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Precise Location: A Must For Icing Great Lakes Trophy ’Eyes By Mark
Martin At times the terrain may change so much it feels as if you’ve been transported to another planet by day’s end. And then there’s the fishing… and catching. The Great Lakes offer anglers the chance of landing the largest fish of their life. Although catching a walleye weighing in the teens may not be a common occurrence, the possibility is there for every angler. |
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The fact is there are several trophy-sized walleye near this weight iced every year off the major ports of nearly all the Great Lakes. But trophy fish don’t come easy on the Great Lakes; there’s a lot of water and very little structure. To find and catch trophy-sized walleye you need to cover a lot of area and look where you may never have thought. Cover It Well There’s no question that walleye are roamers. No matter the time of year, it’s a rarity they stay in one place more than a day. Like wolves, they’ll pack up and meander miles in search of their next meal of minnows. One of the most frustrating things for anglers ice fishing the Great Lakes is they may go without a strike while their buddy catches fish just 30 feet away. Is it the lure? Sometimes. Is it the bait or soft plastic tipped onto the bait? Perhaps. More than likely, though, it’s the very spot the angler is fishing. As an example, I’ll use a past Ice Fishing School/Vacation (fishingvacationschool.com) put on by Mike Gofron, Mark Brumbaugh, Ross Grothe, and myself, on Michigan’s Saginaw Bay. This relatively shallow bay is a huge expanse of water and is loaded with reefs, cuts, and holes. But even with this perfect walleye habitat, there are only very small areas where the fish roam. Both the baitfish and predators of this bay of Lake Huron follow breaklines to a tee; they are the underwater highways for fish, so to speak. This means fishing directly over a breakline is imperative when it comes to getting my lure in front of as many fish as possible. This is where my handheld Lowrance H2O IFinder GPS and Navionics mapping program come into play. The detailed maps that have been pre-loaded onto a Navionics chip, and running in the background of the screen of my Lowrance GPS, not only allows me to go directly to wherever it is I chose, but I can then get within mere feet of a breakline. Once I’m over an area I want to fish, I’ll start up my 10-inch StrikeMaster Pro Lazer power auger and drill several holes and then check the depth under of each hole with my Lowrance X67C IceMachine sonar. The first few holes I drill with the StrikeMaster will be in a strait line perpendicular over where the Navionics map shows me the breakline is. I then check the depth under each hole with my Lowrance sonar until I locate the breakline. The break, or drop off, mind you, could be anywhere from only six inches to multiple feet. Even a breakline of only a few inches is better than no breakline at all. Structure On Structure Another reason one angler may be catching fish when another not is the structure found along the breaklines. For example, a century ago, as sailing ships would come into the ports of Saginaw Bay, they would dump rocks overboard—used as ballast in the hulls of the wooden vessels—before filling up with goods. Scattered about the bottom of the bay are hundreds of small piles of ballast rocks, which the baitfish, thus walleye hang around. There are no maps that I know of that show the location of these rock piles, so finding them, along with any other odd structure, can be difficult. So once over a breakline, with my Lowrance GPS in hand, I’ll drill holes parallel with the break for several yards so as to hopefully fish over any structure that might be along the break. It may take a while, but these rock piles, and other structure, can be found. Once located, I’ll add a waypoint to the GPS so the next time I fish I can go directly back to the spot. And it’s not just Saginaw Bay that has these aforementioned manmade rock piles; most all ports on the Great Lakes have similar type structures. Find them, fish over them, and you’ll up your chances of catching fish. Time Is Of The Essence I’ll give each hole over a breakline about 45 minutes worth of fishing. If by that time I have not seen any walleye come through on my Lowrance X67C IceMachine, I’ll move to the next one. It’s imperative that you move until you find fish. Even if only 30 feet away—unless the fish happen to be in a very aggressive mood—it’s unlikely a walleye will travel off its path to come check out your offering. Things Are Looking Up Just as during the open water season, there will be times when trophy size walleye suspend high in the water column—sometimes just a few feet under the ice. It’s a rarity any fish swims downward to feed, especially walleye, so keeping your lure or bait high in the water column, at times is a must. An example of this would be another past Ice Fishing Vacation/School, however this time on Lake Michigan’s Little Bay de Noc. This is when student Dennis Childs caught his largest walleye to date, an 11-pounder, well off bottom while fishing over deep water. Several five-pound walleye had been caught earlier in the morning while using the usual ploys (jigging with Rapala Jigging Raps and Northland Buck-Shot Rattle Spoons) in water 25 to 30 feet deep. But as morning turned to day, the walleye bite slowed. Through idle conversation with me, Childs decided to use a tip-up and the largest sucker minnow he had. He walked out to a breakline that bottomed out at 50 feet and lowered the sucker minnow down only 15 feet below the ice. Within a half-hour the flag popped. After a few-minute fight, the fish was hoisted through the hole and on the ice. That trophy-sized walleye was one of only a couple fish caught until nightfall. Had Childs been fishing any lower in the water column the trophy walleye would never have been caught. Long Story Short This winter, if you’re looking to catch the largest walleye of your life, look to the frozen waters of the Great Lakes. Drill lots of holes over a breakline and fish each one until you locate fish. And whatever you do, don’t be afraid to aim high, and fish the upper half of the water column, especially over deep water. Who knows, you just might land a fish weighing in the teens. | |
