Ice-fishing for walleye? Here’s how ice and light conditions their locations throughout the day

The peak walleye bite on almost every lake takes place a half-hour before sunset, when the amount of light changes the most dramatically. Not that you can’t catch numbers of nice walleye throughout the day—provided you target depths matching the twilight conditions they prefer.

When the layer of ice and snow is thin and the weather is sunny, you’ll typically find the fish in 30-plus feet of water. With thicker ice and deeper snow, however, you’ll find the same walleye as shallow as 15 to 18 feet during the day. The options are near limitless, so you need to take the variables into account daily and drill your holes accordingly.