Follow the Walleyes Shallow for Great Fall Trolling Action

Some of the best walleye catching action of the year is just around the corner. Refining your trolling approach can help you tap into excellent autumn fishing.

Walleyes are on the move, and for anglers who like ready access to big fish that is a good thing. Fall migrations from deep main basins of lakes to shallower bays and harbors make the big fish more accessible, especially in big waters, where summer holding areas for the largest fish might be over extreme depths and miles from shore.

Sammy Cappelli, a top walleye tournament pro, who, along with his partner, Tony Karrick, just won the Cabela’s Master’s Circuit Angler of the Year, pointed toward Lake Erie as an example. Walleye schools that were in more than 100 feet at the eastern end of the lake not long ago have begun working west through the central basin, with the largest numbers of big walleyes between Cleveland and the Ohio/Pennsylvania state line.

Cappelli just returned from a tournament in Minnesota, so he hadn’t been on Erie for a couple of weeks when we spoke last week, but he’d heard about a school of very large fish that’s more than 5 miles long. Many of the biggest fish are still in about 70 feet of water, with some suspended and some on the bottom. That won’t be the case for long, though.

Shallow Trolling

Cappelli noted that recent weather has been mostly stable, but water temperatures are beginning to drop. When nights start getting cold, that will accelerate the cooling water temperatures. That draws shiners, shad, white perch and other forage fish shallower, and the baitfish follow. On many inland lakes, where the water temperature changes much faster, the shallow fall bite is already underway. On the Great Lakes, it’s just around the corner.

It won’t belong before areas like Cleveland Harbor will be loaded with walleye, with outstanding fishing within sight of downtown. By day, the best fishing will be in 40 feet or less; by night, less than 15 feet.

“A lot of guys fish too deep this time of year,” said Cappelli, who likes to rig a Bandit Walleye Deep or Smithwick Perfect 10 Rogue 8 to 10 feet behind a planer board. That allows him to keep the bait shallow, where it needs to be, but get it away from the boat to prevent spooking fish. At times, he’ll put a bait only a few feet behind a planer board to keep it extra high in the water column.

I addition to the Bandit Walleye Deep and Perfect 10, Cappelli really like the Bandit B-Shad this time of year because it allows him to show the fish a smaller profile. The smaller profile fills a couple of important functions. First, it best matches the forage some days. As importantly, it provides a different look when a lot of anglers are pulling big crankbaits.

Cappelli mostly trolls in the .8 to 1.3 mph speed range this time of year. Trolling speed an important patterning detail, and the perfect speed can vary day to day and even during a day. It’s critical to experiment and pay attention to the speed every time a fish hits to figure out the ideal speed.

Muddy Water Solution

When hard Northeast winds cross Lake Erie, it churns the lake badly and creates serios mud. Traditional wisdom says that when those conditions prevail, the best plan of action is to just leave the boat on the trailer. The walleyes can’t eat what they can’t see, and, unlike pitching a jig into a shallow bush for bass, it’s hard to troll a crankbait right in front of a fish’s face. And because natural forage is hard to find, the fish are accustomed to turning largely to a resting mode and waiting for better conditions to return.

All that said, Cappelli learned a couple of years ago that while the bite remain challenging, muddy water doesn’t have to prevent him from catching walleyes. In fact, he’ll go catch fish when others are unwilling to go, at all. The key for him is the Bandit Generator, which utilizes special insertable Glow Sticks and lights up bright to dramatically increase visibility in dirty water.

Cappelli learned how well the Generator performs in tough conditions by necessity, just before the bait was released a couple of years ago, because of a planned content trip with a few early samples and major NE wind that coincided far too perfectly. They marched forward with plans, unsure whether the mud would be too much, and were amazed at how well the Generator performed in conditions that typically would have shut down the bite. Punctuating the importance of the illumination, Cappelli ran the Generators they had on three rods that day and caught nine fish. Two other boats, fishing with him the entire day but without Generators, caught one fish between them.

One practical tip from Cappelli. After pulling out a new Glow Stick and breaking the seal, he shakes it vigorously and then sets it on the boat deck for about 20 minutes before inserting it in his lure, noting that it glows much brighter that way. He’ll also put scent on the Glow Stick before inserting it.

“That can make a big difference in muddy water,” he said.

New Walleye Colors

Diverse forage, water color that can vary from clear to downright muddy, a huge range of fishing depths, popularity of daytime and nighttime fishing, and heavy fishing pressure are just some of the reasons why color is a HUGE deal among Great Lakes walleye trollers and why a diverse color palette is needed. Walleye trollers are among the most dedicated custom lure painters and the greatest advocates of custom panted lures for the sake of getting specific tones and color combinations and showing the fish something different.

Matching natural forage and prompting reactions with bright and bold color schemes can be equally important, and something as simple as a change in trolling depth or clouds moving in can completely change the mood of the fish and the colors that prompts strikes from them.

In response to continual requests from customers, Smithwick Lures and Bandit Lures both added significantly to available colors this year in their most popular walleye trolling lures – with colors created specifically for this style of fishing. Smithwick added 12 colors to the Perfect 10 Rogue lineup, while Bandit added 10 colors to the Bandit Walleye Deep.

Bandit’ Walleye Trolling Arsenal

• Walleye Deep
• Walleye Shallow
• Bandit Generator
• Bandit Suspending Minnow
• B-Shad
• B-Rotan