They never cease to amaze. Not walleyes, but the walleye anglers who desperately seek to pigeonhole their favorite fish. The folks who want hard and fast rules. Who long to see the walleye world in black and white when, in fact, it exists in shades of gray. Especially under ice.

Doesn’t mean you can’t figure out walleye movements at first-, middle-, and last-ice. Not if you remember that what influences walleye activity on a small lake in Minnesota is vastly different from what makes walleyes tick on the Bay of Quinte off Lake Ontario. Those differences will affect how, when, and where you find walleyes moving under the ice. Indeed, we can ice fish on so many different lakes, rivers, reservoirs, pits, and ponds these days, in so many different parts of the continent, that the only constant often is the walleye itself.

The Migratory Myth

We refine our understanding of winter walleye movements by dispelling the myth about walleyes being nomadic—always on the move—and prone to long distance migrations. This is true for some lakes and reservoirs at some times of the year, but as a rule, in winter, it’s an oversimplification. Most walleye movements ice fishermen worry about aren’t winter movements at all.

Perhaps the myth started with mark and recapture studies, like the one on Lake Champlain, that showed more than 60 percent of walleyes in the north end migrating over 30 miles downriver to the St. Lawrence. Another study, on Lake Winnebago, showed 21 percent of the tagged adult walleyes recaptured 25 to 90 miles away from their release point. Other studies have pegged walleye movements at 120, 160, and as many as 240 miles.

Most of this research, though, was conducted on large lakes and reservoirs. Furthermore, it was associated with prespawn and postspawn movements. Those walleyes swam long distances to reach suitable spawning grounds, or returned to their open-water summer haunts after spawning. Little tracking was associated with winter movements. Actually, it’s because some walleyes in some lakes make long distance migrations prior to ice-up, that we enjoy some of the best and most stable ice action.

Many biologists and fishery researchers suspect that these big-water walleyes time long distance autumn moves to the vicinity of their spawning grounds, to take advantage of their peak physical condition. Better to make the journey in fall after a summer life of leisure than in spring when winter-weary egg-laden females would be stressed by the exercise. Winter fisheries around the west end of Lake Erie, the Bay of Quinte, and the Red River in Manitoba are examples. In each case, large groups of walleyes migrate long distances in fall, to settle and bunch for winter, close to where they spawn in March, April, or May.

The ice-fishing season is predominantly a period of relative stability, characterized in most walleye waters by minimal long-distance movements. Even when these movements do occur, as on Erie, Quinte, and the Red River, they usually represent the last leg of an open-water fall migration. The continued trickle of walleyes in these lakes and rivers benefits the fishing action.