“MATCH A STRIKE...Matching water, equipment increases hits”
By Dick Ellis
Reader Note: This column night ice fishing targeting walleyes on the Eau Claire Chain in Bayfield County took place with the New Year in 2005.Like all Dick’s Trips columns, make sure to check regulations when planning your own trip.
One thin flashlight beam in the distance cut a hole through the black over the Eau Claire Chain and reached for Ted Seller’s heart. Sellers can run to 1,000 tip-ups and ice that many walleyes. But a shining light in the dead of night screaming “Fish On!”or an orange flag swaying on a distant breeze still guarantees the adrenalin rush.
“Before you’re even fighting the fish at all, that’s what’s so cool about tip-up fishing,” he said. “You know you have a hit. You can see the light pop on or the flag swaying in the distance. As you’re walking toward it, you can see the spindle spinning. That’s great stuff.”
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| “Ted Sellers works the Eau Claire Chain for the night walleye bite.” | “An angler returns from checking his tip-ups on the Eau Claire Chain.” |
The walleye behind this light would be relatively small; about 15 inches. So would many others, disrupting a string of five straight nights with at least one walleye at 21 inches or better. Sellers’ advice, though, can make more flags trip, and more lights flash for anglers on any Wisconsin lake who may not be experienced on the hardwater. Call it Sellers’ simple tips to catch more fish.
Well before sunset, my host had set tip-ups in five to 25 feet of water over the sand, gravel and rock bottom typical of the Eau Claire Chain in Bayfield County approximately 45 miles south of Superior and erected a portable shanty from which he would work a short jigging rod. Rigging a tip-up with the proper line and hardware, he said, is the most crucial aspect of successful ice fishing but also the most neglected.
“I see too many people using too heavy of leaders and hooks for walleyes,” Sellers said. “They might have over-sized northern pike treble hooks or 10-pound plus leaders. It’s just too much hardware and size, particularly on clear lakes. I would like to see them catch fish, but they won’t get the bites unless they change the equipment.”
Sellers would rather risk more line break-offs with lighter line for the guaranteed trade-off of more hits and the thrill of more tripped flags. Light line will stand up to even big fish with a bit of finesse. He strongly recommends and uses 30 pound Dacron line tipped with a four to six-pound fluorocarbon leader and a #10 or #12 treble hook.
“Sometime I’ll use a single hook gem-n-eye,” he said. “The hooking percentages aren’t as good with it but you’ll get more hits. The Dacron line handles well and that leader will become invisible under water. If I was home in Superior fishing in the murkier water of St. Louis River I wouldn’t be so worried about light equipment. But you have to match the equipment with the water you’re fishing.”
That matching philosophy also led Sellers to change bait of choice on the Eau Claire Chain when he realized his long established preference of shiners didn’t match the predominant walleye forage base. A little professional reinforcement from a Bayfield County fisheries biologist sent Sellers dipping into the sucker minnow bucket.
“I used to mainly use shiners, both under tip-ups and on the jigging rods,” Sellers said. “But these lakes are naturally reproducing. Every time I did keep a walleye and clean it, they had 3-1/2 inch to five inch walleyes in their belly. I thought maybe I should start using something more similar, like a three to five inch sucker minnow.”
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| "Sellers sets the hook... |
and lands another small walleye." |
“On a naturally reproducing lake, if you see a big class of young of year walleyes, the adults will eat their own. Chris Sand, the biologist up here verified that. Big classes hatched here the last couple of years. In that case, much better to use sucker minnows than shiners. That can also change year to year, lake to lake.”
The Eau Claire Chain, according to Sellers, consists of three larger lakes averaging 800 acres and eleven lakes total connected by creeks. Although not truly a “navigable” chain throughout, he said, the Eau Claire is “the classic northern Wisconsin glacial spring-fed clear body of water.”
“As a rule you want to fish these lakes during a cloudy day of after dark, although I have caught quite a few walleyes this year during the day too” Sellers said. “Low light, twilight and past dark is the best. That’s a general rule. But if you’re going to take the time to fish, set-up well before twilight so you’re not drilling with the auger and making a lot of other noise at prime time. And you never know when the bite will begin early.”
On cue with the setting sun and the transitional light, walleyes became active in an extended flurry and began to use their nocturnal advantage against the forage of the Eau Claire Chain. Active walleyes at sunset are no surprise anywhere, but having the proper equipment set assures an ice angler of his or her share of the booty.
Flags tripped and one by one Sellers answered the calls. On this night, only walleyes in the 14 to 16 inch class would visit. For Sellers, though, not knowing what lies beneath the hardwater is half the thrill.
“I think that thrill carries over for a lot of open water fisherman,” he said. “I like sucker fishing in the fall with quick strike rigs. When that clicker goes off it’s just like a tip-up. There’s time just to think about it.”
Picking up the equipment after a walleye night on the ice that might best be described as quantity over quality, Sellers the fishing addict was just satisfied with another fix. Whoever wrote “the worst day fishing is better than the best day of work” might have penned it for him.
“I think there’s a lot of fish and not a lot of fishermen in the north,” he said. “There are tough regulations and tough bag limits and that’s just the way it goes. This isn’t Canada and this isn’t Lake Erie. Anyone who fishes knows that, but it’s good. You have to fish where you live. Lake Geneva down there by you in the south is a great lake. People have to love that lake. Other people right next door don’t even know what they have.”
“I personally would rather be fishing smallmouth with the sun on my back. But again, you have to take what you have, when you have it.”