnow through the mid-section of the body for a better percentage of hook sets. No bobber is used.  

After jigging, set the rod on the top of a 5-gallon pail so the rod tip is in good view and the jig is in the strike zone. Oftentimes, the tip of the rod will go down just a little bit. Set that hook! It took a few instances of watching this technique outproduce my own jigging spoon before it got my attention.

9. Tipping Lures With Bait

I normally tip my jigging lures with a minnow head or the tail section of a minnow. Frozen shiners, fatheads and crappie minnows are staples for me. I like the way the fatheads and crappie minnows stay on the hooks when I’m jigging. I also like the scales and smell of the frozen shiners, but must be careful to hook the piece of minnow in a spot that will hold, as they are more fragile and come off hooks easier.   

With dead bait like frozen shiners, pinching them off behind the gills and carefully hooking the shiner head through the lips vs. through the head, where it creates too large of a hole, is key. I also use the tail section since it stays on the hook well and has extremely good flash.

10. Change Colors!

If I happen to be fishing with someone, we purposely start out with different colors to see what the fish want that particular day. Snow cover, sunlight, ice thickness, the forage they are feeding on or in that body of water, and a myriad of other factors will cause a walleye to respond better to certain colors on any given day. I absolutely have my favorite colors for certain bodies of water, but if I’m seeing fish on my electronics and not getting bites, I will change. A different color is often all that’s necessary.

Conclusion

It is extremely helpful to know when fish are below you and how they are reacting. Using good electronics while ice fishing helps you understand what is happening or not happening below the surface. Electronics really enhance a day of fishing and will certainly help you become a better angler. It’s so helpful to see if the fish are coming through, where they are located in the water column, and how they are reacting or not reacting to your presentation.

The bottom line is that when you know there are fish below you and they are not biting, do something different. Try a different presentation. Switch colors. Switch sizes. Change the lure. Switch baits. Eventually, you will figure out what they want that day or at least what will get them to react.

It’s easy to get locked into personal fishing patterns and traditions. Make it about the walleyes and what they want at the moment, not how you are used to ice fishing. Add these tricks and tools to your hard-water tool belt and get ready to ice more walleyes this season.

For information on lodging, snowmobiling and ice fishing on Lake of the Woods, contact Lake of the Woods Tourism at 800-382-FISH (3474) or at www.LakeoftheWoodsMN.com.