walleyes in morson area

[walleye fins]

This is to all you fishing nuts out there. A group of us have been going to the morson area for years and been staying at Mylies (great place to stay) we go in mid september and always do well in miles bay and the elbow for crappies. My question is this: We have had luck with walleye numbers but never any size ie. 12 to 14 inchers. Where are the bigger eyes this time of year and what are you guys catching them on? Any information would be welcome as we are leaving on saturday and will fish through thursday.

[rckwll]

I've been going to a lodge in Miles Bay in the summer and again in Oct. for the last four years. We always get good numbers, especially in the fall, but not much in size. This summer we fished more off of Rubber Island and the islands on the east side of Little Traverse and got bigger eyes. I noticed reading Richard Gates'(he's a guide at Buena Vista) fishing reports that he caught bigger walleye out around Rubber Island. I think that's mostly a summer pattern though, don't know if you'd find the walleye out there now. Gates also switched to 1 oz. jigs and a bigger minnow and said that has resulted in bigger eyes (but probably fewer in overall numbers). I don't have any great advice for catching bigger eyes in the fall, but like you, I usually get tons of eyes in the 12-14" but the 18" and over are few and far between. I don't understand it because I always read about how the fall is one of the best times to catch a trophy eye.

[marknamy]

I have had the same experience with a lot of small eyes in the fall. I believe that the later the bigger. As we get closer to freezup it seems the odds of picking up the 18-24's increases. We usually work channels that bottleneck and have some sort of current throughout the fall.<BR>Was up last weekend. Graphed a ton of fish. Picked up the odd Crappie and a bunch of smaller eyes. Water temp is still 69F. I would have to imagine that the cold front going through now will help trigger the bite. Good luck. Headed up again Oct 16-19 hope to get into them.

[Eastwind]

We've been going up to Morson in the Fall for the past six years. The first trip was the third weekend in September and was our worst. Since then we have always gone the first or second weekend in October. Then first year we caught a few crappies in Miles Bay and no walleyes. The second and third years we caught lots of nice crappies and lots of small walleyes. The last two years we have been working choke points that are likely to have some water movement, often very subtle, and we are having better luck with the bigger walleys. A good spot, for example, is the markers North of Buff Island. You can't really see the water movement but the channel running between the two islands is a likely spot for some water movement. This is a good spot to pick up one or two decent eyes and then move on. In the Fall we have found that staying in one place too long only wastes time. We have also found that points/bars or holes off of the ends of islands produce well. On the other hand, the narrows between Obabikan Bay and Obabikan Lake have too much water movement and we have never done well there. Regarding bait size as Rckwll spoke of. Years ago when we fished Mille Lacs throughout the year we learned that the smallest baits worked best in Winter with the choice of baits getting steadily bigger until Fall when we would have the best luck with the biggest baits.ie # 9 Rapallas in the Spring increasing to #13s by Fall. Just my 2 cents. Hey Rckwll. Three wekks to go, eh.

[Eastwind]

That would be WEEKS.

[PJM]

Eastwind<P>What chalnnel do you use when you go to LOTW. I talked to you last year when I was up there.I know you have a tan crestliner. I just got back from there on Sunday and the crappie fishing was very good.

[PJM]

Eastwind<P>What channel do you use when you go to Lake of the Woods in October. I talked to you once last year and I know from your posts you have a tan crestliner. I was just got back on Sunday the 7th and the Crappie fishing was very good but the lake is way down.

[PJM]

Eastwind<P>What channel do you use when you go to Lake of the Woods in October. I talked to you once last year and I know from your posts you have a tan crestliner. I was just got back on Sunday the 7th and the Crappie fishing was very good but the lake is way down.

[PJM]

Eastwind<P>What channel do you use when you are fishing LOTW in October. I talked to you last year and I know you have a tan crestliner. Just got back Sunday the 7th and crappie fishing was good but the lake is wat down.

[PJM]

Eastwind <P>What channel do you use when you go up to LOTW in October. I talked to you last year and I know you have a tan crestliner. I just got back on Sunday the 7th and Crappie fishing was very good but the lake is way down.

[eyeballs]

Eastwind.<BR>That's a good tip on Bluff. I never considered it in the fall. I do however use that spot from time to time in the summer when a bad mayfly hatch slows down fishing. The current seem to keep the mayflies from stacking up in there and usualy the walleyes tend to bite a little better when it gets slow other places. Picked up a few muskies there over the years trolling for walleyes there as well.

[Eastwind]

PJM,<P>I always monitor the channel that everyone on this forum always suggests. Channel 69. It is easy to remember. My handle is "Eastwind", in case you've forgoten. Give me a shout if you are up the weekend of the 3rd through 7th. Where did you find the crappies?