Great Lakes Bays

“As often happens on smaller rivers, walleyes move quickly all the way to the dam because food is there and because the water is dark so they feed all day, though twilight periods and night are still key periods.”

The method of choice is pitching small (1/8- to 1/4-ounce) jigs tipped with minnows, tumbling or hopping them along bottom. Suspending minnows under a stream float is another dynamite tactic that covers far more territory on each drift than jigging covers. Weight the rig to keep a tail-hooked minnow struggling along just above bottom at midpool.

Great Lakes—Little and Big Bay de Noc. Sturgeon Bay. Lake Erie. Saginaw Bay. Bay of Quinte. Henderson Harbor. For a walleye in the teens, there’s no better place to target in fall than bays of the Great Lakes.

The pattern gaining more and more attention over the past several years is fishing large river mouths at night. The Huron, the Escanaba, the Fox, and dozens of others draw big walleyes. “Trolling Rapalas at night in fall along the breakwalls, piers, and jetties of the Great Lakes is one of the most prolific big fish programs in the northern Midwest,” Csanda says. “It’s prime-time oink patrol.

“Key on wind direction,” Csanda advises. “Wind pushes the fertile plume, exiting the river from one side of the harbor to the other. Troll the downwind side first with big minnow lures like the F-18 Rapala. Troll a longline—75 to 100 yards—and use little or no weight at first. Scrape the lure along the edges of piers and bounce it off piles of concrete and rubble. Big walleyes move through crevices and gaps in these huge current breaks, nosing into current to see what’s coming downstream.”

Daytime tactics provide prolific action, too. “Fish move into the bays,” Csanda says. “Walleyes that were unreachable and scattered on big lake structure move inshore. These bays can be as small as a mile across or as large as 20 miles. Some fish move onto shoreline points and some suspend in the middle of the bay. In Bay de Noc, Saginaw Bay, and Bay of Quinte, try both.”

One of the most popular big-fish patterns on Little Bay de Noc in fall is the deep trough at mid-bay that invades the flats toward Gladstone, Michigan. Trophy walleyes hold at 35 to 38 feet near bottom in this trench. These trophies can be successfully approached with diving lures like a Deep ThunderStick fished behind downriggers or on leadcore line.

Find fish on points by trolling diving plugs like Shad Raps in 12 to 17 feet of water. Then return and work productive areas with a jig and minnow.

Canadian Shield and Prairie Lakes—This is probably the best time of year to fish Canadian Shield lakes, with pressure low and big-fish potential high.

“November often is getting too late,” Stange advises. “But in October, pressure is way down and big fish are up and about. The same sort of classic natural lake patterns that Al and I talked about apply here—necks, current areas, transitions around points, and barriers a quarter-mile upriver from the lake will produce big fish.

“But the most overlooked pattern involves simple sand bays. Shallow, sandy bays remain warmer well into autumn, a phenomenon that attracts baitfish and walleyes. When the wind blows, it often blows warmer water into these bays and pockets, creating an attractive place for walleyes.”

Typical of these bays is hard bottom near the mouth and soft bottom inside. “Some walleyes hold on the points at the mouth, but the real pattern is well into the bay,” Stange says. “Walleyes move back into 8 feet of water around the last, remaining stringy weeds.”

The technique here is perhaps one of the most pleasant of all fall patterns—pitching light jigs with big hooks tipped with minnows to remaining weeds.

Fall offers a carousel of patterns for trophy walleyes. Before the midway folds up for another year, slip under the tent for one last try at the brass ring.