During the early stages of ice, walleyes are as active as they will be for the entire winter. The killer fall-bite activity for walleyes transfers into early ice, tapering off as the ice gets thicker. Walleye-seekers throughout the Ice Belt only need to know ice thickness and ice development to make a quick plan to get on a great walleye bite. (Hint: Resorts and bait shops across northern Minnesota post ice measurement reports.) And the frozen gold rush is on!

Anglers head to their favorite shallow-water walleye ice destinations across Minnesota and the Dakotas. Some shallow water has foot travel and even ATV travel before deeper lakes even crust over. Upper Red Lake is at the top of the list, although it has mean ice movements until the ice becomes thicker on this large inland body of water. Smaller, shallow lakes have less movement during ice development. 

Sloughs and shallow bays of lakes, and low-current flowages, exist throughout Minnesota and North Dakota. Most of the hot, early walleye bites are known by bait shops, guides and local residents. Areas that have large populations of walleyes are widely known in the ice community. In North Dakota, ditches and channels that lead to duck sloughs load up with walleyes in fall as they come in to feed heavy. Some of these sloughs may average 6 feet of water and have a 10-foot hole. Similar lakes exist in Minnesota and throughout the Midwest and are perfect spots to catch active shallow-water walleyes.

A wealth of information is available on DNR LakeFinder sites, and the Humminbird One-Boat Network App allows you to bring lake maps along on your smartphone. Use the “shallow water highlight” feature on the maps and you will discover that more shallow water highlights appear than you could possibly fish in a lifetime! The DNR sites tell you if walleyes are in the lake as well as their size. This hunt for knowledge is so much easier than it was 10 to 20 years ago. The bonus is: What you find is your secret!

Shallow-Water Tactics

Shallow-lake walleyes roam more as the weeds die off and provide a lack of cover. Walleyes seek out rocks, brush, wood, steep-break contours and depressions. When I find an interesting spot, my first approach is to use spoons and lures with wide coverage when jigged. Good options are a Northland Thumper Spoon or Twitchin’ Puppet tipped with a minnow head. The magnificent four colors are gold, perch patterns, red glo and glo white.

I always set up an I Fish Pro tip-up with a St. Croix Dead Eye Deadstick rod and SEVIIN reel spooled with Sunline 4-pound Fluoro Ice. My jig rod is a 36-inch St. Croix Outside Eye rod with a SEVIIN GS 750 reel. Five-pound Sunline Flurocarbon line with a small black snap allows me to change spoons fast while using a size 4 red Gamakatsu Octopus-style hook and a dorsal-hooked shiner or fathead minnow with a split-shot 6 to 18 inches above the minnow. The set lines are like sneaky, little mouse traps to help catch more walleyes. If the set line goes off two or three times, I move to that area with my jig rod.

Bro Pro Tip: Pack light. I break down my tackle backpack into a single small handheld-sized tackle box that fits in the pocket of my AFTCO Reaper Hoodie. I wear Fish Monkey Stealth Dry-Tec gloves because they’re super light and warm. I precut fathead minnow heads into a RAZR puck and put a handful of live minnows in a small coffee thermos that I marked for live bait only. To finish off my setup, I have a small toboggan, safety equipment, one bucket to sit on or hold fish, and a Humminbird XPLORE facing forward to plot my course across the ice.

RAZR some holes

When ice fishing on shallow bodies of water, I drill out the whole lake using a RAZR Synthetic Lite auger on a 1/2-inch lithium hammer drill. Simple contours hold fish, such as a 1- to 2-foot steep break or underwater sandbar, rock point or weed edge. Some shallow basins are just a bowl; these types of lakes need more holes to find walleye cruising lanes. Most of the time, it will end up being one shoreline break over all the others that is holding bait and fertile insect life. Initially, I space out drilled holes 100 to 150 feet until I find something. Then I come back and micro-drill the area of interest. 

I use my Humminbird XPLORE mounted on a Fish Armor Lite Shuttle with an Amped Outdoors 32v lithium battery inside. My MEGA Live 2 transducer is mounted on my Fish Armor Pro Pole. Drop it in the ice holes, turning the rod in a circle, looking for fish or features. Set the distance to 100 feet to see details; walleyes are easy to spot. I lessen the distance in weeds to look for walleyes swimming through. 

Some shallow-water sloughs and bays have an old river channel, scour hole or basic channel that is deeper than the surrounding area. These magnet areas hold schools of walleyes tucked into inside turns or points. If the water is slightly stained or dark, walleyes will bite all day. If the water is clear, walleyes will swim back and forth from weed patch to weed patch. Early-morning bites are fast and furious from a half-hour before sunrise until sunrise. The evening bite “hour of power” starts when the sun hits the treetops until it’s gone.

Bro Pro Tip: When traveling on early ice, use the shoreline ice as your walking area. It’s safe, and the first ice to freeze. It may even be frozen to the bottom, allowing you to cover distances without crossing ice in the middle of the lake. Note, however that some lakes have springs seeping near shore. Watch out for areas that have missing snow or look wet. RAZR holes along the way and bring ice safety gear: spikes, cleats, throwable rope and a friend or two.

Great bites exist on lakes that are less pressured than others. I love to find new fishing spots and explore remote lakes. Catching fish and seeing wilderness and wildlife is a triple bonus. Good luck on the ice and be safe hunting for gold on shallow early ice!