Rice Lake is a good walleye lake that has been able to sustain good numbers of walleye for a long time. There is a lot of fishing pressure on the lake, so you still have to learn the lake and know what you are doing if you’re going to catch good numbers of walleye, but there are plenty of walleye in the lake to catch.
It is a Shallow Lake
Most of the good walleye lakes in Ontario will have access to some very deep water, but that isn’t the case on Rice Lake. There are some spots with some deeper water, but nothing like some of the top walleye lakes in Ontario. Anglers catch a lot of walleye from 8 to 20 feet of water here and they are usually relating to weeds, wood, rocks or docks. There are a lot of weed-oriented walleye on Rice Lake. Learn how to fish some of this shallower cover with lighter weedless jigheads tipped with live bait such as nightcrawler, minnows and leeches if you want to target walleye that most anglers ignore.
Fish the Offshore Structure
If you take a look at a contour map of Rice Lake, you will see that there are a lot of humps and shoals found offshore. These spots will definitely hold fish especially if you have some rocks and or weeds on these structures. The humps provide some very good fishing from mid summer through fall for walleye, bass and other fish too.
Fish the Points
Rice Lake has a lot of points whether you’re looking at the main lake shorelines or all the points on the numerous Islands throughout the lake. The bass anglers are known for going from point to point to find active largemouth or smallmouth bass, however you’ll also find walleye, muskie and panfish around these points too. If you’re looking for walleye, fish the wind blown points that have access to deeper water. Low light conditions are the best times of day to find active walleye moving up onto the points to feed.
Fish the Weeds
Rice Lake has an abundance of weeds which is awesome for so many species of fish. You will find just about everything in and around the weeds from spring through fall. While most anglers will be fishing the weeds for largemouth bass or panfish, you can find a lot of walleye around the weeds as well. Lighter, weedless jigheads are perfect for pitching live nightcrawlers, minnows and leeches around the vegetation for walleye in the summer and fall.
Fish the Wood
You will find some wood along the shorelines. Anglers usually target the wood for largemouth bass, but you’ll find some walleye around the wood as well. Deeper wood is almost always better than the shallow stuff. On sunny days, the shady side of the wood can be productive too.