Baitfish and Fall Trolling For Walleye

And Pike

You marking any bait? is a popular question many anglers ask when talking about trolling for walleye or pike. Finding baitfish schools being attacked by predators is an important angling skill for autumn trolling. Speaking with guides, our walleye & pike experts, about fishing large pods of baitfish as a piece of fish-holding structure gains perspective on your next trip on the water. Here are some of their observations on the importance of baitfish and tips on autumn trolling strategies.

The Walleye-Baitfish Autumn Migration
"In large lakes a large population of nomadic walleye live their whole life following and feeding on schools of bait,"   Baitfish, and following walleye, migrate in autumn from the main lake to bays and other winter-holding areas on our lake.  Walleye start aggressively feeding on baitfish when the surface temperature reaches 50 degrees Fahrenheit.

In large lakes walleye-baitfish relationship is an example of how baitfish can be seen as a type of holding structure for walleye. Walleye will follow baitfish schools, gorging on them to build up energy reserves for the winter. Although bait is not structure in the truest sense of the word like that of a reef, conceptualizing schools of baitfish as a piece of structure will improve your catch rates this autumn.

Sonar and GPS to Find Baitfish
Rely on your GPS fish locator to locate baitfish and determine if the area holds walleye. While surveying the water, mark baitfish with waypoints. Once you locate plenty of walleye and gather sufficient data on their location in the water column,  set up a trolling strategy accordingly.

Walleye-Baitfish Trolling Tactics
In the fall on the our lake run large crank-baits like Rapala's Deep Tail Dancer and Reef Runner's 800 Series as the fish are looking for a big meal…. run cranks above the arcs and schools of bait showing up on the sonar screen.

Working the outside edge of a school of bait catches more walleye. The lure is isolated and not hidden in the baitfish, making it an easy target.

Large walleye hunt in small packs. They wait for individual baitfish to fall out of line from a school and then pounce on the prey. Trolling crankbaits on the periphery puts them in an ambush zone.

Use planer boards to present baits with out spooking walleye. The in-line board gets the bait out and away from the boat, and into the face of actively feeding walleye.

Baitfish, Mid-Level Predators and PikeBeing a different predator, pike don't relate to baitfish schools exactly like walleye. Walleye and other mid-range predators likely attract pike more so than small-sized baitfish.  When trolling, look for pike in the vicinity of other, smaller predators feeding on baitfish schools.

Marking Pike on Sonar
Baitfish are one of many details to constantly observes on your sonar, when marking plenty of shiners and perch schools in autumn. Pay attention to schools of shiners in relation to perch & walleye….Large, collected schools generally are a sign of peace and tranquility.

Take interest in an area when electronics display broken up bait. Usually this means predators like walleye are feeding on the bait, which in turn attracts pike looking to ambush the baitfish hunters.

Autumn Trolling Tactics
When identifying pike,  go after them by running baits slightly above marked fish. Uninterested pike often move out of the way of the boat, but when aggressive they often bite on the first pass. Try a few trolling runs around the bait. Pattern is often one run outside the bait on the shallow-water side. Next, pass thought the pod of baitfish. Lastly, troll on the deep-water, outside edge of the pod.  Repeat this pattern a few times before moving onto another spot.

When it comes to trolling baits, use Muskie Mania 13-inch Jakes and Ernies, Legend Perch Baits, and Hi-Fin Trophy Divers and mix it up between small baits and big baits. Fish often go on a pattern where they bite a certain size of bait for a few days. Then they suddenly won't touch them anymore and you need to change to something different to get the results your looking for.

The similarities in angling tactics between fishing for walleye and pike demonstrates finding baitfish and feeding predators are critical to autumn angling success. Yet, finding bait isn't enough. You must learn to effectively troll the large schools of baitfish and properly position baits in the strike zone. For many successful trolling anglers, this starts with seeing baitfish schools as a type of structure.

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Summer Walleyes

ON Wawang Lake

If Ontario is best known for one fish it is without a doubt the delicious walleye. Trophy walleye fishing can be had at both ends of the province. In NW Ontario, Wawang Lake is a world class trophy walleye producer that rivals any other trophy walleye waters North America has to offer. Wawang Lake is a true gems of Northern Ontario and gives any angler a realistic shot at a fish of a lifetime. Rigging, bouncing bottom and casting or trolling minnow baits are extremely productive methods for catching big summer walleye.

