As water temperatures cool down in late fall and early winter, walleye action on our state’s rivers heats up.

From early December right through the season’s temporary closure in mid-March, fishing for river-dwelling Walleyes is often at its best.

With fish confined to select habitat niches that provide optimal conditions over the cold months, there’s the strong potential to be fishing over high concentrations of walleyes. Expect to find walleyes in areas of slack or reduced current.

Examples include deeper holes tucked in behind natural barriers such as rock bars; outflow areas below dams; near the mouths of incoming streams and smaller rivers.

Deeper, sheltered pools allow walleyes to escape the stronger force of the river’s current, particularly when river flows are up. Low current conditions permit the fish more freedom of movement. On river sections that feature dams, expect to find good numbers of walleyes stacked below the dam provided there’s not too much current.

Fish will gather in spots off the main current, such as the mouths of lock chambers on navigational dams. Dam outflow areas often provide good options for shore anglers as in some cases the best water is within a restricted area for boaters. Junction holes — spots where incoming streams join the main river — can be Walleye magnets as these areas tend to hold a lot of food fish.

It’s common for foraging walleyes to move into the shallows during the evening twilight period furnishing fast action for both shore and boat anglers.

In general, wintertime river walleye anglers deal with fish displaying two distinct attitudes. “Daytime” fish that are somewhat neutral yet catchable. And “Evening” fish, ones actively feeding. Obviously, this can differ on a day-to-day basis. Sometimes you hammer them during the day, especially during cloudy ones. And the night bite doesn’t always happen. But it’s a good guideline.

Boat anglers have the edge for daytime walleyes, as the fish tend to be in deeper water less accessible to shore fisherman. A typical scenario would be a sheltered pool located below a rockbar formed at the mouth of an incoming stream. The prime walleye holding water stretches for around 75 yards, and within it one finds a mild current seam between the main river and the pool, as well as a slight back current that runs tight to the bank. It’s likely that pods of walleyes are scattered within.

The boat angler can seek out these scattered fish by drifting through the pool, paying particular attention to the current seams found there. If the depth is much over 15 feet, it’s often best to simply hang the presentation vertically, presenting it within inches of the bottom with the boat’s movement. If shallower, short pitch casts can be best.

Generally, if the fish are somewhat active, they will respond to a bucktail jig, twister tail grub, even a Ned Rig. Often though, it takes a jig-n-minnow or metal blade bait to get a response. Be willing to experiment with various lure options and colors as walleyes can be fussy.

The game often changes as the sun gets ready to set. During the twilight period these same negative-to-neutral walleyes make short feeding binges into the shallows. This could be toward the shoal at the mouth of a smaller stream, and ideal scenario for the shore angler. Or right up into the mouth of a larger incoming stream or river, which depending on the size of the area, could play better for the shore or boat angler. Edges of shelter holes —such as where the depths give way to the shallows —can attract Walleyes, ones often better accessed from a boat.

Twilight walleyes can be approached with the same options listed, but add a couple more to the mix, these being suspending jerkbaits and soft swimbaits. Present these lures slowly, with just enough movement to keep them working. Often the biggest bites come on these larger profile baits.

Naturally, the availability of wintertime river walleye fishing is dependent on the weather of the year. But even during harsh winters there is usually a window that occurs during the last few weeks of the season following ice out.

Jeff Knapp is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle