Dr. Jason Halfen, Traditions Media

Trophy Walleye Time Has Arrived

You must have noticed it.

Summer's familiar clear blue skies have turned turn angry and gray. Gentle southern winds have evolved into frigid northerly gales. Bright leaves of crimson and gold now hang perilously from branches, and yes, ice scrapers and snow brushes have become must-have equipment to support the morning commute. With all of its bawdiness and urgency, it's obvious autumn has arrived.

Within rapidly cooling waters, primal forces drive walleyes into a fall feeding rampage. Bundled against the elements, anglers cast, jig, troll and drift with live baits and artificial lures, ready to do battle with biggest, baddest, and smartest fish of the season.

Go big or go home. A classic fall technique for oversized daytime walleyes is to fish oversized live baits along deep structure. This is a tried-and-true midday method on classic walleye waters and frequently works best after the fall turnover has occurred. Look for sharp breaklines leading into deep water, deep saddles between points, or offshore humps that top out at 20-30 feet deep.

Gear up with 8-pound-test Seaguar InvizX 100% fluorocarbon as your main line. I use a 6-foot leader of Seaguar AbrazX 100% fluorocarbon on the business end of the rig; AbrazX offers double the abrasion resistance of other fluorocarbon lines, and guards against nicks and scrapes from rocks, Zebra mussels, and walleye teeth.

Complete your live bait rig with a walking or egg-shaped sinker to keep your bait close to the bottom, and a sharp, strong Gamakatsu octopus hook that is size-matched to your bait - a 2/0 frequently works best. Dress the hook with the largest bait you can get your hands on; these are no ordinary gas-station minnows, so head to a premium live bait retailer to find the best walleye snacks.

Present this offering using a 7-6 St. Croix Legend Tournament Walleye Rod (LTWS76MLXF), which offers extreme sensitivity to feel every nervous wiggle of the bait, long length to move a lot of line on the sweeping hookset, and the power you'll need to drive the hook home into a trophy walleye's bony jaw.

The cooling waters of fall pull large numbers of stocky walleyes back into shallow water to feast on small perch, shiners, shad, and even bluegills. This annual movement is accompanied by night-shift trollers that target these marauding gamefish using long rods, line counter reels and hard baits. In early fall, shad-bodied baits pulled close to 2 mph will see the lion's share of the action, while late October and November trollers will reduce their speeds and present slender, minnow profile baits like a Yellow Perch Deep Dive or Rainbow Smelt Jerkbait. Spool up with 30-pound Seaguar Smackdown, an ultra-smooth 8-strand braided line, to feel every vibration transmitted by the trolled lure, making it easy to detect small bits of bite-reducing vegetation that may collect on treble hooks. A robust Twin Lock snap provides insurance against lost lures and broken hearts when a mammoth walleye annihilates your jerkbait.

To reduce tangled messes of line and lures when trolling at night, I carry a library of St. Croix Eyecon trolling rods in the 7 to 10-foot range.

When trolling multiple lines with a boat-full of fall walleye anglers, hand the anglers in the front of the boat a 10-footer, and ensure that rod is held straight out to the side; anglers toward the rear of the boat should use shorter rods, and present their lures off the corners of the transom on shorter lines. This array of rod and line lengths, coupled with slow, gentle turns as you troll, will minimize the amount of time spent picking apart a moonlit mess.

Focus on outside weed edges as you start your evening runs, but don't be afraid to fish inside weed edges as the moon gets high. Shoreline rocks and even soft-bottomed flats adjoining expansive weed beds will also produce their fair share of moonlit walleyes. If you've never listened to a World Series game on the radio while battling a trophy walleye under the light of the full moon, you owe it to yourself to try night trolling this fall!

River systems that are famous for pre-spawn walleye action, also host an outstanding, albeit less-pressured, fall walleye bite. With many outdoor enthusiasts trading their walleye boat for a deer stand or a duck blind, fall fishing offers an excellent opportunity to tangle with a true river monster, but without the crowds of spring. Vertical jigging with soft baits is a technique that river rats have had in their back pockets for years, one that is now entering mainstream walleye consciousness.

Tie on a 3/8-ounce jighead equipped with a wire bait keeper, and dress that jig with a 3- to 4î soft bait, in a bright color pattern to offset the turbid waters of fall. I prefer to jig soft plastics with 20-pound Smackdown as my main line; an ultra-thin 8-strand braid, 20-pound Smackdown has the same diameter as 6-pound mono, which means that it cuts river current better and provides enhanced lure control. I use a 24-inch leader of AbrazX to maintain excellent feel and high sensitivity, while dramatically reducing line visibility at the lure.

Spring walleye fishing gets all the press, but the fall bite is truly the most enjoyable time of the year to chase ol' marble-eyes. Pleasant weather, technicolor shorelines, campfire smoke drifting through the air, and big walleyes on the line all go hand-in-hand as nature prepares for a long winter's nap.