Every ice angler lives for the days when walleyes are fired up—charging in, crushing baits, and making you feel like a pro. But the reality of winter fishing is this: most days aren’t like that. As the season rolls on, pressure rises, fronts move through, lakes get pounded, and walleyes get finicky. Suddenly you’re staring at your flasher, marking fish that refuse to eat, wondering what on earth you’re doing wrong.

On a recent episode of the Fish House Nation Podcast, hosts Chris Larsen and Al Escobedo broke down their best strategies for coaxing bites when walleyes simply don’t want to cooperate. Whether you fish from a wheelhouse, flip-over, or bounce hole-to-hole across structure, these tried-and-tested tips will help you turn slow days into success stories.

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Start With Certainty: Are You Even Marking Walleyes?

One of the biggest mistakes anglers make is assuming every mark on the screen is a walleye. If you’re using a traditional flasher or digital sonar and seeing fish all day without a bite, you may not be fishing for what you think you’re fishing for.

A simple fix?

Drop down an underwater camera.

A camera tells you instantly whether you’re working walleyes, small perch, or something else entirely. It also confirms whether you’re actually set up on the structure you intended to fish.

If you’re convinced you’re doing everything right but still can’t get bit, rule #1 is confirming your target species. It’s hard to catch fish that aren’t there.

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Switch Profiles, Not Just Colors

Once you confirm you’re on walleyes, the next step is often the simplest: change your bait profile.

A lot of anglers make the mistake of switching colors but sticking with the same overall lure style. When fish are neutral or negative, the profile matters more than anything.

Al keeps multiple rods rigged and ready with different styles:

• Rattle spoons

• Flash spoons

• Jigging raps / Gliding baits

• Vertical jigging spoons

• Small profile tungsten jigs (for finesse situations)

When walleyes refuse to commit, grab something completely different—even if there’s no rhyme or reason other than it’s not what you were just using.

Sometimes that change alone is enough to convert lookers into eaters.

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Don’t Double Down on Failure: Fish Different Baits Than Your Partner

A common trap: two anglers fishing side-by-side, using the exact same thing.

If the bite is slow and you’re both running identical spoons or lipless crankbaits, you’re essentially doubling the odds of not catching fish.

Instead, stagger your presentations:

• One fishes a spoon

• The other fishes a glide bait

• Someone always runs a deadstick

• Add a tip-up or set-line outdoors if legal

Once one angler figures out what’s working, then it makes sense to match. But when the bite is tough, variety is your best tool.

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The Power of the Deadstick: Your Built-In Closer

A deadstick is often the unsung hero of slow walleye fishing.

Chris and Al use jigging spoons or rattle baits to draw fish in, but the final eat often happens on:

• A simple plain hook

• A small jig

• A lively minnow

• Suspended just off bottom

Think of your jigging rod as the attractor and your deadstick as the finisher.

If your jigging bait calls fish in but they're ignoring it, that lonely minnow waving around just looks easier. In tough conditions, “easy” wins.

And remember: a deadstick costs you nothing. It sits there working while you keep jigging.

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Dialing In Your Cadence: The Most Overlooked Key

If you’re using a digital unit like the MarCum LX7, take advantage of graph mode.

Instead of just seeing your jig as a single moving bar, graph mode lets you view your jig’s historical movement. You can literally see what cadence triggered bites earlier in the day.

If the “heartbeat”–style cadence worked, replicate it.
If small, tight pops were the ticket, repeat that rhythm.

And if nothing is happening?

Change your cadence.

Not your lure. Not your color.
Start with the thing that dictates how the lure behaves.

Some days walleyes want big aggressive rips.
Other days they inhale something barely moving.

Let your electronics and your previous interactions guide you.

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Go Ultra-Finesse: Smaller Really Can Be Better

High-pressure systems are notorious walleye killers. After a big front, fish often lock into a neutral or negative mood.

That’s when scaling down shines.

Al is a huge believer in using smaller-than-normal jigs—even for walleyes. The logic is simple:

• A small bait requires less effort for a lethargic fish to inhale.

• Downsizing mimics the tiny forage available in mid-winter.

• Tiny tungsten or micro spoons can trigger reaction bites when larger baits strike out.

It might feel strange dropping a panfish-sized bait for walleyes, but the results might surprise you.

And yes—you can absolutely catch big fish on teeny tiny jigs. It happens all the time.

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Sometimes It’s Not You—It’s the Spot

This is a tough pill to swallow, but absolutely true:

Some spots simply won’t produce, no matter what you try.

Walleyes might be present, but not feeding. They may have shifted deeper, shallower, or to subtle structure changes.

That’s why mobility is often the biggest difference between anglers who succeed and those who struggle.

Al’s philosophy is straightforward:

• Use your wheelhouse as base camp

• Fish peak times early and late by moving to high-percentage areas

• Spend midday exploring surrounding structure

Every hole you drill teaches you something.
Every move expands your understanding of the lake.

And the more locations you log, the more options you have next time.

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Find Travel Routes: Fish the Highway, Not the Parking Lot

Chris emphasized one of the most valuable mid-winter concepts:

Fish saddles, funnels, and transition zones—areas where walleyes travel.

Most anglers camp on flats or set up on big featureless basins. Those are “parking lots”—tons of fish… but also tons of dead water.

Instead, look for the highways:

• Saddles between humps

• Edges between rock and sand

• Funnels between points

• Steep breaks that transition into feeding flats

• Inside turns

• Travel corridors leading to evening feeding areas

Fish moving from a “loafing” area to a “feeding” area pass through these spots daily. When staying put, these are the best places to wait.

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Glow, Noise, and Visibility: Match Your Presentation to Conditions

Sometimes walleyes aren’t responding because they simply can’t see your lure.

Chris mentioned one of his personal confidence baits—the Buckshot Rattle Spoon—because it offers three critical elements:

• Sound (rattle chamber)

• Flash (metallic finish)

• Glow (in low-light conditions)

In dark water, cloudy days, deep structure, or stained lakes, natural colors often disappear. That’s when switching to glow or louder baits can make all the difference.

If walleyes aren’t reacting, ask yourself:

• Is there enough light penetration?

• Is my lure producing enough attraction?

• Should I glow-charge this bait more often?

Sometimes visibility—not presentation—is the missing piece.

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The Hard Truth: Some Days Just Require Patience

Even with all the tricks in the book, some days walleyes simply won’t go. The smart angler recognizes when to:

• Slow down

• Stay patient

• Wait for prime time

• Or shift gears to panfish or perch

Late afternoon and dusk often flip the bite from “dead” to “chaotic” instantly. A mid-day grind can turn into an evening rally in minutes.

The key is staying confident and continuing to adjust until the window opens.

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Final Thoughts

Walleye fishing during tough bites takes creativity, patience, and a willingness to experiment. As Chris and Al emphasized, there’s no single magic fix—but there are dozens of adjustments that can turn a brutal day into a rewarding one.

When conditions get tough, remember to:

• Verify species with a camera

• Change lure profiles

• Use different baits from your partner

• Always run a deadstick

• Adjust cadence

• Downsize when necessary

• Move strategically

• Fish travel routes over featureless flats

• Experiment with glow, flash, and noise

• Stay patient and persistent

Every day on the ice is a learning opportunity. The more tools you develop, the more successful you’ll be throughout the entire winter season.

Good luck out there—and may your next “slow day” turn into a surprise banner bite.