Hayward lakes walleye update

I can’t remember too many weekends that were as comfortable for ice fishing as this past one was. Almost made me wish I was out in my boat on Pool 4….almost!

I spent the weekend with family on a small chain of lakes northeast of Hayward. These lakes are known for a strong year-round weed walleye bite, and we were able to tap into several legal fish in addition to a bunch of largemouth bass. With anglers of all skill levels and ages represented in our group, I decided that setting flags tipped with small shiners would be a way to get everybody in on the action. Nearly all of our bites were from the 12-14′ range, just outside of thick cabbage beds on the edge of a 20+’ trench. A few pics from the weekend are included below.

We ran into a local angler targetting panfish, and my daughter and I got our first lesson in using a tip-down for finicky biters. Just what I need….another “can’t live without” ice fishing gadget. Based on that angler’s results on crappies and perch….I’ll be heading out to pick up a few tip downs this week.

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Almost made me wish I was out in my boat on Pool 4….almost!

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Naw, not even close..You got to spend quality time with family doing what you like most.

Nice report Jason

describe what a tip down is? and where you can get them .

Thanks

Mwal

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describe what a tip down is? and where you can get them .

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The ones I played with this weekend were home made, but are based on this concept:

http://www.iceskimmer.com/

Basically it is a very light ice rod that fits into a holder and is allowed to pivot. The rod tip points up rather than horizontal or down. Once the fish bites and begins to swim away, the rod pivots smoothly down, offering essentially zero resistance. Once the rod tip is pointing down (which requires the fish to swim away several feet), the angler can grab the rod, removing it from its holder, set the hook and fight the fish.

The angler doesn’t set the hook at the first twitch of a spring bobber…you’re basically waiting for the fish to commit to taking the bait and swimming away.

The terminal tackle was very simple: a tiny treble (#18?) barely hooked through the back of a minnow forward of the dorsal fin.

I should add a general note about conditions:

Before the big storm yesterday, there was 8-10″ of ice on smaller to medium sized area lakes. Some of the big lakes (LCO, Grindstone) had less but are still fishable. The snowmobile trails are being staked now.

There was 3-4″ of dry snow on top of the ice, but we received 4-5″ of new snow yesterday…before the rain started.

Looks like a great weekend with family!