> Andrew: Seems like a lot of guys will go deep midwinter…there’s definitely fish to be caught out there, but most of my bigger ‘eyes come shallow.

> Fishing pressure will send fish shallow, but on metro lakes it’s also truck and snowmobile traffic that push ’em into weeds.

Structure:

> I’m looking for shallow weed flats (3-7′) with a clean coontail/milfoil mix that are adjacent to deeper water.

> Within the weeds I’m trying to scope out hard spots that have a sandy bottom…seems like walleyes will use these as travel lanes between the thicker weed clumps.

> I find these hard spots by either visually looking down the hole or using my flasher to find the clean areas…this is where I want my tip-ups to be.

> Finding small bluegills and crappies is the most important part of this deal [more on that later] because that’s what these shallow ‘eyes are gorging on.

Jigging:

> I approach this kind of fishing like I’m targeting bluegills and crappies…a 4-mm tungsten jig and Panfish Plastics Chigger Fry (white).

> Crazy as it sounds, I actually try to catch the little panfish and get a school fired up below me. All that activity attracts roaming walleyes — essentially I’m fishing for bait to get the ‘eyes to roll by.

> When a walleye does come in, the pannie school will disappear [off the flasher] and be replaced by a big solid mark…stay aggressive with the tungsten, usually they’ll be fired up and crush it.

Set-lines:

> For my tip-ups, I like the Bigtooth Trophy Thermal…keeps holes open in cold temps and has a smooth spool.

> Biggest thing is running a small hook so the minnow can swim as naturally as possible…I run a #1 Gamakatsu Octopus Hook with a couple split-shots to keep the minnow down. Tried smaller spoons but they seem to limit the minnow’s action.

> I like using small sucker minnows (2.5-3″) ‘cuz they’re super active in the water and pressured fish will actually eat ’em…not just mouth ’em like they do with larger minnows.

> Just barely skin hook the minnows with hook point facing the head — most fish will eat it head first, so this increases hook-ups for sure.

> Run a long leader (10+ ft) of 12-lb fluoro to the tip-up line…don’t want any of the tip-up line in the water column. I experimented with lighter leader line, but kept breaking off…the fish run hard side to side in shallow water and rub the line against the hole.

> Really have to let them eat it — lot of times when the flag pops they’ll just sit at the bottom of the hole and chew — wait until they start taking line before setting the hook.

Other important tidbits:

> Being quiet is huge. Fish are extremely spooky in this shallow of water, even with a foot of ice above ’em.

> I always run low power mode on my flasher and I do think it makes a difference.

> I’ll park my rig at least 50 yards away from where I’m going to fish and walk the rest of the way…also never run to tip-ups…speed walk softly (lol).

> Best time is usually the hour before and after sunset, but I’ve caught ’em in the middle of the day when we’ve had stable weather.