So last fall I had decent luck on my local small lake/ big pond for walleye. I never targeted them but in a month period I caught 6 walleye between like 18" and 27". At ice out what areas do you target? Being a cold water fish do they move up shallow to feed early on? What are your best baits and time periods? 

It’s a bit different for me, I’m fishing a river but they do come shallow. If I can help it, I’m targeting areas with a hard bottom (usually gravel in my case) or sand with rocks. These spots are just so much more productive than a mucky weedy bottom. Not sure what it is. The areas of the river that have this mucky bottom seem to be devoid of walleye.  I think they specifically move up to the hard bottom areas because it’s the perfect place for them to lay their eggs. I’d compare it to what we call staging; they’re sort of moving up shallow to check the area before doing their thing. 

 

These spots are usually a bit out of the main current too. Little bends and bays in the rivers where a current break is tight to shore, it creates pretty big pools of calmer water. I might catch them later in the process of their migration to spawn. I imagine really really early ice out they can’t be far from these spots. So maybe just a tad deeper than these areas I just described. Still look for the cover or structure that breaks current in the deeper water. 
 

Now I’m not sure how this would translate to a lake though…does your lake have a feeder creek or any inflow/outflow? Maybe I’d look at those areas first, if not I’d check out the hard bottom. 

Baits are pretty simple for me, a jighead and 3’-4’ plastic like a swimbait, grub or minnow work well. Pearl or white is the popular choice around here but every few years I notice a bright firetiger-ish color works better. Those are really the only 2 colors I need in my walleye kit. I usually cast, let it sit for 15-20 seconds, no bite and I use a straight retrieve at a moderate speed. Jigging might work too but I get snagged way too much when I try to do it. 
 

Best of luck, hope this helps