Jump to content
  • GUESTS

    If You  want access  to member only forums on FM, You will need to Sign-in or  Sign-Up now .

    This box will disappear once you are signed in as a member.

Recommended Posts

Just got back from a 2 day trip on the Horseshoe Chain of Lakes. For those not famaliar with these lakes, they are just south of Cold Spring, MN.

We went to catch large and smallmouth bass, threw everything but the kitchen sink at them and all we could get were small bass. Then I switched to a shallow running rapala and the northerns and walleye were hungry. We would sit in about 12 feet of water, cast up to the weedlines (2-3 ft of water) and they would hit when it got to 6-8 feet of water. We had a ball. We tried deeper running crankbaits, but they wouldn't work. Color made no difference.

I realize this is the SouthCentral forum, but I would be willing to bet this approach would work in Madison, Washington, German, Tetonka and other lakes. Look for a sharp break and cast beyond it and bring it back over the break.

As TO has said many times, now it's time for crank baits.

Good luck.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

"First Break" casting. I love it! I believe that was a seminar topic not too long ago.

Thanks for the report Joe and you're right, the time is now. In fact, I'll be taking a look at that particular "bite" down on Tetonka and Sakatah next week. smirk.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

T.O., dress warm! If the forcast holds true, Tue. & Wed.'s HIGH says 45 !! shocked.gif I'm going tomorrow (in the wind) Good Luck! L2f

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am doing the river tommorrow night and along with maybe a few pig eyes I can also catch a few channels and flatheads.The best of both worlds. smile.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have been picking up a few fall walleyes in area lakes: no concentrations, however. The several “eaters” I have kept had very little fat in their body cavities. In comparison, the fish I caught early last winter had so much body-cavity fat that it was difficult to imagine why they would eat. This means that the walleyes will have to chow down for an extended time period sometime this fall. I hope it happens before I get too tied up with harvest.

What explains this lack of body fat? It can’t be because of a shortage of forage. The area lakes were loaded with bait fish this summer (I couldn’t buy a walleye this past August.)

There are at least two possible explanations: (1) The metabolism rate of the fish in the warm water was so high that most of their food was converted into growth, not fat, or (2) The ‘eyes were largely inactive by late summer because the water was unusually warm. Or maybe we are looking at a combination of the two.

At any rate, fall opportunities should be good.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I hope your right, I was on Tetonka for most of the day on Fri. & didn't find any concentration of anything except bass in the shallows. Other than that my screen was coming up blank for the most part from 25" & shallower confused.gifconfused.gif Even they weren't too willing to bite until & found the right presentation. Nothing big, but fun none the less. Looking forward to the "fall turn-on". L2f

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I too have not seen a Walleye in the last two weeks. Lots of Bass and Sunnies but no Walleyes. Last August most of the Walleyes I boated came from 6 fow or less. Right at the time the water started to cool, no more Walleyes. I do think it is time for me to slow it down. Who knows, I may have to use live bait. blush.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I have not been out since last Thursday, but was having alot of success trolling 5-12 FOW, mostly bumping size 7 shad raps off the bottom at a 3.5-4 mph......concentration was on one lake though.....

Getting 6+ fish, 15" plus from 6 to 7:30 pm-only because thats what work has allowed.....The have been shutting down a bit before sunset though.

Who knows what the rain this weekend has done though...Wont be out till Tuesday---Then probably hit it Tuesday Wed and Thursday if I can find a bite.....

jk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Can anyone explain to me the fall transition walleyes go through in regards to depth, presentation, etc? I've mentioned it before, but I've never ever fished for walleyes past the middle of July, with the exception of ice fishing for 'eyes. Anyone know where the transition is at right now and what depths to concentrate on? Reason I ask is I'll be picking up a rig either Thursday or this weekend and there is no way I'm going to get one then put it into storage until spring. It's going out one way or the other! wink.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

You should have been at this one seminar awhile back... grin.gif

Seriously, this can be a tricky time of year with the fish moving in and out of their usual haunts. Good places to start though are deep rocks vertically jigged with tube baits or jigs and minnows, areas with moving water in the evenings pitching jigs and minnows or cranks, riggin' on the "first break", pitching cranks to the "first break" and contour trolling any weed lines that may still be intact.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Quote:

You should have been at this one seminar awhile back...
grin.gif


Someone scheduled it for the wrong day! Otherwise I would have been there. grin.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hey, I got a "dig" in and I still gave you some good information. Tough to beat a combination like that.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

A tough NW wind? I hope you're kidding. confused.gif

Yesterday went pretty well. It was great to be out that's for sure. For more details, you can take a look at my report titled "In transition...". Hope this helps!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yeah I know, I was just teasing you. smirk.gif I appreciate the info. Now if the seller of the boat we want to buy would just call us back to line up a date to get it, I'd be in good shape to put your info to use. confused.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh boy! Long story! I'll keep it short though. smirk.gif

We had a loan all prepared to buy a 2004 Alumacraft Tournament Sport 175 from a guy in North Dakota. But, when he was sent paperwork to fill out and I told him we'd need to go for a test drive, he seemingly disappeared off the face of the earth. Haven't heard from him since. So we're walking away from the deal and have canceled everything.

