By Jason Mitchell

Some specific States and Provinces have open walleye seasons during the late ice period.  These fisheries offer tremendously fun ice fishing opportunities.  I love catching walleye any day of the year but what I love about late ice walleyes is the level of aggressiveness.  Patterns and locations can vary among fisheries but there are also some almost universal themes or tendencies that seem to pop up wherever walleye swim.

I get asked a couple of times a week if I keep a fishing journal.  I have never been a fan of journals because I can remember conditions and don’t believe that remembering a calendar date matters.  Does the lake ever open on the exact same day?  Does the first snow fall happen on the same day every year?  Do the surface temps hit fifty-five degrees on the same date every spring?  The answer is no.  Perhaps the biggest challenge of late ice walleye fishing is the range in which patterns can unfold.  The reason I bring up a journal that lines up on calendar dates is that the conditions can really range from year to year.  Don’t react to the calendar, react to conditions. 

Don’t live and die by the calendar at late ice.  Look at conditions.  Prolonged winters can often create deeper patterns over rocks if the shorelines are not thawing out.