Every Fall I get a lot of email from fishermen asking about catching river walleyes in the fall an I'm amazed at how many people try to overcomplicate the matter, either by their doing or because of the flood of printed matter on the subject.In reality, fall is one of the easiest times of the year to catch walleyes, especially large ones.
The first step to being sucessful in the fall is to understand what motivates the fish at this time of the year. Fall walleyes have one and only one thing on their mind and that is to store up as much fat for the upcoming winter months as possible. At no other time of the year do walleyes go on a feeding binge like they do in the fall.
Having said this, I'll toss in a little confusion by saying that they won't chase a fast moving lure or bait very far. Why, because using up too much energy to capture a meal doesn't fit into the equation.
Walleyes are looking for an easy meal that presents the greatest opportunity for putting on weight. This having been said, we've just established our lure/bait choice and presentation - "large offerings fished slowly".
Whether we're fishing lures or live bait, the choices are the same. For artificials, go with large, minnow imitating lures. Thundersticks, Rattlin Rogues, Husky Jerks and the like all fall into this category. As for live bait, use the largest minnows available such as 4 to 6 inch shiners or chubs fished on a jig just heavy enough to keep them on or near the bottom.
Having established what the walleyes want and how they want it presented, the next task at hand is to find the fish.
Remember, fall walleyes are trying to fatten up without expending any unnecessary energy. In other words, they don't want to spend a lot of time fighting strong currents but they won't be too far from current lines because river current brings their meal to them. Whether you realize it or not, we've just established location - fall walleyes will be holding near current breaks but close enough to the main flow to dart out and grab an easy meal as it passes by.
There are two types of current breaks, those that are visible on the surface and those that are not so obvious.
Examples of visible current breaks are dams, bridge abutments, fallen trees, points jutting out into the river and bolders rising above the surface. Since these types of structure are visible, they receive the greatest amount of fishing pressure.
The other type of current break are those that lie beneath the surface of the river. These can be either submerged obstacles or the river bottom itself. Submerged obstacles like bolders or sunken trees give their presence away by a slight change in the current pattern just downstream from their location while most river bottom structure is not as easily detected. The most prevelent types of bottom structure are rocks, humps and depressions or deeper holes, all requiring the use of your electronics to locate them. These are my hands-down favorite locations for fall walleyes.
Rocks and bolders are easily detected with your sonar but humps and bottom depressions can be much more subtle. One particular spot that comes to mind is a slight bottom depression that's about 15 or 16 feet deep while the surrounding area is only about a foot shallower. This spot attracts walleyes like a magnet. You can anchor near the shoreline and watch the boats drift by and you'll notice that the vast majority of walleyes are caught within a very small area. If you see fishermen catching walleyes consistently while others in the area go fishless, its time to investigate a little. Try to duplicate the "drift" that the lucky anglers are making while paying close attention to your graph and you'll see that they're not lucky at all - they just know where the structure is!
Now that we know where to find the fish and what they want, the key is to get our offering down to them in an enticing manner. Minnow imitating lures can be presented by anchoring upstream of likely spots and allowing the current to carry the lure to the bottom or by using three-way rigs where current flow is greater. However, the most effective presentation I've found is verticle jigging a jig and minnow combination.
Fall walleyes are not very particular about color or choice of jig head but my two favorites are the Buckshot Rattle Jig and Northland's Fireball jig. Since most rivers have reduced current flow in the fall, carry both 1/4 and 3/8 ounce jigs and you can't go wrong with Hot Pink and Chartreuse Green jigs. Whether a twister tail or other plastic is used is totally up to you but in situations where bulk is needed to slow down the fall, a small grub body or twister tail will suffice.
A verticle presentation is required to maintain good contact with the jig and in cases where the water is too shallow for verticle jigging, a slip bobber can be used to avoid spooking the walleyes.
The simplest method to fish the jig and minnow combination is using the lift/fall presentation. Allow your jig to hit the bottom and take up any slack line until you feel it resting on the bottom. Then raise the rod and lower it slowly, maintaining contact with the jig at all times. Keep your jig within 8 to 10 inches of the bottom and pause after a few lifts of the jig at both the top and bottom of the motion. Many strikes will come on the fall but the fish will also pick it up off the bottom or take it while hovering above the bottom. A little experimentation will tell you what the walleyes want on a particular day.
Give these methods a try and you'll add fish to the livewell and have some tasty filets for the table as well!
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