We are now buying from a guy who works at a dealership. It's kind of a demo boat, but it's his own boat. It's the same type of boat....a 2004 Alumacraft Tournament Sport 175. Working on getting all the serial numbers, etc. as I write. smile.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Yep, should be plenty of space, even with those consoles. wink.gif

I do use a tiller boat in the fall though...although....it's loaded with decoys and is painted camo. grin.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I wish! Gotta do the traditional duck hunting this weekend with family. Yeah, that hunting thing. smirk.gif Then on the 7th and/or 8th I was thinking of doing some scouting around for the fall get-together. Scheduled to pick up the boat on October 4, pending the loan docs are all completed. Man our finance agent is sssssllllllooooowwwww!

I'd love to hit Mille Lacs sometime though. I've never fished it in the open water, plus I don't have a map of it nor do I know where the launches are. So I'll have to make a trip to Mankato sometime to get some info. Told my wife I'm going to be fishing that lake sometime now that we're getting a rig.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hmmm...I wonder who that would be. wink.gif

The guy I'm buying the boat from is from Detroit Lakes. He's including his locator/gps unit in on the deal with all his hotspots. Wonder if Mille Lacs is on there??? shocked.gif Actually, as you know me, all his spots are safe since I'm not one to hone in on someone elses honey hole. One nice feature about his locator (and maybe a lot of units come like this) is that it can be used for ice fishing, so I'll really be able to start marking points on that thing and use it for open and hard water.

It would be nice to at least get a map from Gander or somewhere to see the lake contours and then find the launches. If you have anything else you'd like to offer, I'll be all ears when we're nailing 'em at the get-together. grin.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Mille Lacs in the fall is about as easy a bite as you'll get in the year. Pretty simple plan really. Lots of people do really well. I wouldn't be too concerned about catching fish up there this fall when the bite is on. It's just finding the time to get up there with everything else going on. smirk.gif

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest
This topic is now closed to further replies.


  • Your Responses - Share & Have Fun :)

    • smurfy
      Looks to me like Leech brought his chair home!!😅😆
    • Brianf.
      I'm not there, so I can't tell exactly what's going on but it looks like a large area of open water developed in the last day with all of the heavy snow on the east side of wake em up Narrows. These two photos are from my Ring Camera facing north towards Niles Point.  You can see what happened with all of snow that fell in the last three days, though the open water could have been wind driven. Hard to say. .  
    • SkunkedAgain
      Black Bay had great ice before but a few spots near rockpiles where there were spots of open water. It looks like the weight of the snow has created a little lake in the middle of the bay.  
    • LakeofthewoodsMN
      On the south end...   Thanks to some cold spring weather, ice fishing continues strong for those still ice fishing.  The bite remains very good.  Most resorts have pulled their fish houses off for the year, however, some still have fish houses out and others are allowing ATV and side by sides.  Check social media or call ahead to your favorite resort for specifics. Reports this week for walleyes and saugers remain excellent.   A nice mix of jumbo perch, pike, eelpout, and an occasional crappie, tullibee or sturgeon being reported by anglers. Jigging one line and using a live minnow on the second line is the way to go.  Green, glow red, pink and gold were good colors this week.     Monster pike are on a tear!  Good number of pike, some reaching over 45 inches long, being caught using tip ups with live suckers or dead bait such as smelt and herring in 8 - 14' of water.   As always, work through a resort or outfitter for ice road conditions.  Safety first always. Fish houses are allowed on the ice through March 31st, the walleye / sauger season goes through April 14th and the pike season never ends. On the Rainy River...  The river is opened up along the Nelson Park boat ramp in Birchdale, the Frontier boat ramp and Vidas boat ramp.  This past week, much of the open water skimmed over with the single digit overnight temps.   Areas of the river have popped open again and with temps getting warmer, things are shaping up for the last stretch through the rest of the spring season, which continues through April 14th.   Very good numbers of walleyes are in the river.  Reports this week, even with fewer anglers, have been good.  When temps warm up and the sun shines, things will fire up again.   Jigs with brightly colored plastics or jigs with a frozen emerald shiner have been the desired bait on the river.  Don't overlook slow trolling crankbaits upstream as well.   Good reports of sturgeon being caught on the river as well.  Sturgeon put the feed bag on in the spring.  The bite has been very good.  Most are using a sturgeon rig with a circle hook loaded with crawlers or crawlers / frozen emerald shiners. Up at the NW Angle...  Ice fishing is winding down up at the Angle.  Walleyes, saugers, and a number of various species in the mix again this week.  The bite is still very good with good numbers of fish.  The one two punch of jigging one line and deadsticking the second line is working well.   Check with Angle resorts on transport options from Young's Bay.  Call ahead for ice road guidelines.  
    • CigarGuy
      With the drifting, kind of hard to tell for sure, but I'm guessing about a foot and still lightly snowing. Cook end!
    • PSU
      How much snow did you get on Vermilion? 
    • Mike89
      lake here refroze too...  started opening again yesterday with the wet snow and wind...  very little ice left today...
    • Hookmaster
      A friend who has a cabin between Alex and Fergus said the lake he's on refroze. He texted me a pic from March 12th when it was open and one from 23rd when it wasn't. 🤯
    • SkunkedAgain
      I don't think that there has been any ice melt in the past few weeks on Vermilion. Things looked like a record and then Mother Nature swept in again.   I'll give my revised guess of April 21st
    • leech~~
      As I get older it's really not just about sending bullets down range.  Some of it's just the workmanship of the gun and the wow factor. The other two guns I have really wanted which I'll never have now because of their price, is a 8mm Jap Nambu and 9mm German Luger.   Just thought they always looked cool!  
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.