Rigging
Many different styles of sinkers for rigging are available to anglers:
Banana shaped sinkers are most commonly used and often have internal rattles to imply extra vibration and sound to attract more walleye.
Slip sinkers such as the bell and egg styles are also good choices for any rigging techniques.
A Bait casting setup will work well but many prefer a spinning rod and reel. Preferably use a 7 foot medium action rod spooled up with 12 pound fire line. Next, attach a barrel swivel to the mainline and add an 8 pound fluorocarbon leader to your bait. Lengths of your leader will vary from 2-10 feet depending on bottom structure and where the fish are holding in the water column.
A great option during windy days is to deploy a drift sock and use your electric or even the main engine for small speed bursts to give yourself complete control of your drift.


When targeting walleyes with a rigging technique bites are most likely going to be very subtle. If you are constantly missing fish or if you find yourself losing fish immediately after hook up, open your bail and feed line to the fish when you detect a strike. As you are feeding the line accelerate your motor and quickly move your boat towards the fish and try to place yourself as vertical as possible to the fish. This will increase your hook up percentage by giving the fish a few extra seconds to totally commit to eating the bait and will also give you a much stronger hook set into the fish.

Bottom Bouncing
One of the most productive methods to cover water and locate schools of walleye is to drag a bottom bouncer followed by a colourful crawler harness. Work these bottom bouncers in an S pattern along rocky shorelines or sand flat when searching for early summer walleyes. Often these fish can be found exceptionally shallow and a bottom bouncer would be best switched to a split shot in 5 feet or less of water. Use either your main engine or electric motor to cruise these areas at speeds of 0.5 – 1.5 mph. When fish become finicky or pressured areas are targeted, incorporate speed bursts and neutral drops on turns to entice more strikes from docile fish. When selecting the right weight for your bottom bouncer, always use the rule of 1 oz for every 10 feet always use heavier weights in waters with current.

Another great method used to determine the weight needed is to always have your line in the water at a 45 degree angle. Using a heavier bottom bouncer is always a better choice rather than using a lighter weight. If the bouncers you are running are your heaviest and your bait is not making bottom contact simply add ¼ ounce split shots above the weight that is already in place on the bouncer.



Three-way rigging is another option for pounding the bottom of water bodies in search of walleyes. You can turn to this rig when electronics are indicating fish higher in the water column usually between 3-6 feet off bottom. Also be sure to match the length of lead to the sinker to the distance fish are appearing on screen. Often these are snag filled locations where walleye often roam. Remember to tie on a lighter line to your sinker than you have spooled on your mainline. This will result in only losing your sinker and not your entire rig resulting in loss of time and frustration over the course of the day or night. Crawler harnesses, leeches and minnows are but I find minnow baits to be most effective behind a three way swivel rig.

Minnow Baits
Anglers who use minnow baits on a regular basis will agree that big walleyes love them. Most have developed confidence in these plastics baits with hours of practice fine tuning the presentation. When targeting large walleye in use a very slow retrieve with small twitches. This has become a favorite method for hooking walleye along the shore especially fish that are tucked away in the rocks waiting to ambush schools of unsuspecting baitfish that swim by, on darker overcast days, along the rocky shoreline. Match your colors to forage available and when nothing seems to work switch to a bright color.



Monofilament line is recommended with a fluorocarbon leader when battling shore hugging walleye in areas that are riddled with rocks. The reason behind this method is that super lines such as Berkley’s Fire line will drive the bait much deeper than monofilament and the fluorocarbon leader is much stronger for rubbing on rocks than monofilament. When walleye are in these areas twitch these baits just over the heads of the fish and you'll be seeing a BIG difference on the amount of fish you'll be catching.

On you're next trip out on the water try some of these tips and be sure to observe safety

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Crab Salad

with Tomatoes 

Serves 4
Mixed salad greens, enough for a bed on 4 salad plates
1 1/4 - 1 1/2 lb. fresh Jonah crabmeat (claw and knuckle), lump crabmeat or king crabmeat
4 cups fresh local tomatoes cut into 1-11/4 inch cubes
1 cup thin sliced purple onion cut into about 1 inch lengths
4 lemon wedges, for garnish

Optional - we thought a sprinkling of fresh cooked corn kernels and some avocado slices would make this salad even better!



