Walleye on Plastics Exclusively?

Afternoon all!
Something that’s crossed my mind as of late is that I don’t think I’ve seen very many shows / videos of people ice fishing for walleye with plastics. In the spring and summer, I usually have great luck with a Gulp 3″ Minnow, on a lift and drop presentation.
On practically all the shows I’ve seen to date, jigs and spoons are always tipped with either a half minnow, or a full one.

Let’s hear some discussion on using artificial only for walleye through the ice.

First off, I am not an expert on this, but I will share a theory of mine based on my limited experience.
Fish are way more lethargic under ice and they are usually not as aggressive when they feed. For this reason the baits that work during open water season do not work as well through the ice. When fish are finicky they can more easily be triggered by some form of live bait added to the presentation. I have not tried the traditional minnow on a jig head through the ice but I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t work, I just don’t hear of anyone doing it.
The IDO staff has been using the new Rapala Ultralight Rippin’ Raps lately and seemingly doing well. For the first episode this season they were using these and catching lots of Walleyes. I think it might be because on Upper Red the Walleye bite is so good that almost anything works for catching them, but one of the IDO pro guys could say better if this is the case. One thing I know is because they are using these lures Joe’s was completely sold out of them on Black Friday.
I have some Gulp Plastic minnows that I was thinking of trying through the ice this year so maybe I will just to test their effectiveness. I’m heading to Upper Red in a couple of weeks so that would be a good testing ground for them.

I decided that I’m going to give plastic a try this year for walleyes through the ice too. I use plastic for pretty much every thing else under the ice so I don’t see why it won’t work. I think that if a walleye will hit a rippin rap It should hit some thing like a berkly power minnow or some sort of stinger tail shad bait like a bass assassin that fish a lot more subtle than what I fish the raps!

I love to start out with darters and rippin raps and will then add meat to a spoon only if I get negative reactions to the artificials. Sometimes I see the artificials out fish baits with meat. Every day and every lake is different.

If you want to be successful, you need adapt and stick with what’s working.

I was thinking about this the other day as well. Only my thoughts went to a two or three inch grub or a minnow on a jig head. would be interested in seeing what others thought about this.

I really haven’t been ice fishing for walleyes to long but what I have found is I can’t go without the Gulp Alive Minnow Heads especially in Glow Red. I really haven’t noticed that the spoon color matters as long as I have a red head. I usually pair it with a gold slender spoon or tingler spoon and have really good luck.

Been using paddletails for years. Key is having the most limp plastic like the Pulse-R so you can get the tail to wobble with the least amount of motion. I also use small curl tails with a hair jig. Each have their days

Randy Wieland wrote:

Been using paddletails for years. Key is having the most limp plastic like the Pulse-R so you can get the tail to wobble with the least amount of motion. I also use small curl tails with a hair jig. Each have their days

What jigs do you use with the paddle tails under the ice?

Frenchman wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Randy Wieland wrote:</div>
Been using paddletails for years. Key is having the most limp plastic like the Pulse-R so you can get the tail to wobble with the least amount of motion. I also use small curl tails with a hair jig. Each have their days

What jigs do you use with the paddle tails under the ice?

I make my own, but the lightest jig possible. 1/16 or 3/32 to 1/4 oz.
http://www.bfishntackle.com/h2o_prec_painted.html

I have used some plastics for eyes. The minnow heads from Northland is a bigger profile minnow head option. Other wise gulp Alive! have been a good one for me as well. I even catch eyes on my pannie plastics from time to time.

Thanks for the input gentlemen! I think I will have to dedicate a trip for walleye fishing with plastics exclusively.

At the moment, it feels as if a good number of us lack the confidence to fish plastics for walleye. And when you’re limited to say… 5 trips in a month, it seems extra difficult to put away the minnows (Tried and true) to go and experiment with plastics that are thought of as less productive.

This year, I will be looking forward to trying the Keitech Swing Impact, and Lake fork Magic Shad to see whether I could work some magic. Will definitely keep the blade baits, lipless cranks, and spoons in rotation as well!

This is exactly why I really enjoy fishing with multiple people with a singular goal. Different baits can be put into rotation to see what else may work or what the fish are really keying on.

I found this old thread really interesting. I’m wondering if anybody has had luck over the past couple years fishing plastics/Gulp for walleyes through the ice? I’ve had some luck vertically jigging plastics in open water so it seems like this should translate to the ice.

Jeff Fitzpatrick wrote:

I found this old thread really interesting. I’m wondering if anybody has had luck over the past couple years fishing plastics/Gulp for <em class=”ido-tag-em”>walleyes through the ice? I’ve had some luck vertically jigging plastics in open water so it seems like this should translate to the ice.

Like this?

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Randy Wieland wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Jeff Fitzpatrick wrote:</div>
I found this old thread really interesting. I’m wondering if anybody has had luck over the past couple years fishing plastics/Gulp for <em class=”ido-tag-em”>walleyes through the ice? I’ve had some luck vertically jigging plastics in open water so it seems like this should translate to the ice.

Like this?

I thought that wash tub looked familiar.Walleyes are suckers for well presented plastics.Most guys over-work plastics and wonder why they don’t do well.A 1.75″ Pulse-r would be perfect.

This thread reminds me of the reason I love fishing. Especially chasing after oil’ marble eye.

Fishing the mighty miss with Dubuque rigs has been a go to rig for me.. when plastics developed actions that became very affective for ‘eyes, it was fun to mess with the variety of presentations that can sometimes unlock the mystery and up the frequency of calls to your boat partner (or to yourself when enjoying a day of freedom like nothing else but fishing alone can provide) “I need the net” “it’s a good un” “OMG, I wanna see this one” and on and on… No better location to create lifelong memories like in the boat, on the ice, wading the shallows and the efforts to figure them out bring as much pleasure as repeating the tug often and with some strong head shakers in the mix.

Fishing plastics under ice with current seems like a fun day of experimentation. Moxies & Pulsers produce.

Figuring out speed, cadence, color, dead still, speed of drop, just what triggers that aggressive thump, often brings as much pleasure as the joy of being there.

Also, for me, Another challenge of chasing old marble eye equals the frequent rod thumping joy. Figuring out where and how the forage base travels from first open water throughout the entire season…

I digressed… guess I need to get on the ice..

Fun thread!

Merry Christmas to the frequent posters on IDO & to James & IDO crew who maintain this great site!

I have actually had good luck for eyes using spoons topped with the Northland plastic perch eyes.