Unique Walleye bite

Traveled west of Alex to Traverse on Saturday. First time there, knew fish have been shallow. Aiming for 6 fow, but used the camera to find the target bottom transition. Never occured to check depth, figured we were close.

Turns out we were set up in 3.5 fow. It was -35 out and we were all set up and stuck to our guns. No marks until dark, and they started smacking the bobbers. Tough to mark them in 3 ft on the Vex. Missed hooksets snagged the Otter. Put 6 topside, kept 4 eaters. Missed a half dozen. Don’t be discouraged to fish shallow!

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Thanks for sharing! I’ve been thinking of that on Mille Lacs with how many people are out, I’d bet a lot of eyes are up shallow.

That’s crazy. I would never think to look that shallow for eye’s in the winter months. Is this something you often have luck doing in the Alexandria area?

BigWerm wrote:

Thanks for sharing! I’ve been thinking of that on Mille Lacs with how many people are out, I’d bet a lot of eyes are up shallow.

There are zero walleyes up shallow on Mille Lacs…..

Way to go! Traverse is a very big shallow piece of water with very good water clarity, it fishes a lot like Big stone. I’ve got them super shallow there before also. It can sometimes be surprising how shallow they will come into to feed after dark. If the baitfish forage base are there trust me there will be some actively feeding in the shore edges for sure. There is a lake near Sauk Centre I fish in the fall. Many times while out there fishing using headlamps we’ve witnessed eyes up in such shallow water feeding you literally could see there dorsal fin sticking out of the surface.

Cool report! Funny, the same sort of thing happened to me! many years ago before we had fancy GPS units or even depth finders I think a buddy and I setup on a spot where he thought he was catching them in the summer. Super cold, we drilled 4 holes and got setup. Didnt even think to check depth. I drop my depth bomb down after we were all done messing around and it was 5 feet. It was so cold we just went with it.
Well, I lost the biggest walleye of my life that day. I had 2 8″ holes side by side and there was easily a foot between the holes. The fish came up and the head was past the outside of one hole and the tail was past the far side of the other hole. I couldnt get it turned and it popped free. We just stared at each other for like 15 minutes reflecting on what we just saw. I was obviously ticked I didnt get it in, but that was insane.

They are where they are. So many people overthink fishing. I don’t know this body of water but if I was to target eyes anywhere now, the only stipulation would be to fish at dusk and deep into the night.
Only thing that sucks about fishing this shallow is you only get to fight the fish for 5 seconds.

IceNEyes1986 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>BigWerm wrote:</div>
Thanks for sharing! I’ve been thinking of that on Mille Lacs with how many people are out, I’d bet a lot of eyes are up shallow.

There are zero walleyes up shallow on Mille Lacs…..

Nope none all deep on the mud.

Fishthumper – I spend May through October targeting walleyes in less than 12 ft. Many lakes I fish are shallow, fertile lakes. Many fish I clean are still gorged on frogs if that tells you anything.

I love working the shallow walleye bite. Keep the noise and light to an absolute minimum and enjoy. Generally the fish you get up shallow tend to be fatter as well. Reason for which was already mentioned.

Traverse is a very shallow lake and the fish relate heavily to the rock to mud/sand transitions. Very fun lake to fish. I haven’t ice fished it but in the spring I fish it and it’s a riot! Definately a hidden gem most people don’t fish or talk about