Rules for Walleyes

Author Jeff Gustafson offers principles for finding and catching walleyes based on water-clarity conditions.

No water in North America receives more attention from winter walleye anglers than massive Lake of the Woods. This million-acre pond offers different basins with vastly disparate water clarities. Walleyes in these basins have different moods, tendencies, and average sizes.

If numbers are your bag, then the central section of the lake from Baudette, Minnesota, to Kenora, Ontario, is where the action is, with some big fish mixed in. Meanwhile, the clearer sections that have lake trout offer opportunities for numbers of bigger fish. But timing the bite is critical or anglers chance ringing up a goose egg.

These are the rules I use for fishing for walleyes in the various water-clarity conditions on Lake of the Woods. This information can be applied first-hand for the many anglers who travel to fish the big lake, as well as to other walleye fisheries across the ice belt.

Clear Water versus Stained Water

The general rule is that walleyes often bite all day in stained water, while in clearer water the bite usually is confined to prime times at dawn and dusk. Variables such as forage and competition from other predators factor into the mix. Structural layout also helps to determine how fish react at times.

Throughout much of the center section of Lake of the Woods, walleyes are the dominant predator and this is one reason they show more aggression throughout the day. In the clear sections of Whitefish and Ptarmigan bays and their adjacent waters, there’s more competition from pike, lake trout, and whitefish for smelt, the predominant forage. Walleyes there usually take a backseat during the day, waiting until lower light gives them a sharp vision advantage not only over their prey, but also over other predators.

Walleyes seldom show up on structure during the day in clear-water areas. The bite is almost entirely confined to prime time—early morning and evening. At times the bite’s focused to the last half hour of light after sunset.  When these fish show up they’re ready to eat and can be triggered with aggressive lures.

In the stained lake sections you can also expect a prime-time flurry, but it’s usually not as pronounced as on clear water. Here, the sunset bite might start at least a half hour before sunset and last well over an hour—but again, often the intensity isn’t there.

The Traverse Basin

Chip Leer, cohost for In-Fisherman’s Ice Fishing Guide TV, has spent years fishing the massive Traverse Basin of Lake of the Woods—the southern section of the lake out of Warroad and Baudette, Minnesota. He offers advice for finding a goldmine of whitetails in this stained water. “Think big,” he says. “When fish are on structure, the biggest structures hold the largest schools of fish. Walleyes roam more over these large structures, and when they’re roaming, they’re catchable.”

Leer says that another common midwinter pattern has walleyes roaming vast basin mudflats. Once you dial-in the key depth walleyes are using, it’s usually better to wait for fish than to run and gun. “I usually use the same wait-’em-out tactics when I’m fishing on large rockbars or along rock edges,” he says, “although I might move several times if I don’t contact fish.”

Leer has also spent many days on the ice with me on the clearer sections in the north end of the lake. Leer: “By comparison, walleyes on the south end respond less aggressively to lures and lure movements. Aggressive jigging might call fish in, but too often they’re already predisposed to not bite when you use those movements. I use spoons and limit my lift-fall maneuvers to a time or two a minute. Often I suspend the spoon just above bottom with a float so the spoon holds dead still on the pause.

“Some of my favorites lures are the Custom Jigs Frisbee Jig, the Lindy Frostee, and the Northland Forage Minnow Jig. With all these I tip with a lively minnow hooked just under the skin near the dorsal fin, so it swims when the lure is paused. Prime lure colors include a mix of gold and red. I also like orange glow.”

The Central Section

The heart of the lake, running from the Aulneau Peninsula north to Kenora, is home to some of the finest walleye fishing anywhere. I grew up fishing this section of the lake with its slightly stained water around Whiskey, Oliver, and Crescent Islands.

Dave Bennett runs fish houses on this part of the lake, has a vast amount of experience here, and offers instruction in finding fish. He uses a map as a key part of his approach. “The structures in this part of the lake are smaller but there are a lot of them in various forms,” he says. “Island points, shoreline shelves, and humps all hold fish. Start searching in 35 feet and move shallower, especially late in the day. The key is to find spots that have large areas in the depth zone from 25 to 35 feet. Water from 15 to 20 feet deep is too shallow, although you might catch fish in the 20-foot zone at twilight.”

Then again, last year during an extreme cold snap during February I called Bennett to ask if I could use one of his shacks. I had friends coming for the day and it was just too cold to run-and-gun with portable Otter shacks. Bennett offered the use of one of his, but said he’d just moved it the day before and thought perhaps he’d set it a bit too shallow for great fishing.

Sure enough, on entering the shack and cutting holes, we found we were on the high part of the structural element in 20 feet of water. Yet on the first drop I caught a nice walleye—and so did one of my friends. We pretty much whacked one fish after another for several hours, right during the middle of the day. So, keep an open mind about depth. We note tendencies about where fish usually hold but are always willing to try deeper or shallower water.