Cat and Mouse Jigging for Ice Eyes

One of the most effective presentation techniques for ice fishing walleyes is something I like to call cat and mouse jigging. Whenever I see a walleye come in on my sonar to take a look at my presentation I start a game of cat and mouse with that fish. I move my bait about six inches above the fish and then jiggle the bait subtly for a while. If the walleye moves in for a closer look I‰’ll pull the bait further away another 4-6 inches. Generally after a couple rounds of this cat and mouse game the walleye commits and comes racing for the bait. If for some reason the fish doesn‰’t commit and heads back down I drop the bait back down and work it aggressively to get the walleye‰’s attention again. The beauty of cat and mouse jigging is that it works for all different baits from jigging spoons to Jigging Raps to plain old jigs. Remember the next time you are out ice-fishing and can‰’t get the walleyes to commit that you might just need to take the bait away from them. Usually they‰’ll chase it down.