Originally published in Lake of the Woods Area News, Volume 54, Number 5, Winter 2024
Throughout my fishing travels and interviews that I do, I’m often asked “where is your favourite lake?” For me, the answer is simple. It’s Lake of the Woods, where I was born and raised. While I enjoy and make my living as a competitive bass angler, I enjoy multi-species fishing. In my opinion, Lake of the Woods is the best multi-species lake in the world.
At the top of the list of different species to catch in Lake of the Woods is walleye, which most people visit the lake to chase. Walleye fishing is excellent throughout the winter on the big lake, from the time when can get out on the ice in December until the end of the season or April 15, when the season closes for a month. Here is how I like to put a plan together to catch plenty of walleye throughout the winter. These general rules will apply to area lakes surrounding Lake of the Woods as well.
Watching your bait on a sonar screen will allow you to see if there are fish present beneath your hole and how they are reacting to your bait.
Where to find fish
Before I started fishing professionally in the U.S. in 2012, I used to spend 50 to 60 days on the ice, guiding on Lake of the Woods, mostly for walleye. We would get out there as soon as the ice was safe for travel, typically around Christmas time and fish until it wasn’t safe anymore, usually sometime in early April. These days I still get out there every chance I get when I’m home.
The best fishing happens early in the season when the fish haven’t been pressured for a couple of months and late in the season when the snow melts and walleye start moving shallower. They can be caught throughout the winter; it just gets to be a little more of a project through the mid-part of the season when we have to battle snow and cold.
The biggest advancement to aid anglers on Lake of the Woods in recent years has been the release of highly detailed mapping. Humminbird has the best mapping of the lake, available on their Ontario VX card. Other waterbodies across the region are also included on this map card. If you just want to use your phone, the Humminbird One-Boat-Network app and the Navionics app both have excellent mapping available as well. I mount a small Humminbird unit on my snowmobile that I use, but using a phone with one of these apps works fine as well.
This detailed mapping has every bump, hump and point on the lake drawn out so it makes it really easy to pull up on a spot and know where to drill holes. On most days, you want to focus your efforts in 32 to 40 feet of water. My favourite spots are points and humps that have a nice flat on them in that preferred depth. These flats allow a group of walleye to call a spot home. While the best spots are close to deep water, I don’t like fishing the structure that is really steep and has sharp drop-offs. These spots just never seem to be as good.
Later in the season, once we get into March and the snow starts to melt and allow more sunlight to penetrate the ice, walleye start to migrate towards areas where they will spawn shortly after the ice goes out. These spawning areas are often shallow bays, where creeks or rivers flow in. Some of my favourite spots to fish are at the mouth of these shallow bays, in the last bit of deeper water, usually in 15 to 25 feet. Sometimes they can be found on mud flats, but if there is a point or hump in an area like this, they are magnets for late season walleye.
A 3/8-ounce Northland Buck-Shot Rattle Spoon, tipped with a minnow head usually gets the job done.
How to catch walleye through the ice
Walleye are usually easy to get through the ice. The bigger challenge is making sure you’re putting your bait in front of some fish. For the past 20-plus years I have seldom used anything but a 3/8-ounce Northland Buck-Shot Rattle Spoon, tipped with a minnow head. It works great everywhere I’ve ever ice fished for walleye.
In open water, I very rarely use any meat (live bait), instead just using plastic tipped jigs. In the winter, a little bit of meat on your hook is going to help you get way more bites. The reason I just use a minnow head on the spoon is because if you try to put a whole minnow on there, the package becomes too big and you’ll lose some of the nice fluttering action on the spoon.
The traditional jig and minnow will always produce as well. I enjoy using a spoon because I like to watch it on a sonar screen while I’m jigging and then figure out how to trick the walleye into biting it, based on my movements. Typically, I’ll jig in short, one-to-two-foot hops to attract walleyes to come in for a closer look. When I see walleye show up on my sonar, whether it is a traditional flasher or the newer live sonar, I’ll start shaking the spoon more and slowly raise it in the water column to keep it above the fish. Some days they want you to jig more aggressively and some days they just want the bait dead sticked. Just let the fish tell you what they want every day.
If I fish a new spot, I have a 20 to 30-minute rule. I’ll give a hole a few minutes and if I don’t see or catch a fish, I move to a new one. Fortunately, most of the humps and points out there will have a school of walleye on them, but some will not so if you’re not catching anything, don’t be afraid to bust a move. Ice fishing is not about going out and sitting on a bucket and hoping you get a bite. If you move around a little bit, you’ll usually contact some walleye and bring dinner home.
Walleye fishing on Lake of the Woods is as good as ever and the new size restrictions that were put into place in 2024 are designed to keep it that way by protecting the best spawning fish. It’s been a little bit annoying because so many walleye out there are just over the size limit and have to be released but at the end of the day, we have some great fishing out there.
Happy ice fishing!
New walleye regulations on Lake of the Woods
Starting in 2024, the walleye regulations changed on Lake of the Woods and while most anglers are probably aware of these changes, here is a reminder. While fishing on Lake of the Woods, anglers cannot keep any walleye between 43 cm and 70 cm (16.9” – 27.6”). The limit remains four fish (walleye or sauger or any combination) for Canadian residents. Non-Canadian residents can only keep two walleye per day on Lake of the Woods. Across most of the Sunset Country Region, the daily limit remains four walleye, with only one fish allowed over 46 cm (18”).
