Mid-Winter Walleyes
by Chris Wallace

Recently I was able to get out and enjoy one of the things I love to do, and that is chase mid winter walleyes. Now that it's early January, the traditional first ice spots have been hit hard and now is the time to start searching the classic mid lake humps and breaks in search of old marble eyes.

We started out on a nice bar that is about 100 yards long and focused on a finger of it that has a nice break from 20 feet down to 36 in a matter of a few steps. This "finger" is not much wider then any portable, this was the spot on the spot, it had a mud bottom to it. The Aqua Vu also showed that there were quite an array of bugs hatching too, tiny blood worms and midges were scurrying from the bottom. Once that golden hour hit we couldn't keep them off the lines until light the next morning. Dead sticking a minnow and using a jigging spoon was they way to go. These fish appeared to be in a neutral to negative mood, having many sniffers come in, take a look and mill around a while before they would bite. After 10, we had released over 60 fish ranging from 12 to 24 inches and one pig that broke off under the hole. Typically these fish ranged in the 13 to 14 inch range.

After fishing there for three nights with success slowly dwindling down, we moved, this time to a spot that hasnt seen a house in years. Many people fish this in the summer and have great success too. It's what we call an inside turn, the top of the bar is a wide expansive flat topping off in about 9 feet of water, the bar then turns and follows the shore line up the other side making a large "L" at the base of the corner we were sitting in 22 feet of water. These fish appeared much more aggressive and the fish had a little bit bigger average too. This spot continued to produce fish night in and night out and also had a great morning bite too, this bottom differed from the first with a nice hard bottom with tiny bits of gravel.

We were using pretty simple stuff; much of it was downsized greatly from your typical walleye spoons. I was using #4 willospoons in a glow pattern, with just a minnow head, this was tied to four pound Berkley Ice line in the steel color, which then went to a St. Croix Premier medium light rod action coupled with a Tica Cetus GS 550. This was a sweet set up and extremely sensitive. Dead Stick rods were St. Croix Avid Light action, coupled with a Pflueger President in an Ultra Light model, with Ice Buster Bobbers and Jammin Jigs Neon Bobber Fry, with a nice small shiner.

Finding these spots can really be quite easy, go out and buy a lakemaster lake map of the lake you’re going to, or go out and buy the software for your computer, you can also use a terra server or geoserver website to help locate these areas. Then go out and start punching holes and recording the depths, keep your holes fairly close so you can pinpoint the start of the break. Once you locate these breaks and humps, it is very important to record where you find this, simply with a gps, or by landmarks. This will help greatly next weekend, next trip or next year.

Now is the time to start moving out and exploring new waters in search of fish that are less pressured and still more then willing to bite!

For more information you can contact Chris Wallace,  LSF Pro Staff at www.lakestatefishing.com