Troy Smutka takes advantage of the early-ice bite for walleyes and pike.

I love early-ice fishing for pike, walleyes and pannies, but it often overlaps with some good late-season field hunting for geese, leaving me torn. Fish go on their best bites of the winter early in the season under new ice, and late in the season under deteriorating ice. While you must keep safety in mind, if you can get out for the early-ice bite, you can experience some of your fastest ice fishing action of the year—especially for walleyes and pike. It is also quiet and not too busy on the lake before vehicles and wheelhouses can get out on the ice.

Once the ice thickens and gets covered with snow, shallow weeds die off enough to drop the dissolved oxygen levels in the shallows to the point where most fish head deep to more oxygen-rich environments. This coincides with a slowdown of activity, and a little tougher bite in many instances. It also coincides with a lot more shelters, people and traffic on the ice.

During the early ice period, I like fishing shoreline points and offshore reefs or humps for walleyes and pike. Depending on time of day, light conditions and weather, ‘eyes and pike can be shallow on the flat part of these structures, at the top edge of the breakline off of these structures, or at the bottom edge of the breakline. You will have to search these three areas to find the active fish. Edges of remaining weeds on shoreline flats or along shoreline drop-offs can be good spots as well. Again, you will need to be mobile and hunt for the fish.

The right equipment can make hunting for walleyes and pike during the early-ice period safer, more comfortable and more fun. Early ice means walking out onto the ice or using a snowmobile or ATV. If I am on a relatively small lake, or fishing areas close to shore on larger lakes, I like to walk out with my portable fish house in tow.

Whether you are walking or riding, wearing a set of ice picks on a cord draped around your neck is a good idea. This makes it a lot easier to pull yourself out if, God forbid, you would break through thin ice. New ice with no snow on top can make for treacherous walking; a good pair of ice cleats strapped onto your boots can save you from some nasty falls and allow you to take longer strides, speeding up your travel and saving fatigue on your legs.

Sonar and mapping GPS are invaluable in this type of fishing. As you are going to be searching high-percentage spots and drilling a few holes, a good GPS unit with a lake map chip can make you much more efficient. A good flasher sonar is a must for seeing fish, and then “reading” and triggering them to bite.

I like to use a medium-power spinning rod/reel combo for jigging at this time of year, preferably 28 to 30 inches in length. This combo is long enough to get good jigging motion on your bait with minimal arm movement, is sensitive enough to feel a light walleye bite, and has enough backbone to bring up a good-sized northern. The St. Croix Mojo Ice Rod is my rod of choice, and it works nicely with a Pflueger President size 20 spinning reel. I spool this combo with 8- to 12-pound test braid, like Berkley Fireline, depending on the water depth and size of fish I am likely to encounter on a particular lake. I splice a couple feet of 10-pound-test fluorocarbon between the main line and the bait with a small barrel swivel. This is for stealth in clear water and to help minimize line twist and spinning lures.

My favorite baits to jig for early-season ‘eyes and pike are a rattling spoon like the VMC Rattle Spoon, or a jigging minnow like the Jiggin’ Rap or the new Ultralight Rippin’ Rap. I keep it pretty simple for colors: silver/shad/minnow colors on bright days and in the middle of the day; and bright colors like orange, chartreuse and firetiger on dark days. At night, I like glow white or pink. I tip the jigging spoons with a whole minnow or minnow head, depending on how large and how active an offering the fish want.

I always have a second line down for each angler when ice fishing for walleyes and pike. That may be a dead stick right next to me, or it might be a tip-up a distance away. I usually fish a vertical jig tipped with a live minnow on either of these offerings. I use the same color choices as listed above, with minnows of varying sizes depending on the size of the fish that I am targeting, as well as their mood.

Round, insulated tip-ups like the Frabill Thermal are good as they insulate the hole to keep it from re-freezing and keep snow from drifting into the hole. The I-Fish Pro is becoming my top choice more and more as it allows me to use a rod/reel combo to fight fish instead of hand-lining. Tip-ups are a great way to spread lines out along a breakline or across a flat, helping to contact more ‘eyes or pike. For fishing walleyes after dark, you can add a light to the flag that switches on when the flag pops up. For a dead stick in the shelter with me, I suspend the jig and minnow under a float, usually one to two feet above bottom. Nothing too complicated.

Get out on the ice once it is safe, and hunt for walleyes and pike early in the ice fishing season. Fish may be concentrated or scattered, but they are often aggressive, making catching them as easy as it is going to be during the entire ice season. Exercise caution, be mobile, and change baits. It can be some of the fastest ice action of the year for these toothy critters.

Thinking about trying ice fishing for the first time this year? You’ll find plenty of information and ice fishing tips in MidWest Outdoors, available by subscribing on our website.