Walleye with jig in mouth

Pre-planning Your Winter Fishing Rigs For Ice Walleyes

Prepare your hard-water rods in advance with these line, lure and terminal tackle setups.

The mid-ice season provides a great opportunity to rig for walleyes. I keep three- to six separate rods for walleye fishing. On one, I’ll tie on a swimming lure, such as a Jigging Shad Rap. Use a barrel swivel with Berkley Fireline on one end, then flourocarbon and a 3-foot section of mono line. Then tie it directly to a Jigging Shad Rap, and that mono is 8-pound-test.

Rig two rods with vertical jigging spoons and use different styles and colors. Rig a fourth with a jig – 1/16 or 1/32-ounce. I find that a 1/8-ouncer may be too heavy depending on the aggressiveness of fish and depth of water. And stick with short shanked jigs.

A last vertical jigging spoon tip: Just put one minnow head on one tine.

Your last rod should have a bobber, split-shot, colored hook, and bead. I find my best success with colored hooks – red, pink, chartreuse, and mix it up color-wise.

That’s five, right? Bring one more rod with a different color under that bobber setup!

Good luck!

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One Response to “Pre-planning Your Winter Fishing Rigs For Ice Walleyes”

  1. James parks

    Do you to any shows in Florida I now live in Florida keys and miss hunting up north but salt water fishing is good here do you have s catalog for salt water fishing? Also I’m interested in hunting in northern Florida too

    Reply