Ice fishing Mississippi Walleye

Not looking for anyone’s hot spots or secret locations. First year ice fishing the Mississippi between Winona and Lacrosse, and am wondering if it’s worth trying to fish walleye through the ice, or are they only congregated by the open water near dams at this time of year? I come from central MN where walleye can be had left and right through the ice on any lake I want.

I know of some 20 to 30ft holes close to the dams that I can get to and ice fish, along with some Wingdam scour holes. Does anyone have luck fishing these holes downstream from dams or am I better off panfishing for now and waiting until I can get the boat in the water for spring walleye? These river walleye are new to me.

Thanks in advance!

Try posting your question on the Mississippi sub forum. Might find the right people there.

I am by no means an expert on this but here is what i know:
1. Be careful, generally you are fishing near current and if you dont know the river and how current effects ice, don’t go out there. Take spud, i have seen some weird stuff with ice forming near dam especially.
2. You definitely don’t need to be focusing on deep holes. Usually sand drops near current 6 to 14 fow. Slack water pockets with current going by them are good places to try. Look for areas that guys get perch, find the breaks leading into them closest to the main channel/current, be careful. you don’t need to fish them in current but thats generally where the come from in the middle of the day
3. They are only worth fishing (to me) for an hour in the morning and an hour at night. Night bite is better for me, about 4:45 to 5:45 with 5 oclock being the best. You will see them going in and out of the flasher, hope one bites.
4. Jigging raps are universal consistent eye producers on the river.
5. A good day is 1 or two keepers, i have never caught more than that in a sitting.
6. talk to the bait shops to get started, then go from there.

Thanks Joef, great info. Really appreciate it. I watched the IDO Fox River Walleye episode after posting this thread and saw they were catching them on those sand breaks in shallower water too. Makes sense, coming up to feed.

We spud any time we’re on the river ice near current, believe me. Nothing to mess around with.

We took the airboat out Sunday for some tip-up northerns as well as some panfish action. Went to check ice near the dam and popped a few holes to check depth. We were marking consistent fish from 8 to 22fow, but couldn’t get anything to bite. Not surprised, it was 9 or 10 in the morning. Hoping to get back out this week to try our luck again. If nothing else, at least the panfish are hitting!

Joe gave ya a lot of good info. Stretch that depth out a bit to 22ish maybe as deep as 24fow. Generally if you need to go any deeper, all your gonna do is kill sink eyes and saucer.

Clam beds, sand transitions, and if you can find dips in the sand that look like egg crates, your in the right area

It is sure a hit or miss deal.Some days you can’t miss,the next day blanked.All you can do is move around,just do it with a spud bar.That is your best friend on the river.I have seen a lot of ice go from thick to thin in no time.

Spent my college days down in winona and never had much success on the river past October. I did fish a bit in some well known spots but the sketchy ice spooked me away from trying too hard. Buddy said he saw a guy go through in late January, that was enough for me. That same friend is still down there and he said the bite has been real tough the last few weeks. Goodluck!

Update for all you guys that gave advice:

Made it out yesterday afternoon at around 2pm, checked depth at a few spots and set up camp in 14fow on a break from current to a 6ft sand flat. Plenty of ice at 14″. We pulled a few really nice perch up right away, and from 4:30 to 5:30 really got into the walleye. 30-40 of them between two of us. Most were pretty small, but very aggressive. We put one 16″ on the ice as well as a nice sauger.

Was great to find them! Now I just need to figure out where the big ones are. Heading out this afternoon to try a bit closer to the dam with a little more current.

bbuchho90 wrote:

Update for all you guys that gave advice:

Made it out yesterday afternoon at around 2pm, checked depth at a few spots and set up camp in 14fow on a break from current to a 6ft sand flat. Plenty of ice at 14″. We pulled a few really nice perch up right away, and from 4:30 to 5:30 really got into the walleye. 30-40 of them between two of us. Most were pretty small, but very aggressive. We put one 16″ on the ice as well as a nice sauger.

Was great to find them! Now I just need to figure out where the big ones are. Heading out this afternoon to try a bit closer to the dam with a little more current.

You are already ahead of me in walleye fishing LOL, i never catch them like that

Awesome!

Most were very small, less than 10 inches. I did catch this one the 2nd time out. Fun to catch through the ice, still waiting for that big one though!

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Nice fish!