One awful day...and my best ever walleye icefishing experience.

[limeyangler]

Went on another trip on my own to try again on a decent sized lake near Sioux Lookout to try and catch some Lakers and Whitefish. This lake has become a bit of a mystery to me these days as having done well there before...really well in fact....for the past 2 years its been dreadfull fishing for me. I am beginning to wonder whether all the smelt in this lake is messing up the fishing...the whole lake is absolutely chock full of them. You can be fishing in 60'FOW and the smelt will be 40 feet thick from the bottom up.

 

It did not matter where i went that day...the smelt were omnipresent.

 

In fact when i did catch a fish it was in a back bay in 18'FOW where no smelt were showing on the screen.

 

Not 5 minutes after that though the smelt showed up and i had no more bites or even saw another fish on the screen....

 

 

HERE'S THE VID FROM A VERY TIRING, FRUSTRATING, SMELT FILLED DAY....LOL

 

 

 

 

 

Yesterday's trip turned out to be the best ive had in a while....for me anyway....lol.

 

Whilst out on this same local lake a while ago we filled our time waiting for an evening bite by doing some scouting around, lots of holes drilled, depths marked etc.....

 

This definitely paid off. we headed back to an interesting bit of structure where my buddy Al had caught a really nice walleye in 30'FOW...except that day that was the only fish caught and my other buddies showed up and we moved to a different spot.

 

Al and myself decided that that spot was worth another shot.....and this time we had holes drilled a little further out from the island just to see what would happen.

We were both using nothing more fancy that jigs and medium minnows. Jigs with white colour were the ticket.

 

I got a bite the first time i dropped my first line in.....i thought it had stuck on the ice as it stopped moving at 17'FOW in ....untill i noticed the line moving at an angle acroos and down the hole....FISH ON! It was a smallish pike that had grabbed my bait at 17FOW in 43'FOW!

 

This should have been a clue to what was about to happen...but i shrugged it off as a fluke. What it was was that the fish were in mid water chasing shiners. i know they were shiners as the walleye i filletted that evening were full of them.

 

The next bite i managed to set the hook ...boy did it feel big....but because it had chased my bait all over the sonar screen iat 20' FOW i assumed it was a whitefish......it wasn't untill i landed the second walleye that i realised that all the walleye were mid water column hunting shiners....all my fish were caught that high off the bottom. Even the couple of fish that came off the bottom would have to be teased upto 20FOW with the most aggressive jigging before they would bite.

 

It was no surprise to me Al and Carmon did not catch any fish....they did not have electronics with them...and without that the way the fish had to be first located and enticed would be all but impossible without the use of a flasher/lcd unit.

 

 

All but 2 of the fish were under 20"....so igot a good feed of walleye with a 16", 17" and a fat 22", all the rest went back. I dont normally keep the bigger females but had promised my neighbour some fish too.

 

 

I absolutely love what happened out there yesterday....it totally changed my conception of where walleye can be when ice fishing.....i learned something very valuable. Of course i'm not exactly sure what i learned...and the time of year could be a factor in why the fish were where they were...but its stored in my memory banks as a new way to target walleye...

 

that is to say...during the ice season they are not always lying on the bottom, half asleep in relatively shallow water waiting for the sun to set.....sometimes they are suspended midwater in broad daylight actively chasing schools of bait fish and reacting only to a jigging action liable to pull your arm out of the socket (i kid you not...it really had to be that aggressive to trigger them.

 

Anyway...enough of my rambling...here's the vids/pics.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Leecher]

Great report, pics and videos Simon

You're in walleye heaven up there Some real beauties for sure

I've had a pretty slow season thus far.... only manage 2 eyes, few snot rockets and jumbo perch.

 

Thanks for sharing and keep them reports coming

Jacques

[solopaddler]

Great read Simon, and congrat's on a fantastic day of fishing! Methinks though that it's entirely possible (maybe even probable) that the suspended fish you were catch were suspending laterally from the first major shelf off the island.

I'll bet that if you were catching your fish in 20' of water over 40 plus feet, the shelf extending out from the island before quickly dropping off is likely 20'.

Pure speculation on my part but lateral suspension is a very common pattern year round.

[archie_james_c]

Nice eye's Limey! As always you lay the smack down on those toothy buggers!!

