Early Season Walleyes

    Early season after ice out, walleyes almost always tend to stage near inlets to a lake.  Spawning draws them up into these streams or moving water.  Try fishing in these areas in 10ft of water or less.  Fishing deeper than this is usually a waste of time.  The need to spawn or resting after spawn is keeping fish in these areas.

    The second thing driving fish movement and staging is food.  Fish are fat pre-spawn because they are full of eggs.  They're also fat because they are gorging themselves on bait fish that are spawning in the same area.  Find the bait fish, find the Walleyes!

    The best bait for early season 'eyes is a jig minnow combo, fishing in less that 10ft of water.  Since we are fishing shallow, a 1/16oz-1/8oz jig is all that is needed.  Shiners and fat heads are the best minnows.  Although shiners die easy and are hard to take care of, they can sometimes out produce other minnows 2:1.  Small sucker minnows can also be effective. 

    It is my belief that when jigging, the best way to hook your minnow is to dead stick them through the mouth and out the back by the dorsal fin.  You will catch finicky biters and lose less bait than hooking through the lips or head.  However, if the fish are not hitting, experiment by hooking through the back or tail.  You will also have to experiment with jigging styles.  Some fish may be in "gorge" mode and bite anything.  If it's during the day, Walleyes may be resting until evening to feed.  These fish will need some coaxing.  Try power jigging and short "vibrating" jigging.  Find what one works for the day and stick with it.

    If these areas and techniques are not working, find the area of the lake that the wind has been pounding.  If the wind has been pounding that area for a few days or more, most likely the food has been blown that way as well.  The bait fish follow the food, and the Walleyes follow the bait fish.  Move to that area and try out a slip bobber.  Sometimes the simplest approach in best.