Active aggressive fish, grouped up in predictable locations. Sound like fun? If it does, then you’ll want to take full advantage of the walleye fishing opportunities as the ice melts and we transition to spring. The fish are making some major moves and they’re ready to play ball! Make no mistake about it.

As the days lengthen and the first few hints of a spring thaw take place, the walleyes begin readying themselves for spawning. They group up in high­forage areas, usually ­but not always, adjacent to the spawning sites. Their number one goal? To chow down on what’s left of the forage, and build last minute reserves for the stresses of spawning.

Grouped up, aggressive fish become competitive with one another when a meal presents itself. This is the time of year when ice fishermen can use a flashy, bare jigging spoon, and have fish literally fighting over it. A small, finesse type presentation on the bottom at dusk will go unnoticed, as fish tend to ride up higher off the bottom, each one trying to get ahead of the other for the first shot at slashing into opportunity. With heavily depleted for­age numbers and a feeding frenzy frame of mind, you can’t lose by fishing aggressively.

This is also a great time to rip jig a big Chubby Darter 5 feet off the bottom. The calling power of these baits when worked hard is unmatched. While fishing pressure can slow the bite and cause some minor adjustments in presentation, it won’t shut down an area altogether like it would during first ice. The fish must take in high amounts of forage to prepare for the spawn. Period.

Spawning itself will not occur until very late in March or April depending on how far north and South you live. Folks up in Canada see even later spawning times. Water temperatures coupled with longer daylight hours will kick off spawning, for these two factors signal the end of the ripening process for the females eggs.

The best part about late ice is the walleyes start to show up in very predictable locations. It’s a time of year when walleyes act as if they’re literate — It seems they begin reading all of the magazine articles that tell them where to be and what to eat. It’s a very easy and satisfying time to fish. Practically anything works!

The drawing power of rock is strong as we approach spawning times, so it’s no surprise working areas of the lake with rock occurring at multiple depths is a productive tactic.

On dingy shallow natural lakes you can catch males up in two or three feet of water as they cruise along future spawning shorelines under the ice. Basin contours cutting up nearby these rocky shorelines make a sweet spot even sweeter. Fishing basin flats out from spawning inlets is also another good bet provided the ice is safe.

On smaller Inland Reservoirs we find roadbeds and timber adjacent to the rip rap dam produce well starting in mid to late February up through ice out. As males trickle out of these areas and set up on the deep flats straight out from the rip rap dam, we find the big females moving in. March is a great time. Not only to catch numbers of walleyes, but the elite class of fish swimming in your lake.

Learn more about walleye fishing the smaller waters of North America: www.inlandwalleye.com

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