December Walleyes on Ice
by Ross Grothe

The first time I walk out on the ice at the start of the new season I’m always a little uncomfortable. Thoughts race through your mind, like what if there’s a patch that didn’t freeze over and it’s just two steps away. The worst thought is, what if I get out there, drill a few holes and find out the fish aren’t biting. It has a horrible sound; doesn’t it?

I never worry too much about that second option in December. Right after a few inches of ice form and it’s safe to walk on, that early ice is almost always productive.

Here’s my game plan for December walleyes. It might change a little bit depending upon what lake you’re on, but I use the plan for most of the walleye lakes I fish and it works well.

Know the water you’re fishing. If you don’t, get a map. You want to know where the points are. I almost always key on the shoreline structure this early in the season. Shoreline vegetation will pull the baitfish in and that pulls in the walleyes. Points that extend a ways out from shore and drop off quickly provide everything that a walleye wants in the early winter.

I go portable in early December. Those first trips out on the ice are going to be a guessing game sometimes. You don’t know what the walleyes are doing and you have to figure them out. They could be shallow, deep, over weeds, on rock, suspended. These are all things you need to know and if you are portable you can move around and discover the pattern.

Initially I drill a lot of holes. I want to know where I am on a point and I want to pinpoint some walleyes. I can do this with a sonar. Mark the holes by writing the depth in the snow right next to the hole. If there’s no snow use your ice chisel and scratch it in the ice. If you drill enough holes you are going to forget which one is what depth if you don’t use some form of marking.

Fish everything as if it was a walleye. Use a quarter to three-eighth ounce jigging spoon and tip it with a minnow head. Follow the lure down on the sonar screen and watch to see what reaction the fish have to it. If you can see the fish swim up and they hit the lure, reel them in you lucky dog. If they swim up to the lure, look it over, then swim away, it’s time to start experimenting.

Try different colors first. Remember, these fish are walleyes and you fish them like walleyes until they tell you different. Only downsize the lure or bait if you want to catch some panfish. I keep four or five rods rigged in my bucket and if the fish don’t hit the lure/bait then I switch, but I seldom downsize, because it’s walleyes I’m after and I know they’ll hit a quarter-ounce jigging spoon with a minnow head if my timing is right.

And timing is everything when it comes to ice fishing; even December ice fishing. Typically walleyes aren’t feeding constantly when the water cools as much as it has. You might find a school of walleyes one day on your sonar and for some reason you try every size and color and can’t get them to go. Maybe they are on a night feeding schedule. But don’t worry. Not all the walleyes follow the same schedule. You want to find fish that are biting when you’re fishing, so move around and find active fish. But don’t rule out those that aren’t cooperative. Go back to them occasionally and test them with a few presentations and you may discover their window of time when they feed.

We’re taught when we’re very young to have patience when we fish. That’s not part of my game plan in December for walleyes. I know there are active fish somewhere in that lake and I’m going to find them. That’s why you will see me moving from hole to hole and trying all kinds of different things until I get something going. No snowmen grow under my feet when I’m ice fishing in December.

Everybody has an excuse for not catching fish, and everyone has a great story when fish are being caught. One of the nice things my father taught me was never to have patience when I fish, and the other thing he inspired me to do is never make excuses. In December on the ice for walleyes he would think I was the perfect child.

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