Western Reservoirs

Use weedguard hooks coupled with minnows under slipbobbers, or vertical jig around heavily timbered channel edges. “Note that fishing tends to tail off in late fall in shallow reservoirs with stained or muddy water,” Csanda says, “while in bigger, clearer, deeper reservoirs, the bite tends to improve. Larger waters give up more 8s and 10s. In flowages and flatland impoundments, 2- to 6-pound fish are more common.”

Rivers—If Al can’t be on a deep walleye bite in mesotrophic lakes, give him a big river and he’ll be happier than the bearded lady with a new Wahl power trimmer.

Location depends on “whether the population is native to the river or migrating upstream from a lake,” Al says. “Migrating fish tend to stage behind barriers. Fish living year-round in the river tend to stack up below dams. Either way, it’s an upstream migration.”

Fall migrations occur in rivers attached to natural lakes (like the Muskegon Lake-Muskegon River system in Michigan), in rivers attached to the Great Lakes (like the Huron River in Ohio), in rivers connected to much larger rivers (like the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers), and in rivers connected to reservoirs (like the Grand River at Oahe). Most important from an angling standpoint is that movements can be triggered by dropping temperatures or migrations of shad into the river and that walleyes stack below barriers.

“Barriers can be as obvious as a dam or as subtle as a long stretch of shallow ‘nothing’ water,” Al says. “A barrier isn’t necessarily something that physically blocks migration. It simply slows it.”

A barrier need only be something that makes fish pause. A likely rest stop. A homey stretch below or above a long stretch of structural desert. Obvious barriers include dams and waterfalls that stop fish altogether, and passable riffles and rapids where walleyes pause to rest in pools both above and below. Less obvious barriers include narrow necks where current accelerates, deep holes above and below long stretches of shallow “desert,” and current breaks like humps and wing dams. In early fall, start at the source of the migration, whether it’s Lake Huron or the Mississippi River, and move upstream, searching for these barriers. When walleyes start showing up, they can be followed upstream for months.

Work big rivers by quartering—moving slowly upstream or downstream while fighting current with an electric or outboard motor and slipping side to side. Work vertically back and forth over the holding area.

Again, Al opts for big jigs. “Smaller 1/8- to 3/8-ounce jigs take lots of fish in big rivers, but big jigs are definitely bypassed by the majority of anglers working fall-winter runs in large rivers,” he says. “By big, I mean 1/2 to 5/8 ounce. Larger jigs stay vertical. Try reversing the minnow when tipping the jig,” Al points out. “The added vibration draws more attention.”

Stange often fishes smaller rivers in fall. “They’re overlooked,” he says. “Walleyes make feeding movements upriver in fall.

“These runs can happen in small rivers feeding larger rivers and in small rivers off the Great Lakes, off reservoirs, and off natural lakes,” Stange adds. “While fishing pressure usually is focused on the big river, walleyes continuing up smaller rivers are ignored.”

Saginaw Bay offers a classic example. The Saginaw and Tittabawassee rivers draw thousands of anglers from October through March, while smaller rivers like the Pinconning and Kawkawlin are largely left alone. In a wet year, these smaller rivers draw substantial walleye runs. Location depends on the same dynamics as in larger rivers, with the added benefit that even subtle barriers are often visible to the naked eye. Look for pools below rocky rapids or stretches of water slightly deeper than the average depth of the previous several miles. “Migrating walleyes use pools they wouldn’t otherwise use,” Stange adds.