Fishing Tips

Even lakes have current. Find where a narrows goes from one basin to another or where a stream or river enters or exits a lake, and you'll likely find current. Walleyes relate to that current in the fall, and it's a good place to target during low-light periods and after dark.

Fish these current regions with a jig and minnow that you'll cast into the channel and hop across the bottom. A crankbait that skims the bottom also works well. If the fish are showing signs of a finicky bite, then dig out the lighted bobbers. It's amazing how many boats line up along the current regions of a lake during the low-light periods in the fall.

Night trolling is another great fall tactic for walleyes, especially on shoreline structure. Whenever there is a rubble flat or wide point that intersects with the shoreline, it's a good place to troll crankbaits. Keep your speed slow at night and get the lure near the bottom. You should be able to feel that lure tick bottom occasionally so you know it is in the zone. It's amazing how many big walleyes are caught in the fall for those willing to night-troll.

The most important time of your fishing trip comes before you launch. Locate fish by visiting bait shops and boat ramps to talk to guides and local fishermen about where big schools of walleyes can be found. Buy a topographical map of the body of water and have them mark the spots. Note the type of structure that the fish appear to be utilizing and find similar spots on the water. Ask for details about the tactics that are producing.

When you cast crankbaits, do you usually cast and reel? No, you change up your lure speed and pause the bait. This change of speed imitates a dying or fleeing bait fish, which, in turn, causes the natural instinct of the predator to strike. You can add this kind of action into your 3-way presentations by changing the size and the shape of the weight. For example, if you are running a 1 oz. pencil weight on a 3-way rig, the weight is sliding along the bottom, keeping the crankbait swimming with a non stop forward action. Now if you change the shape of the weight to a bell sinker, the action changes. The weight catches momentarily on the bottom. Thus, the rod loads up with a slight bend. As the weight frees itself, the rod springs forward causing the crankbait to lunge forward. As the weight catches on bottom again, the bait pauses before lunging forward. Now change the weight to a pyramid style sinker and the weight snags up a little longer, causing the rod to load up a little more, and thus, a longer pause and a sharper lunge forward of the bait. By increasing the weight of any given sinker, you can vary the length of the pause and sudden lunge of the bait. Try this the next time you are trolling crankbaits on 3-way rigs. This will help you put more fish in the boat.

Most people use a standard leader length of about 48 inches. This length of leader is sufficient for most 3-way applications. However, changing your leader length can make a big difference in putting more fish in the boat on a given day. When you start a search pattern trolling 3-way rigs in rivers, You always set each of our rods with different leader lengths. One rod will be at 24 inches. The rest you will increase the leader length 24 inches all the way to 10 feet. The fish will tell you where they want the baits. You simply change the rest of the rods to the length that is catching fish. The same holds true with the dropper length. A good rule of thumb to go by is the colder the water, the shorter the dropper. As water temperature increases, so should the dropper length.

Once fish have been located and the crankbait bite falls off, You can offer them a selection of light jigs. You can start off with 1/16 or 1/8 ounce Fuzzy Grub, tipped with a minnow, leech or a nightcrawler. As the fish tend to move deeper you can switch to a live-bait rig or a Hatchet Harness Spinner attached to a Bottom Bouncer so you tick the bottom and stay out of the rocks.

To slow down your lure presentation a little use a jig tipped with a minnow. But don't get stuck in a slow pattern. Utilize extremes. Rip the jig back to the boat on one retrieve, then work the jig slow, bouncing it along the bottom on the next retrieve. A good jig in this situation is a 1/4 ounce Fuzzy Grub jig tipped with a minnow. Why the Fuzzy Grub because it is round and you can easily attach a stinger hook to the minnow and up my chances of catching a finicky walleye. When in doubt if you have contact with the bottom, increase the size of your jig and minnow. You might get hung up more, but you might also have a wallhanger on your hands.

