> Forrest: Seems like a lot of guys (come mid-winter) set up their hard houses in community holes close to access points — obvious points, humps, etc.

> My strategy is looking for high-percentage spots and using angler pressure to my advantage. Mostly applies to lakes I fish in northern MN with deeper structure, but can be used a lot of different places.

Structure

> My favorite spot for this time of year is a mid-lake saddle…an area that has a flat or point on either end, and inside bends coming up out of deeper water on either side.

> The saddle itself serves has hub where all these components come together…and usually holds the most aggressive gravel lizards.

> I try to find saddles out as far away from groups of houses as possible…community holes can kick out ‘eyes early in the season, but by mid-winter the fish have been pretty worked over.

> It’s usually pretty cold this time of year and the ice is thick, so you want to plan accordingly…last thing you wanna do is wear yourself out drilling giant areas. #SpotOnTheSpot

> My strategy works best with a couple of anglers…gives you the ability to spread out set-lines and dial in the juice.

> I stick my portable right in the middle of the saddle and spread out set-lines [aka deadsticks] onto the different structure components. Love using the JT Hot Boxes for set-lines because they keep holes wide open in frigid temps.

> If one set-line is getting more bites than others (say closer to shallow water) I’ll move my shack accordingly.

> Usually start off with a Rapala Slab Rap — it’s a little more finesse than most “ripping” baits (no rattles) but still overall has an aggressive action.

> If fish are shying away from the Slab Rap, I’ll switch to a 1/8-oz VMC Tingler Spoon. Can fish ’em high in the water column — with a lot of action — to draw fish in from a distance…still able to slow down and fish subtly.

> On my set-lines I run a VMC Glow Resin Treble for larger minnows (shiners and rainbows). For smaller minnows I’ll scale down to a 1/16-oz VMC Tear Drop Jig.

> Protecting large, mature fish is now seen as so vital to maintaining healthy fish populations that fisheries scientists are referring to the concept as the big, old, fat, female fish — or BOFFF — hypothesis.

> Fish are cold-blooded animals that reproduce their entire lives…a 10-lb female walleye will typically produce eggs equivalent to 1/3 of her body weight. They get better and better as they age and never reach their peak.

> Last spring Matity recovered 5-lbs of roe — approximately 300K eggs — from one 11-lb walleye…practically all of those eggs would have been viable. With a 2- to 3-lb walleye only 20-30% of the eggs would hatch.

> Big fish have the biggest, juiciest eggs with the best yolk sacs, so each one is a bigger target for a sperm to find. Big spawners are the critical part of the reproductive pyramid. Big fish know the best places to lay their eggs and (in the case of bass) how best to protect their nests.

> Matity is also critical of anglers who misguidedly play God…such as walleye anglers who kill bass…mistakenly thinking this helps the population of their favorite fish. Fish species interact in ways that benefit each other.

> ….Big bass are critical in controlling the spread of invasive rusty crayfish, which predate heavily on walleye eggs. Who would’ve thought that big bass might hold the key to better walleye populations?

We’re learning more every day ’bout things we can do to help protect the resource: