Once you home in on this pattern, timing of the bite can be profoundly predictable if weather conditions remain stable. Peak feeding time may be 45 minutes earlier or later a month from now when walleye activity should pick up across Wisconsin. Flowages and other fisheries that are quicker to experience hydrologic changes spiked by runoff typically turn on first.

The same holes on a transitional area of a flat can produce all winter long if you cover them with a piece of masonite or plywood painted black to minimize hole freezing. Of course, this kind of marker practically screams, “fish here!” This makes the best hole cover a 6x8-foot shanty with all the comforts of home, and a padlock on the door.

On many waters, ice shanties must be removed by March 1. Since this is Wisconsin, there could still be plenty of winter left on that day, or the shanty could be sinking into the ice.

Whether you choose to cover a “honeyhole” or not, saving the location as a waypoint in a portable GPS and carrying the GPS with you on every outing is a good idea. Whiteouts and heavy fog conditions are always a possibility, with the potential for creating a truly dangerous situation.

Even if you don’t choose to leave clues to your favorite walleye spot in the form of a shanty or hole cover, some means of covering the hole to minimize unnatural light penetration will greatly enhance your chances for success. Round, floating tip-ups designed by ice-fishing legend John Rinehart of Janesville are one of the most important innovations in winter fishing over the past 20 years. The latest generation is equipped with a little tackle box to store terminal gear, and you can stack a bunch of them in the iceman’s standard accessory -- the five-gallon bucket.

Some traditionalists insist on using the venerable Beaver Dam boards. Others like to incorporate Polar Windlass tip-ups or some variation of tip-downs. Regardless of how you want to fish remote lines, keeping the presentation natural by minimizing light penetration is an important part of a day-bite winter walleye strategy.

Wisconsin regulations allow three lines per angler. Many bucketeers like to set two “boards” and jig a third line for panfish. Good plan. However, if you’re pondering a strategy of two boards and jigging the third line for walleyes, think again. If the bite is so good that you’re getting action on the jig-pole, you won’t be able to keep up the pace of working the boards. Setting out three tip-ups in a triangle pattern about 50 feet apart is a good way to prospect new areas.

When prospecting new areas, fishing with several buddies enables you to cover more ice. Think like a spider, and set up a base of operations at the center of the web and run lines from this hub. Poke more holes than you’ll ever need on different tangents before breaking out the Weber Grill and firing up the brats. There isn’t a problem with making a little noise above the ice, but the best way to shut down a hot bite is poking holes close to where the flags have been popping, or running up and down the ice on a snowmobile chasing after flags.

Here are a bunch of day-bite walleye waters where you can test this theory.