As we poke our nose into the winter season, and more anglers hit the ice, an increasing number of us will be faced with tough conditions when a cold front and high pressure follow a storm. As temps dropped to -20 and wind chills reached 40 below, the past few days have changed the bite drastically as clear, high skies above look down on us.
The past few mornings i have found myself out on the ice with the numbing temps. A cold front along side of high pressure really makes for an abbreviated bite once the walleyes do decide to become active. An important aspect is to temporarily forget what has worked the past few days when warmer weather and clouds were present. This is new weather and the fish will have a new mood.
Preparation is key to success on these bitterly cold days. In extreme cold, things break, and having all your gear neat, organized, and ready to go is a way to minimize the damage. The past few mornings i have been set up awaiting active fish. On days like these, i do not feel panicked when the fish don’t bite when they should or usually do. You have to remain ready and aware at all times. The past few days have given me windows of 3 to 4 minutes to catch these active fish. Yes, 3 to 4, and in that time frame 3 to 6 walleyes will see the ice. I cannot overstate the concept of being organized, prepared and ready to go. Have your spare rods nearby, rigged up with different colors, have minnow bucket open and ready to go, because some days it is a short 10M sprint. Techniques to catch these fish remain somewhat similar in respects to lure colors and size, although some changing may be necessary but jigging techniques need to be altered. Jigging very aggressively has been attracting these fish to come in under the Marcum. They come in and its like they STICK to the LX-5 and are glued as they are motionless down below. This now becomes the most critical part as the next 30 seconds will decide if you ice that fish or not.
I have been seeing success lately by keeping the spoon dead still when these fish come in and slooooooooooowly dropping it down to their level with no twitching or jigging involved. With the level of technology now days in the flasher department and especially with the marcum’s, it is easy to get a feel for what these fish want, and do it quickly because on days like the past few we have seen, your chances are limited when tough weather comes, and this is just the beginning to a long winter where more high pressure cold days are in the future. You may mark some more fish but the window when these fish are in the feeding mood is very small. Again i cannot over stress the importance of being prepared, and ready for action and hopefully these tips will help you put more fish on the ice this winter.