Boat control can be defined as; the location and speed of a trolled lure is largely dependent on how you maneuver the boat that pulls it, and how you counteract elements that affect your speed and direction especially wind and current. One way you can solve the problem with boat control is by using a sea anchor. A sea anchor is a cone-shaped under water wind sock, similar to those at airports that detect changes in wind direction. Drift Control sea anchors aid boat control in two ways. First of all, they slow your drift in strong winds. Secondly, you can use them to fine-tune subtle boat maneuvers in rough seas or heavy current.

When fishing with live bait it's tough to beat a Lindy Rig. Keep your bail open and a finger on the line as you slowly troll. When you feel a pick-up, drop the line. The slip sinker rig allows the fish to take the bait without feeling any weight. You can vary the size of your sinker and hook, and change the length of the leader to match conditions. Use a floating jig to lift your bait off the bottom.

Many types of artificial lures work for walleyes, but most fish are caught on live bait. Most anglers prefer to use minnows in the spring and again in the fall. Leeches and nightcrawlers are used during summer months, and will catch fish throughout the season. Crayfish and live frogs work, too. Remember, big baits often equal big fish. If you are looking for a trophy use the largest minnows, leeches, or nightcrawlers you can find.

When walleyes are holding tight to cover because of a change in water temperature or barometric pressure, or because the water has suddenly risen or fallen, it is essential to fish the walleyes in a vertical motion. The problem may be that they are tight to cover and usually shallow, with adjacent deep pockets or holes near by, but not enough to position a boat over the top of them.

Therefore, a vertical presentation with a Thill float might do the trick. It will allow the presentation of the bait over the top of the walleye (something that is important to remember is a walleye always feeds on food that is in front of them and just slightly above them). The float should be set so that it will present the bait in a suspended offering, and once you find the depth you can work the shoreline around structure like stumps and points.

When spotting fish on your electronics never leave the area when they are not hitting, change your methods, speeds, size or whatever untill you can trigger the fish to hit. Let the fish dictate the pattern you will use. Downsize and slow down when the fish stop hitting.

When tying your own spinner rigs keep these things in mind they are very important. Use long shank single hooks when rigging for night crawlers and when the fish are hitting short use half a nightcrawler. Also use bobber stops to adjust the location of the quick change clevise so you can change length and location of the blades. Use blades that at least on one side are shiny or hammered metal. Painted blades will slow down the spinning of the blades. Use 17lb Silverthread and premium Sampo swivels when tying rigs. In cooler water downsize the blade size but in warm water go to blades (size # 4 and up). Speed is relative to the fish but always try to keep the line at a 45 degree angle to the water.

A lot of anglers enjoy tying their own spinners. Open water spinners can be tied with two single hooks , a single hook and a treble hook or two treble hooks. Spinners rigged with a treble hook(s) hold better on large or powerful fish. spinners should be tied using quality monafilament or a leader material such as Stren High impact Hard Mono Leader. Braided lines can also be used to tie harnesses. Choose eight to twelve test for walleye and bass and 14 to 20 pound test for trout, pike and other large fish.

Snelling a crawler harness is easy. cut a piece of monofilament 60 inches long and thread one end approximately an inch through the hook eye to be snelled. Pinch this short tag of line firmly against the hook shank with a thumb and forefinger and wrap the main line eight or ten times around the hook shank. Hold these wraps firmly and then take the end of the main line and pass it back through the hook eye from th eopposite direction as before. Hold the hook and wraps firmly untill the leader can be pulled tight. Thread the second hook onto the leader and postion it approxiamtely six inches from the first hook. Pinch the line against the hook shank and snell the hook in the same manner as the first. This method of snelling is easy and allows the hooks to be postioned exactly the same distance apart every time.

Once the two hooks are snelled in place add a dozen colorful beads, a clevise and the blade of choice and then tie on a quality ball bearing swivel. For open water fish size 4,5,6,7 and 8 Colorado or Indiana style blades are best. A size No.2 hook and round bend treble hooks size # 6 and 4 are ideal for these harnesses.

Fishing Walleye In The Fall