[Terry]

great report

[GBW]

nice job Simon! what I like be is your didn't bring your team sign...

[moparhawk]

Simon you more than most should keep a written log. I know thats one more thing to do but with the different lakes and frequency that you fish it would be very valuable to you.

[corvette1]

nice trip simon congrats on the eyes

[danc]

Sweet Walleyes Simon. Hey. I'll be in Dryden next Monday for a few hours. PM me a phone # and I'll see if we can squeeze in a quick coffee.

[trapshooter]

I'm going to that lake tomorrow Simon... the first one in your report. Been out there twice recently and did okay. Trout and whities landed and my buddy lost a pig laker yesterday right under the hole. I'm starting to really love that lake!!

[irishfield]

Always entertaining Simon !!

[Joey]

Another stellar report Simon. You certainly are learning the lakes and getting some solid knowledge of the patterns and feeding habits. It's no wonder you do so well.

 

Joey

[MCTFisher9120]

O my goodness, I need to get out Ice Fishin' again soon!

 

Great report and vid's dude!

Thanks for sharing,

MTBF

[Blue Lk]

From 1 northerner to another

Great story,really enjoyed your videos 2.

[johnnyb]

Sweet!!! I've been reading up on aggressive walleye...what you experienced is pretty much a carbon copy of the articles I read. Pretty awesome to come across them feeding like that!

[MJL]

Great report Simon...Really diggin the vids you take. Well done!

[ehg]

Great report, really like the video. The idea of fishing just of structure while fish are feeding on minnows suspended is brilliant.

[TJQ]

Nice fish and video!!

[limeyangler]

Great read Simon, and congrat's on a fantastic day of fishing! Methinks though that it's entirely possible (maybe even probable) that the suspended fish you were catch were suspending laterally from the first major shelf off the island.

I'll bet that if you were catching your fish in 20' of water over 40 plus feet, the shelf extending out from the island before quickly dropping off is likely 20'.

Pure speculation on my part but lateral suspension is a very common pattern year round.

 

We thought that too....difficult to tell how the shelf runs...if there even is a shelf as the holes we drilled suggest a gradual drop from the island outwards. Also some of the fish i got were on the bottom and had to be enticed from 43'FOW upto to 20'FOW before they would hit....it was something i've seen trout do but never have i had a walleye chase a bait so aggressively and so far up the water column from bottom. I cant wait to get in there in the spring and have a look with the fishfinder all round that area....see if like you and others have suggested that they are laterally.

 

 

nice job Simon! what I like be is your didn't bring your team sign...

 

The biggest was 24"....i already entered a 25"....and the pike was not even worth the space on my sd card.....i'll get much bigger soon

 

 

Simon you more than most should keep a written log. I know thats one more thing to do but with the different lakes and frequency that you fish it would be very valuable to you.

 

I know .....lol....i'm a lazy soul at heart.

 

Sweet Walleyes Simon. Hey. I'll be in Dryden next Monday for a few hours. PM me a phone # and I'll see if we can squeeze in a quick coffee.

PM sent Dan...would be great....lol....bring a rod!

 

I'm going to that lake tomorrow Simon... the first one in your report. Been out there twice recently and did okay. Trout and whities landed and my buddy lost a pig laker yesterday right under the hole. I'm starting to really love that lake!!

 

Glad your having success....makes me feel better for dragging you out there last year in the freezing friggin cold for just one whitie....you'll have to share the secret of success with me

 

 

O my goodness, I need to get out Ice Fishin' again soon!

 

Great report and vid's dude!

Thanks for sharing,

MTBF

 

LOL...Mike....you definitely got the bug...great stuff

 

 

From 1 northerner to another

Great story,really enjoyed your videos 2.

 

Vermillion Bay eh? Howdy neighbour...soooo...when we goin fishing?

 

 

Sweet!!! I've been reading up on aggressive walleye...what you experienced is pretty much a carbon copy of the articles I read. Pretty awesome to come across them feeding like that!

 

I think i read the same article in Ontario outdoors or similar magazine...like you said...it was exactly as described in the article...SPOOKY....lol

 

Great report Simon...Really diggin the vids you take. Well done!

 

Thanks MJL.....you should join team 5 and get us one of those impressive steelhead and carp you get!