Winter Walleye Fishing New Mexico

Whether or not you are an experienced angler or a beginner, New Mexico hosts some the state’s best winter time Walleye fishing. Here in New Mexico, most people think once the winter cold sets in, the fishing is over; when in reality, that is when the fishing gets hot. Above that, people often forget that fish, walleye especially, like to move into rivers and channels during pre-spawn months to prepare for the spawning season. In this blog I will discuss tips and tactics for chasing down and catching solid river walleye in the 6-10 lb. range.

Finding Walleye in the winter especially in rivers can be a tough task. Here is a list of terrain features and elements to look out for that will lead you to a nice 6 lb. female walleye like the one below:

1) Eddies- are a circular movement of water, counter to a main current, causing a small whirlpool. This is where you are going to find the bigger female walleye that are hunkering down and preparing for the spawning season. Eddies allow the fish to remove themselves from main channel current thus allowing them to salvage energy reserves and also keep their row sacs (baby eggs) safe during the pre-spawn madness.

2) Rock Piles- most anglers know that almost all species of fish love to congregate around underwater rock piles. These rock piles provide shelter, forage, and safety. However, when regarding Walleye, the main thing these rock piles provide is DARKNESS. Walleye have an incredible sense of sight. Their big white eyes allow them to see and feed at night better than almost any other predator fish. This doesn't mean that they won't feed during the day, but finding and fishing rock piles will certainly increase your hook up ratio!

3) Overcast Weather- The previous tip also brings me into the third biggest tip or tactic for catching winter Walleye. Just as explained before about the preference of darkness, fishing during an overcast or cloudy day definitely increases your chances of hooking into a huge walleye during the day.

4) Trees or Overhanging terrain- Not only do trees that hang over the banks or rock ledges that do the same provide immense forage for the predators below, but they also offer shelter or cover from sunlight or even birds of prey. Fishing under overhanging structures will also most certainly up your chances of landing a big Walleye.

The above listed tips and tactics are the 4 most important terrain features to lookout for while searching for winter river Walleye. The most important aspect of these tips you must not forget however is to always make sure you are wearing a pair of polarized sunglasses while you are scanning and reading the water, or without them you will certainly not be able to see and read the water as well as you would with them. I hope these tips and tactics will help lead you to landing a big winter Walleye!

Signing off!!

Burquebassman