Fall is big fish time with big baits under the big top from the Big Apple to the Big Sky and beyond. Big time. It’s our favorite period to go anywhere and do anything for marble eyes. There’s a three-ring circus of walleye activity out there: lakes, rivers and reservoirs, all hosting their own versions of entertainment. But we have favorite patterns—certain spots and certain approaches we can’t pass up. And now, ladies and gentlemen, we direct your attention to center ring.

Natural Lakes—Al Lindner loves fishing deep during daytime for big walleyes in fall. Like the man on the highwire, he tightropes transition areas between soft basins and harder breaks for what often turns out to be his biggest fish of the year.

“When deep fish in lakes really come alive, water at the surface will be 50°F or cooler,” Al says. “Deep transitions are hot from that point until I’m crackin’ ice to get the boat in. Early in this period, the bite’s best at midday, but later the activity switches to twilight periods. (I don’t know why.)”

Key transition areas are those that occur where a point, bar, flat, hump, or other structure levels into the basin of the main lake. Depths vary, so look for hard-to-soft transitions everywhere from 20 to 50 feet. “The trick is realizing that the depth range of these transitions might be 25 to 28 feet in one area and 40 to 44 feet in another on the same piece of structure,” Al says. “Anglers catching fish at 25 feet tend to stick with that general depth all day. The key is the transition—not depth.”

To find transition areas, watch your sonar screen. Thin, intermittent lines indicate soft bottom. Hard surfaces fill the bottom of the screen. Transitions between the two are often quite narrow, less than a boat length.

“The best transitions for holding late season walleyes are in main lake areas,” Al explains. “I like to start along huge, shallow flats that reach out toward the deepest basin areas in the lake. Shallower basin areas don’t seem to hold as many fish this time of year. And shoreline-connected structures seem to hold more fish than isolated humps and bars. Fish the humps, but you’ll typically find more fish around the edge of bars and flats connected to shore.”

Jigs or livebait slipsinker rigs with large minnows like redtail chubs, rainbow shiners, or suckers, or three-way rigs with minnow baits like Rapalas, Rebels, and ThunderSticks comprise the best methods for working transition areas. And because transition areas are so narrow, heavy jigs and sinkers are needed to keep the presentation as vertical as possible.

“When I don’t know the water, I may start with a three-way rig, using 8-pound test, a 6- or 7-foot leader on a 7-foot medium-action casting rod, and a 3-ounce sinker to keep the lure right behind the transducer cone,” Al says. “Little bumps and cuts in the transition likely hold fish. Be sure the lure is moving through these tight spots.”

Once Al finds fish, he often covers the area again by vertical jigging, which is even more precise. “Four- to 5-inch minnows are key,” he says. “Depending on wind and the size of the minnow, I use jigs from 3/8 to 3/4 ounce. No plastic, no stinger, no hair. Open the gap slightly (bend the point out), and run the hook into the minnow’s mouth and out between the eyes. The bait is secure that way. Big fish can’t rip it free without getting the hook. When you get a bite, drop the rod tip. This time of year, they won’t let go. You have time to position yourself for a good hookset.”

When fish are spread out on a transition line, Al backtrolls the same type of minnow on a Lindy Rig with a 3/4- to 1-ounce sinker. He uses a 6-foot leader and tail-hooks (reverses) the minnow on a #4 to a #2 hook. “Tail-hooking results in lots more strikes,” Al advises.

Night Bites—This is In-Fisherman Editor In Chief Doug Stange’s favorite time of year for his favorite nocturnal activities: longline trolling and shorecasting for King-Kong walleyes. “Fingerlings and small fish on a lake’s biggest weed bars have hidden all summer in the weedy jungle,” Stange says. “With weeds dying back in fall, forage is much more available, and walleyes press their night-vision advantage to the fullest.”

Stange looks for bars with relatively hard bottom—in the main lake or in larger, adjacent bays. Sparse weeds with thick clumps here and there are best. Another pattern he searches for involves rock bars. “Where rock bars intercept the main part of the lake, walleyes gather to intercept open water baitfish at night,” he says.

These two patterns can be covered the same way—by longline trolling. Long weed or rock bars may have fish scattered all along the side, out on the deep end, and in pockets or corners near shore. Key depths vary, but the bite is typically much shallower than during the day. “Zigzag at first from 6 to 15 feet,” Stange advises, “but in most lakes, concentrate on areas 8 to 12 feet deep.”

For most situations, use fast-action spinning rods 61⁄2 to 7 feet long, coupled with 8-pound test. Around large boulders and rock slides, try 10-pound. The best baits are floating-diving minnow lures like Rapalas, Bang-O-Lures, ThunderSticks, Hellcats, and Smithwick Rattlin’ Rogues. Another hot bait night anglers should try is the Ripplin’ Red Fin. Troll them 80 to 120 feet back.

“Occasionally, fish are pinpointed on a rock finger or other structure connected to the bar. Then anchor up and cast crankbaits or jigs, or go to livebait below a lighted float,” Stange advises. “But fish most often are spread out, so longline trolling often works better. It’s the most efficient technique, timewise.

