Understanding the deliberate way foraging walleye move is also important. Almost every ice angler has experienced the frustration of being ten feet away from someone hauling out one nice walleye after another, while their own efforts were futile. Under these circumstances, anglers are more likely to question choices of presentation, and not believe that moving just a few feet can make a difference. But it can. Next to microstructure, primary travel lanes are probably the most overlooked factor in winter walleye fishing.
Walleyes move mostly during morning and evening periods, especially early in winter.
You can count on walleyes moving from deeper to shallower water food shelves, or in shallower lakes, from thicker cover toward openings, pockets and weedline edges. These schools continue moving until they locate prey, then linger in these locations until they're full, the prey moves or the sun rises, whichever comes first. For the most part, any shallower, heavy cover area or mid-depth structure such as bars or points leading from the main lake to a viable food shelf has the potential to be used by migrating walleyes. The trick is to determine their exact travel lanes on or along such structures. Say I'm fishing a long, main lake point and a few anglers are catching walleyes.