Walleye Bite

[leechmann]

Anyone catching any walleyes? I finally made the maiden voyage and caught 3 tonight. They were 15, 16 and 17 inches. Must have missed 5 or 6 other bites too. I was a little suprised how good they were biting. Seemed to bite on any kind of minnow. I used rainbows, Fatheads, and Golden Shinners. How's everyone else doing?

[leechmann]

Went back out tonight, no bites. I did see lots of fish come through on the Vexlair, but no takers.

[leechmann]

I was back out again tonight. I had zero bites for the second trip in a row.

[eyefever]

I've pretty much switched over to crappies. We did good for numbers on Mantrap, but only eight were over 10". Walleyes on fish hook have been slow and small according to the old man. He said he's getting most bites on rainbows and small shiners.

[Jason Durham]

That's what I've been both hearing and experiencing too. We spent a couple hours on Potato last weekend and had a couple fish come in, but no interest in eating. I did see a guy pull a 19" eye on a tip-up. A fellow guide hit Fishhook a couple nights ago and had the same experience as Leechman in an area that's notorious for walleye.

[southwest]

Was the ice pretty good on Mantrap or alot of slush like

other lakes?

[eyefever]

Mantrap had lots of slush. About 12 inches of ice with the slush layer partially frozen on top. We fell through the slush in a couple spots on the sled. It was kinda weird drilling a couple inches and hitting water then ice again. I would compare the slush and flooding to what fish hook was like a couple weeks ago. I'd maybe try ojibway if you want to get up that way and catch crappies. We've always had decent luck out there.

[TCon17]

Where are you guys finding/marking eyes at? Deeper? weedlines? I only have 48 hours at the cabin this weekend, so any help I can get would be great.

[leechmann]

I was out last night on Long Lake. Caught one 19 inch walleye in 22 feet of water. Using a vexlair, saw lots of other fish, but they refused to bite. Fished from 3:30pm to 6:00.

[SmallieSweetie]

Pulled a 15 and 16 out of Long over break. Had the same problem, activity, but no bites other than the two.

[Jason Durham]

The walleye action's been pretty marginal, but the panfish have been going good. As for Long, it's a freakshow for the tulibee, that's for sure!! They definitely keep you interested between the walleye bites.

[Baldyhook]

Was out on Fishhook this weekend. Friday caught 5 all short fish. Had many others on the Vexilar. Saturday caught 9 with only 3 eaters in the bunch. And Sunday caught 2 with one going about 15". Another fisherman near my set up caught a 22" with 3 shorts to go with it. Have been fishing the Hook all winter. So far this ice season have landed a 27"-25"-24". Things have definately slowed down the last couple of weeks though. Good luck all and have a great rest of the ice season.

[SmallieSweetie]

Jason~

Pointers for tulibee's? Thanks!

[Jason Durham]

An easy approach for tullibee is a small jigging spoon and one or two waxies hung off one of the trebles. They often come in pretty high, so don't be afraid to use the upper third of the water column. On Long it's pretty common to see them approach high above your bait when fishing for walleye on the bottom. Either raise your presentation up to their level, or grab a second rod and drop it on them. They seem to like waxies better than minnows or heads, so it's easiest to quickly crank in your walleye rig and drop the spoon and waxie and start shaking it like mad. Not that you can't catch a walleye on a spoon and waxworm, but minnow heads are better on Long.

[MuskyBug85]

Smallie, we used to use about a 4 hammered nickle jigging spoon with a six inch dropper (single size 10 or 12 octapus hook) i would use an 8 or 10 lb florocarbon due to its stiffness so it doesnt tangle. Jonah

[SmallieSweetie]

Jason~Thank you thank you thank you for your advice. I can't wait to test it out.