“Shorecasting is another efficient technique. “The best areas are near inlets or in necks between basins where current draws baitfish and walleyes shallow at night,” Stange explains. “The prime tactic is throwing weighted minnow lures, like Red Fins injected with a bit of water or #13 Husky Rapalas with lead shot inserted by drill. Storm’s Suspendot system weights baits.” In weeds, Stange also likes standup jigs coupled with shad-type plastics.

Southern Reservoirs—Walleye In-Sider Editor Dave Csanda sees more reservoirs in his travels than clowns see carney towns. Fishing ventures and the Professional Walleye Trail have led Csanda over the past 20 years to some of the hottest reservoir bites in the country.

“Most reservoir walleyes move to deep water in fall, with a portion moving to current in systems where significant rivers feed in,” Csanda said. “Sometimes, in years with heavy rainfall, however, it’s necessary to watch for temporary draws, when smaller creeks pull in numbers of fish for a few days.”

The deepest water is in the lower third of most reservoirs. But in really deep, clear reservoirs (as in hill or canyon lands), the central third of the main reservoir usually draws the most fish in fall.

“Anglers on southern reservoirs buckle up and hide when air temperatures drop below 45°F,” Csanda says. “They go hunting, but few of them fish at this time of year. You have a real good chance of popping a fish in the teens down there.”

One of Csanda’s favorite patterns is to look for big flats 30 to 40 feet deep that meet the river channel about midreservoir. “Cliff-like breaks plummet into 80 or 90 feet of water at the channel edge,” he explains. “Walleyes suspend along the lip of the break, generally at 35 to 50 feet. Zigzag along the lip and work vertically with blades or jigging spoons, like the Hopkins or the Bullet Lite Jig’N Spoon.”

Another favorite pattern involves “bluff tailings,” where the river channel bends into a steep shoreline bluff. Shelves (tailings) that appear in 35 to 50 feet of water adjacent to the bluff and the river channel provide key walleye holding areas in fall. “Again, work vertically with jigging spoons or heavy jig-and-minnow combinations, or troll bottom-bouncers,” Csanda advises.

Western Reservoirs—“On Oahe, Sakakawea, and Fort Peck on the Missouri River system, large movements of fish travel into major river arms or spawning bays in fall,” Csanda points out.

The classic pattern to look for in Missouri River reservoirs is a river arm point intersecting the main river channel near the mouth of major rivers like the Moreau or Cheyenne in Oahe, or in major spawning bays like the Van Hook Arm or Four Bears Bay in Sakakawea. Fish in these fish concentrate deep (35 to 50 feet) in fall, but occasionally move up as shallow as 6 or 8 feet and become more aggressive in October or November. The popular tactics are exactly the same as Al Lindner outlined earlier for rigging and vertical jigging.

“An overlooked pattern involves suspended fish keying on smelt off these same points,” Csanda says. “Survey areas 60 to 70 feet deep off the sides or tip of the point. Walleyes typically suspend at about 35 to 40 feet, and they’re most easily taken on planer boards, leadcore line, and minnow plugs.”

Reservoirs like Seminoe and Pathfinder in Wyoming exhibit similar movements (fish moving to major river inlets and into major spawning bays), and the same kind of tactics apply. But these lakes also have some canyon-like features. And in true canyon reservoirs, like Lake Powell, walleyes spawn on gravel on shelves in relatively shallow, fingerlike extensions in portions of huge creek arms up to 50 miles long. In fall, look for walleyes on main lake points and bluff banks leading into these arms in the lower to middle third of the reservoir.

“Look for breaks in the bluff wall,” Csanda says, explaining that these breaks are visibly broken or caved-in segments of the wall. “Breaks indicate rubble farther down.” Fish breaks by casting a jig-and-minnow combination against the wall and feeding it line for a vertical drop or by vertical jigging with spoons or blades.

“Another excellent pattern on canyon reservoirs is a sand point,” Csanda says. “These are highly unusual, but they always attract walleyes.” Troll sandy points with bottom-bouncers or three-way rigs.

Lowland Flowages and Flatland Reservoirs—Shallow impoundments and flowages are common in the upper Midwest. “Walleyes in these waters concentrate in the lower third of the reservoir near the dam in fall,” Csanda says. “That’s the area with the least siltation and the most obvious structure.

“Generally, the water’s colored or stained, so fish aren’t deep. Primary location is the edge of the river channel. In early fall, walleyes use the top lip, which is typically 10 to 15 feet deep. Later, they may slide to the bottom of the channel in 25 to 30 feet of water.”

The search resembles normal structure fishing, “except timber is often associated with these lip areas,” Csanda adds. “Bottom-bouncers with spinner rigs and minnows are an efficient method for finding fish along the tops of these breaks.”

Look for changes along the channel edge—rocky fingers, rubble-to-sand transitions, stumpfields, or timber. “Classic areas are channel bends or areas where the main river channel intersects a creek channel. These spots concentrate walleyes.”

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.

“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.