Nov 10-12 Weekend update / Fish moving deeper?

[PieEyed]

Has anyone noticed the fish moving deeper?

For the last month I've caught all my fish in less than 5 fow. With most recently being last Sun, we just pounded em in 2-4 fow. Then, I went again this Wed night and couldn't buy a fish in that shallow. This was also the first night I didn't visually see any walleye in 1-2 fow. I moved out to 8' and picked up handful, but still this was the worst night by far I've had all year. Usually you can catch at least a bakers doz. The fish we did catch were at 1 mph or less. The fish didn't even strike the lure it's like they were just holding it lightly. It would feel like you hooked a weed and then it would be a fish. We also had a bunch come unhooked too. Was it just the night or do the fish start to become more inactive and move deeper this late in the fall? I know others like Gerty and Crappie did well after 10:00. Unfortunately, I moved from my honey holes to search for hungry fish at that time. Maybe if I would have stayed with what I know I would have put a few more fish in the boat? I don't think the bite is ending yet? Is it?

Team Otter, you were up on the North end last weekend, did you go out of Malmo? What's a decent access up there? I figure after my poor performance Wed I should try somewhere new tonight. I'll post how I do tonight and Sat night, Mon morning when I get back to "work". Good luck to all headed out. It looks like it's going to be a bit breezy? Any advice on the N accesses would be appreciated. Thanks

[Dhenry]

The fish should still be shallow. We usually catch good numbers of fish shallow right up till ice up. Generally, the cooler the water gets the slower the speed gets. I've also found that late in the year 10 HJ's work better than larger sizes.

[PieEyed]

Friday: Strong NE wind.

I went to the North side Friday night. I checked Barnacle Bill's, Red Door, Malmo and Fishers. All too shallow. We tried to go out of fishers but we beached my buddies boat and I bent up my prop pulling him off the rocks. Needless to say it wasn't fun. We saw some walleye on the same rock pile my buddy was washed up on, but we couldn't get out of the marina to even wet a line. So we packed up and went to Garrison. We fished St. Albans and Garrison Bay until 1:30. With only picking up two fish, it was cold and the bite was even colder.

Saturday: Even Stronger SSE wind.

We went out of the Cove. There was 3/4"+ of ice in the Cove. We broke our way all the way out there thinking "oh it'll be worth it". We fished our *** off with only one tulibee to show for our efforts. We couldn't believe it. I don't know how you did it Dhenry. If you didn't post on here so often and give so much good info all the time. I would have said you were lying. We covered so much water in that 4' to 7' range that if they were biting at all you think we would have ran into them in the two nights we fished. I only seen one other boat out there in all the time. Again not that I doubt what you're saying, but you could have said you caught Lockness and there wouldn't be anyone else to prove you wrong. My hat's off to you because we got our butt kicked out there. Great job. Dhenry if you care to share with me how you did it I'd love to know. [email protected] Thanks PieEyed.

[Team Otter]

I put in at the access in Garrison and then traveled N from there.

Slow speeds will be key from here on out. ~0.4 mph and to a stop will be typical.

[Dhenry]

Given our start on sat. night with no fish for the first 1:45, I was beginning to think the bite was dead or the fish dissapeared. We got lucky and found the fish all in about a 1/4 mile stretch and they were active as heck and big. Slow speeds were definitely key. I'm not 100% positive, but my experience this time of the year is the fish are bunched up a little tighter relating to remaining weed growth or, what we found on sat., where the perch are hanging. The great part about my trip sat. was that I took a neighbor who hasn't experienced the Mille Lacs bite before and he is now hooked.