Ah, there’s a definite chill in the air. The leaves are turning and the pumpkin is ripe on the vine. It’s officially Fall and most of you have started packing away the boat and fishing gear and pulling the guns and bows out of mothballs in anticipation of heading for the woods. Don’t be in such a hurry, you could be missing out on your best chance of the year to land that monster walleye you’ve been dreaming about your whole life.

The beauty of it is, it’s not as tough to find one of these behemoths as you may think. True, you have to go where the “Big Boys” are, but if you live anywhere where walleyes swim, there’s a good chance there are a few giants within casting (or at least driving) distance for you to try your hand at catching this time of year.

There are two key locational patterns that produce a large number of trophy walleyes every Fall… Main channel edges in rivers that flow into big bodies of water, and night fishing shallow reefs or flats in the Great Lakes. Everyone knows there’s no such thing as a “sure bet”, but when it comes to putting a monster walleye in the boat, these two patterns come as close as it gets.

In the Fall, many rivers experience a drop in current flow making the entire river more fishable than it might be other times of the year. The reduced current opens up the opportunity to work main channel edges more effectively than you might in the spring when current is stronger. The edges are key… whether the fish are holding on the top edge or the bottom edge of the channel will vary from location to location, but the methods to work them stay pretty much the same.

This is the time to really hone your vertical jigging skills. A Northland Buck-Shot Rattle Jig in 1/4 to 3/8 ounce size is a “bread and butter” jig for this job. Tipped with a lively minnow it’s a simple and deadly presentation. In the Fall season these fish are looking to put on the feed bag, so don’t be shy about using a bigger than average minnow. 4 to 6 inch offerings are not out of line. Bigger baits will occasionally mean fewer bites, but keep in mind we’re looking for trophy status walleyes, not necessarily numbers. The added insurance of a good quality stinger hook on a larger bait is a good idea. The P/K Tackle Clip Stinger is tied with a long FireLine leader allowing more freedom of movement to the minnow and the ability to hook larger minnows further back for surer hook-ups.

Fall walleyes can be aggressive critters. This opens up the option to forget the livebait and tip your jigs with plastic which is especially helpful if good livebait is tough to come by as it sometimes is in the later weeks of autumn. A Berkley Power Jigworm is an ideal choice especially if you get into a fast and furious “numbers” bite, which will happen in the Fall. In many cases you’ll have to sort through numbers of feisty smaller fish to get to the big ones. Tipping your jig with soft, flexible plastic, like the Jigworm, will keep you fishing because you won’t have to waste time rebaiting after every fish.

If you like trolling for trophy ‘eyes, head for Great Lakes. While summer fishing on these lakes means fishing open water and suspended fish, that’s not what you’re looking for in the Fall. This time of year you’ll be fishing shallow off shore reefs, shoreline reefs, and the flats adjacent to reefs. The water in these areas is clear… real clear, which necessitates the need for a little different approach than many of you might be used to. Night trolling is the best way to approach these waters.

Night fishing creates it’s own set of problems for walleye trollers. Finding your way through the darkness and maintaining productive trolling passes is the first problem a night fisherman needs to address. GPS Mapping units like the Lowrance GlobalMap or the GlobalMap 1600 make navigation in this situation a much easier venture. With the mapping type GPS units you can easily pinpoint your location in relation to the shoreline, landmarks and islands. The units will also plot your trolling passes allowing you to repeat productive patterns and eliminate unproductive ones.

When fishing the reefs the tactic is contour trolling. Fishing 8 to 12 feet of water, you want to work stickbaits rigged with a couple of split shots just ahead of the lure to allow the bait to just “tick” the bottom. This is important. Don’t let the bait “pound” bottom. This is a situation where using no-stretch FireLine allows you to quickly feel the bottom so you can better set the crank’s depth. It also lets you monitor the bait’s vibration to detect if the lure picks up debris or if tangles occur.

Productive flats will range from 15 to 25 feet, and ones with in-coming creeks can be prime locations. Though this is much shallower water than you might fish on these lakes in the summer, fishing “suspended” with the lures running about half way down is still the most effective technique. In the cooler water of Fall, the subtle action of larger stickbait style cranks will trigger these fish better than the more aggressive action baits used in the warmer months. Baits like the Storm ThunderStick are top producers. Remember you’re after big walleyes, so stick with the bigger size baits. Since these lures typically run shallow, you may need to add Snap Weights to your trolling set-up to put them in the desired depth to contact active fish. As always, effective flats fishing will incorporate small in-line planer boards to spread the lures and reduce spooking the fish.

Knowing when a fish is on the board lines when you can’t see the boards is next to impossible. Over the years a number of tactics have evolved for adding visibility to planer boards. Some fishermen illuminate their boards with on-board spot-lights, some simply add small “glow sticks” to the boards to make them “night friendly”. A much more effective technique is to ad an Off Shore Tackle OR-12NL Night Light to the board. These are small flashing red lights, about the size of a bicycle reflector that have a built-in battery that can last up to 90 hours and can be switched on and off via a small switch on the back. Simply clip the light to the flag of an Off Shore Tackle OR-12 Side Planer board and you’ll easily be able to keep track of the board on the darkest autumn nights. A good trolling board like the Off Shore OR-12 which is ballasted and very stable in the water is essential for this due to the fact that the added weight on the flag can render less stable boards useless.

It’s almost a cliché to say Fall is the time of year to target trophy walleyes, but it’s true. If you haven’t yet realized that dream of putting a 10 plus pound ‘eye in your boat, then don’t be in a hurry to give up on fishing this time of year. To catch monster walleyes you need to go “where the Big Boys are”… and under the autumn moon you too could catch that trophy you’ve always wanted.