Walleyes don't always relate to structure. Even in a lake with hundreds of underwater humps, bumps, and bars, they'll still frequent the main basin of the lake and cruise flats and shorelines. In prairie lakes or the Great Lakes where limited underwater structure is present, baitfish and walleyes tend to roam.

During the ice season, searching for walleyes on flats or in lake basins often requires drilling lots of holes, moving often, and believing the effort spent searching will eventually pay off-even though hole after hole reaps no reward.

STRUCTURELESS SEARCHING

On flats or in basins, there's not much distinct structure to key on, which makes deciding where to start fishing hard. Just start drilling and fishing is the best advice. Drill a hole, fish it, and see what happens. No action? Drill another hole and fish. Lots of work, but the best way to eliminate unproductive water.

Consider water depth and clarity when deciding where to drill your next hole. In clear water where depth ranges from 5 to 20 feet, for instance, I generally space my holes 15 to 20 yards apart. In deeper water (more than 20 feet) less light penetrates to bottom. So less light reflects from your lure, which may make it harder for fish to spot your lure from a distance. In shallow dirty water (5 to 15 feet) I drill my holes about 10 yards apart.

In most instances, due to only slight depth changes and because flats and basins often lack much distinct structure, where you start fishing doesn't matter. A few subtle edges, though, may attract baitfish and walleyes. At first-ice or when ice freezes relatively clear and clean, look for darker ice or snow-covered patches. A dark spot deflects your outline and any motion you may make and also creates a shaded edge that attracts bait and walleyes, especially on sunny days. Shorelines are edges, yet relatively few anglers ever target walleyes in shallow water (2 to 4 feet) along shorelines. Ice heaves (pushes)-especially those that form over flats-create an edge below the ice that attracts fish.

Predetermine how far apart to drill your holes and in which direction. Drilling holes in somewhat of a pattern helps eliminate unproductive water while you try to locate areas that concentrate fish-similar to open-water trolling. Over the years, we've developed a few search patterns that have helped track fish in structureless environments.

Straight Line Search -- When you're fishing alone, drilling holes in a straight-line pattern is a good method. Start by drilling a hole, check the depth, and do a quick assessment of the water clarity to determine how far apart to space your holes. If the water is 15 feet deep and clear, I often drill about 8 or 10 holes 15 yards apart in a straight line, which covers approximately a 120- to 150-yard stretch. Then I start fishing at one end and work my way to the other.

Look for signs of life like baitfish or fish moving through on sonar. Water clarity, depth variations, and bottom content attract and hold fish in specific spots and may lend clues to what is attracting the fish to that particular area. If I catch a fish, I stay at the same hole for a while even though it could have been a loner, a small pack of fish, or the edge of a school. If nothing else happens, I move on to the next hole. Or I use that hole as a new starting point and drill several more holes in a different direction, in an effort to get closer to an area that may hold more fish.

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