Water temps, reports? Anything?

[Sota2Florida]

Looks awfully quiet here lately. I have two days off next week and will be fishing both of them. How are the water temps and Fall patterns setting up? I know it's early yet but...MarkB, Cliff, Casey anyone have any updates?

Thanks in advance guys. I will post what I can later next week.

[redlabguy]

I'm no Mark, Cliff or Casey but I manage to note the water temp today.... 65. I had chores today but did fish a couple hours. Hit four good spots and another that looked promising and did not find fish in Frazer Bay. I'm not seeing any clear pattern right now. One here, one there, if you're lucky. I had a few good days late last week but the last couple of days have been slow. Maybe that's why the forum is quiet. All things change. Cooler weather would be a nice change. Let us know if you do well.

RLG

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Like RLG said,65 degree water and a slow bite!

The latest cold front really slowed down the bite since last weeks feeding spree!

Fish are still hitting crawlers on Lindys and starting to hit minnows well also.

16' to 30' depths.

Cliff

[djlong]

I was up last Saturday and fished all day. Fished reefs and islands between 16-28 ft.   Managed 4 keepers between two of us and had one break off that was large.  Used Lindys and minnows.  Crawlers with no float got all the bites for what its worth.  It was a struggle.  Thinking of coming up again on Saturday to grouse hunt in the morning and fish in the afternoon.  I am open to all suggestions.

[RippinLipsUSMC]

Went out Monday had great results caught our limit before noon through a few slot fish back and half a crawler out produced a minnow . Walleyes were still on the mid lake reefs hitting plane hook snell 4' long . In the fall what kind of minnows do you guys usually use or get the best results 

[Sota2Florida]

Thanks for the updates guys. The leaves are turning fast so I guess that means we are not far away from a great bite.

rippin, we have always done best with smaller rainbows or chubs. When I was in central Minnesota red tail chubs had some of the hardest hits I have ever had. One of these years I will get some for that late fall bite here, just to see. 

[Cliff Wagenbach]

Get some big creek chubs. They work as well as red tail chubs on Vermilion! ( they are usually sold as "rainbow chubs" this time of the year.) They look similar but have a pale red or pink stripe on them.

When I put one of them on my lindy or jig I know the result will be in a walleye in the boat!

Cliff

[jkrash]

The minnow bite is really starting to pick up...

[RoosterMan]

Got out last night and fishing was pretty good. Jiggin raps were the ticket. Out produced the meat probably four to one. Water temps are mid sixties. Happy hunting. 

[RoosterMan]

As a follow up to my previous post we switched modes yesterday and today. Busted out the trolling gear and we found great success. Lots of action, great keepers and some nice slots mixed in. The bonus was the abundance of big smallies mixed in. Always a blast to have the guy that tought me to enjoy the outdoors with to share it with my son. Great guys weekend. Fishing is only heating up! I can not wait for my girls to come home and head up with the family for another great weekend at the lake.

Edited September 21, 2015 by RoosterMan

[Sota2Florida]

Great pics, glad to hear of the success. Smallies are always exciting to catch. 

[muskie-mike]

What depth were you trolling. I havent had much luck on leadcore 20 - 24 ft deep....Getting some walleyes and jumbos at 10 ft on wind blown shores trolling shad raps or flicker shads...

Edited September 21, 2015 by muskie-mike
add

[RoosterMan]

Mike. We are trolling anywhere from 13 to 20'. If I had to pick a depth most commonly bit at it would be 16-18'.  The biggest key to it is experimenting with colors and size.  Speed wise we are always 2+ as a rule of thumb. You have to mark fish and then fish em.  If we are not marking fish we are moving to the next run. I might look at several passes before deciding to make a pull. Hope this helps. Vermilion gold feel free to chime in if you have something to add. 

Edited September 21, 2015 by RoosterMan

[VermilionGold]

We have had a good trolling bite going in September, primarily fishing the open basin in 17-20'.  I usually try to keep my speed between 2-2.3 mph and running my shad raps (6/7's) right on the bottom.  Natural colors have been the most consistent producers but on certain days firetiger/hot steel/etc. can be the ticket so it pays to experiment until you notice a pattern.

[Sota2Florida]

Fishing was good but not spectacular for us the last couple days. The water is still warm at 65 or so and the fish seem to be transitioning. All the walleyes we caught were on minnows (rainbows being best) and parrot colored fireball jigs. We would manage a couple fish in most spots and the bite would stop. Saddles and points adjacent to "deep" water held and marked fish. One of the points had massive bait balls above and around the fish which may explain the lack of good bites. We also had a musky swirling around after catching a couple small ones and were curious if his presence didn't contribute to the  dissapearence of active fish.

It was windy the last few days but we found most of the fish in 30 feet although a couple were caught as shallow as 15. Not sure if the transition made a huge difference as we were in our last couple hours when I was noticing that but "dragging" the jigs seemed best. Of course in areas without real jagged rocks. Our biggest fish came near an obvious mud to rock transition though. 

Good luck guys and gals! The water has to cool down eventually.