Jason Mitchell and Dusty Minke break down their best tips for hammering walleye out on Red Lake right now.
“We got out into 9 feet on north end near West Wind and got lucky enough where we could sit in a few key spots that had fish passing through. Bite was off in that the fish were not overly aggressive. We couldn’t do much with traditional swim baits or larger spoons. We caught some fish on dead sticks with a plain hook and small minnow but the best lure was a small Clam Sweat Pea Slab Spoon with a single hook and half a minnow so that the half minnow could roll and sit horizontal. Fish sucked and backed up so we switched to jigging with dead stick rods and mono instead of braid so we didn’t miss many fish.”
Jason Mitchell 12/1/22
Where to Find Early Ice Walleye on Red w/Dusty Minke
When it comes to first ice on Red Lake, don’t be afraid to start in shallow, especially in the low light hours in the morning and the afternoon. Minke’s had his best luck in the past week fishing five to six feet of water right before dark.
Be sure to utilize a tip up and remember that you need to be very quiet in that shallow water. Ice cleats and any sort of noise can really spook the fish away from an area. Take the ice cleats off or hunker down, get some tip ups out, and let the fish filter back under you after things settle down.
Come midday, work out to that 8 to 12 foot break line with set lines and a jigging spoon. As it starts getting out closer to the holidays, move out into deeper water and cover more and more area to find the fish.
The best thing you can do during the ice season on Red Lake is to get away from the groups and separate yourself from the big crowds near the larger resorts. It seems like all that commotion, especially all those electronics down there, can really slow fishing down and spread the fish out.
Mitchell’s Tough Bite Tactic for Red That You Need to Know
A lot of times, when you’re ice fishing walleye you are using a jigging spoon or a swim bait, like a jigging rap or a Tikka Mino – something to try to pull fish in and trigger an aggressive response. With a jigging spoon, it’s a vertical presentation where it might fall horizontal when you jig it, but then as it settles it becomes vertical. A lot of times, maybe 80% of the time, that’s exactly what you want. However, there are times where you might find a tough bite where the fish just peck at it, bump it, and maybe suck on it, but they don’t hit it very hard and you have trouble hooking into fish. It’s that type of bite where you almost don’t know you’re getting bit, and then when you lift up, you feel the weight of the fish. That type of a bite can require a few adjustments.
One of the biggest adjustments that you can make is to hook the minnow so that it’s horizontal. To do this, hook your minnow through the lips or through the head and then simply pinch it back far enough where you keep the air bladder in the middle. What happens is that the spoon will hang vertical, but the minnow will float horizontal because of the air bladder.
On a tough bite day, it seems like these fish don’t flare their gills as much and don’t have as much suction. That’s why if the bait is horizontal, they can suck on the back and hold onto it allowing them to get it into their mouth a lot easier. Whereas if it’s vertical, they have to suck so much harder to get it in their mouth because they have to swing the lure.
When you find yourself fishing an off bite, go with a horizontal minnow keeping the air bladder attached so that it floats up horizontal. Then, rock it, roll it and hold it in place. Use these tips and you’ll start to hook into a lot more fish.
