With all the talk of teasing curious or reluctant fish into biting by lifting, pausing and jiggling your lures just above their heads, you’d think that ice fishing was all about subtly tempting finicky fish to bite. Guess again.

Just like fishing in open water, there are times when finesse is in order, and there are times to throw it out the window in favor of boisterous methods accentuating sound and vibration. In general, presentations on clear waters with good visibility, allowing fish to visually locate their prey at a distance, tend to shade toward the subtler side. Dark or dingy waters with limited visibility, however, lead fish to zero in on their food sources from a distance via their ear structures and lateral lines. Only at the final moment of truth, when their prey finally comes into view, does the sense of sight become the final trigger to strike.

That’s why waters like Lake of the Woods, Devils Lake and Lake Winnipeg are ideally suited for using aggressive, noisy fishing lures beneath the ice. You first need to call walleyes in from a distance before you can convince them to bite or strike. The following lures produce well on these and similar waters:

Rapala Rattlin’ Raps, Salmo Chubby Darters, YoZuri Rattl’N Vibes, Live Target Golden Shiners and other lipless, vibrating, sinking crankbaits fit the bill. They excel in both producing both sound and vibration when aggressively jigged beneath the ice.

Rattling spoons such as the Northland Buck Shot Rattle Spoon, Lindy Rattlin’ Flyer and Acme Rattlemaster Kastmaster have a rattle chamber molded into the spoon body for additional sound.

Jigging minnows like the Rapala Jiging Rap, Northland Rattlin’ Puppet Minnow, LUNKERHUNT Straight Up Jig, Custom Jigs & Spins Rotating Power Minnow and Acme Hyper-Rattle work well for aggressive vertical jigging and pausing, especially in situations where you can bang the lure into the bottom to create noise and stir up sediment to simulate feeding in progress.

Spinner jigs like Northland Fire-Ball Spin Jig, Jackall Deracoup Tail Spinner, Savage Gear Fat Tail Spin Crankbait and PK Rattle Spoon (with flopping blade) add flash and vibration via a blade. You can even add a safety-pin spinner arrangement to regular jigs by clipping the wire frame to the hook eye.

Rattle jigs such as Northland Buck Shot Rattle Spoon, Maynard’s Rattle Jig Head, Acme Rattlin’ Google Eye and Kalin’s Rattlin’ Google Eye add sound via a rattle chamber molded into the jighead.

Blade baits like the Heddon Rattling Sonar, Rapala Rap-V Blade, and Acme V-Rod add sound and heavy vibration to your jigging presentation.

While these lures obviously produce a lot of commotion, it doesn’t necessarily mean that walleyes will rush in and blast them throughout the jigging cadence. Fish still tend to strike as the lure pauses at the bottom of the jigging motion. And yes, you still see fish on your electronics that move in a look at the lure a bit before engulfing it, so some element of teasing them into striking can come into play. But in general, walleyes in stained or dirty simply tend to bite more aggressively than those in clearer environments.

In essence, when you ice fish these waters, bring along some larger, louder, flashier or fluorescent-finish lures to help attract walleyes and trigger them to strike, rather than entice them to bite. Sometimes, you need a bull in a china shop to break the ice.

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