Icing St. Louis River Walleyes
Of Minnesota’s major walleye destinations, the St. Louis River is among the most overlooked by the masses. Much is said about walleye factories like Mille Lacs, Lake of the Woods and Leech, but this rejuvenated fishery gets little press outside the Duluth area. Funny, because the river offers excellent opportunities for ’eyes of all sizes during the ice and open-water seasons.

An answer to a question that has puzzled us forever

For generations, in-the-know anglers have deliberately pounded jigs and spoons and sinkers into lake bottoms, in order to cause the bottom to poof sediment in a cloud around the vicinity of their hook.

Reports of big walleye catches on swimming hardbaits like the new Lindy Darter are pouring in from across the Ice Belt, but the lures are deadly for other quarry as well, including sag-bellied jumbo perch.

First ice means fast walleye action on Minnesota’s major walleye factories, but the action is all the sweeter for anglers who know where to look and how to fish these marble-eyed beauties.

Factor Fall Weather For First-Ice Bluegills
Lakes take on a different look once winter lays its icy cloak across the surface. Visual clues to fish location are scant, except for a few standing reeds, shoreline undulations, and the tracks of other anglers. Standing at an access point, looking across a thousand acres or more of frozen assets to explore, it can be tough to decide where to fish first.

Well it’s that time of year… The fish houses are coming off the lakes, driving a vehicle on the ice is dangerous, and walleye and pike season is long gone… It’s time to go hunting for sumo perch! Many anglers give up on fishing once the toothy critter season comes to a close, and others stick to crappies to fill their days until the ice melts. Possibly the best and most enjoyable activity during late ice is to get out perch jerkin’!

Late winter is the perfect time for chasing jumbo perch. By then the walleye fishing can slow down, (maybe way down) so why not keep a good thing going and make a switch to a fish that keeps on biting, and biting. It's not that big eye poppin' perch suddenly turn on and go on a mad rampage as there are some good catches made all season long. It's just that by late ice they're more likely to be bunched up and the odds of finding at least a few that are in the right mood greatly increases.

Dave Genz, the recognized father of modern ice fishing, gets excited when he talks about ice fishing for walleyes. Just below the hard surface lies one of his favorite winter fish, even if his reputation was build on chasing down big bluegills.

Swimming baits can be the big ticket to solid early season catches and are always a good option for icing heavy duty walleyes. Some may argue "the always" point but when given a fair chance I've yet to find water where they don't produce.

There are many ice anglers out there, including myself who just can’t wait for the lakes to skim over and begin to build ice. Once we see that the open water is gone, we impatiently wait for the first “walk-able ice”. Everyone has a different idea of what is “safe” to them and the amount of ice under a person’s feet can vary greatly from one person to the next. I am not going to tell you how much ice is safe to walk or travel on, but instead would like to share a few safety tips with on how to be safe when you’re out on the ice.