Ice-fishing Friday: Outdoor Canada’s 12 all-time greatest winter walleye tips

#10  DEPLOY A DEADSTICK

The ultimate finesse presentation for tricking finicky walleye is to place a deadstick rod across a plastic pail so that the flimsy tip is positioned over the centre of the hole. For this set-up, start by attaching a light 1/16- to 3/16-ounce jig to your four-, five- or six-pound monofilament or fluorocarbon leader. Then grab the liveliest minnow from the pail and carefully slide the point of the hook under its skin along the backbone, starting from just behind the dorsal fin, so that it emerges pointing forward. Now drop the offering into the hole, suspend it a foot off bottom, engage the bail on your reel and lay the rod across the pail.

With a lighter than normal jig, the shiner, dace or fathead will be able to attempt to swim away, typically towards the surface, and attract walleye in the process. Once the minnow tires, it will get dragged back down by the weight of the jig. And with the hook pointed forward, it’s positioned perfectly for walleye that attempt to eat the minnow headfirst. Paired with aggressively jigging a lipless crankbait or spoon in an adjacent hole, this presentation will catch practically every wary biter.

#11  ATTACH A FASTACH

If only I could have kept this tactic a secret. When Bernard Yong-Set first showed me his prototype Stringease Fastach clip years ago, I was excited for reasons he had never envisioned. He designed the clip as an alternative to using a snap to quickly change lures, and while it’s certainly good for that, I came up with another application that’s perfect for ice fishing.

First, I replace the treblehooks on my flash baits, spoons and Jigging Raps with Fastach clips. Then I run the shank of each treblehook through the centre of a clipped off minnow head so that the eye of the hook emerges between the minnow’s lips. Finally, I attach the baited trebles to the Fastach clips, making it impossible for walleye—or any other fish for that matter—to remove the minnow head without getting hooked.

My friend Doug Stange, host of TV’s In-Fisherman, forced me to expose this trick while we were filming an episode of his show. Once the episode aired, you couldn’t buy a Fastach clip anywhere, they became in such high demand. To this day, this remains the single simplest lure alteration you can make to boost your wintertime walleye hook-ups.

#12  ALWAYS BRING A JIGGING MINNOW

I never go ice fishing for walleye without at least one rod rigged with a horizontal jigging minnow, such as the Rapala Jigging Rap, Acme Hyper-Glide (above) or Freedom Tackle Turnback Shad. If you forced me to ice fish for walleye with only one set-up, in fact, that’s what I’d choose. Why? Unlike few other baits, the jigging minnow is extremely versatile. You can jig it aggressively as you search for fish, for example, and when you call one in, you can slow down and quiver the bait to trigger a bite. And for the deadliest winter walleye lure of all time, remove the belly treblehook, add a Fastach clip to the hanger, skewer a minnow head onto the hook shank and attach it to the clip. Just don’t overwork it—even when you’re holding your rod motionless, the lure will still perform its magic.