Vinaigrette
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 T honey
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 T rice wine vinegar
2 t fresh thyme, chopped, save 4 small sprigs for garnish
Pinch of salt and pepper
Shake ingredients in a closed container, like a ball jar, to emulsify



Scatter a bed of mixed greens on salad plates

Pile tomato and onions on top of greens

Place crabmeat on top and mix around with tomatoes a bit

Drizzle vinaigrette and garnish with lemon and thyme sprig

Summer Pike Points

 pike ON Woman Lake 

Some points are definitely better than others when fishing for BIG pike! Reading water and being able to carry out a logical fishing approach is the most important part of the process. You can have the sharpest hooks, make the perfect cast and work your lure correctly but if you're fishing dead water, not much will happen. On structure like points especially, making good use of lure depth and fishing angles is really important. For the most part, points are things that stick out, with more than one side. A shoreline wall, for example, has only one surface. Depending on their shape and layout, a point can have four, five, even six 'lanes' or sides to work.

No matter the lake type, it's amazing how good points almost always have a similar mix of elements. For pike in the middle of the summer, the formula is actually really basic. So much so that is really has become cliché. We've heard it that many times! Put some deep water near it, on at least one of the sides. Add in some kind of lead-in cover like weeds or jumbled rock, and put it in a favorable location on the lake as it relates to travel, food and safety and you can hardly go wrong.

Some points are steeper than others, some deeper, some weedier and some shallower. Some have extended shelves or ledges and some drop much quicker into basin-type water. Like any other kind of spot, make sure you have a mixture of them to test out during the trip. If we had to pick six places to fish on a summer evening, at least three of them would be directly facing water as deep as forty feet with a big shelf and lots of new cabbage weeds. It seems like the longer summer drags on, those spots on the main channel side, main lake side or windiest side produce best. They're prominent, normally large and normally directly fishable with the boat over deep water the bulk of the time. You might swing the boat up into or near water that's 12, 14 or 16 feet deep, but water twice that depth is always a cast away.

It's been our experience that the largest, most noticeable projections with the most varied bottom type are the best. Smaller, more out of the way points produce big pike on occasion, but almost all the best big fish spots jump right out at you on a good map. They intersect spans of deep water, form travel barriers and just plain look 'fishy.' Are there spots on maps that look dynamite and turn out to be poor?  We've fished lots over the years, for sure. But for the most part, good points are not hard to locate. Isolated, offshore structure with no shoreline links or spots for suspended pike take a lot more work to find and learn. Even a topo map of a lake with no depths will show you the major points to start checking.

Speaking of other types of spots (shoals/humps, open water, narrows, walls) good points are almost always the sum of their surrounding parts. In addition to the cover they have themselves, like weeds or boulders, they almost always have good and different areas very close by. Points where a lake branches off or narrows down are a good example. Points that stick out into deep water where you always mark or catch other kinds of fish like trout or walleye are another. With enough work and attention, you're going to find that the best points might not actually have pike right on them, but reasonably close by from one visit to the next.

Always try to fish a spot from a new direction or angle every time you come back to it. On points, you've normally got at least three choices: the tip of the point, the port side and the starboard side. Ideally, each should have it's own special character.     Fish close to the rock itself, the bottom is like you'd expect: smooth, less than 20 feet deep and featureless. As you continue out towards the main lake from there, though, the bottom comes up to 15 feet, and suddenly gets rougher with more boulders, slabs of rock and lots of mixed weeds. That's normally the spot. Points are like any other fishing area in that they take time to learn once you've found a handful to try.

Crankbaits and spinnerbaits are two excellent choices for feeling around a spot and learning what it's like while keeping your boat off them. They cast a long way and generally come through rocks and weeds cleanly. With a crankbait, fouling it in weeds while you're learning your way around a point isn't a bad thing at all. Ripping it clean and/or letting it back out is a great trigger. With lures like Ernies and Depth Raiders, you can walk around cabbage and hit rocks over 15 feet down. Coontail weeds have always been harder to fish lures through than cabbage, even with weedless baits like spinnerbaits. If the weeds are thinner, weighted bucktails with smaller blades and less dressing also work well for working deeper parts of points. In the summer, you're normally better of fishing 15 feet and down for bigger pike, and all three lure types will get you there. As a bit of a sidebar, for cranking, long rods and long leaders really work best for me. Long, 'bullwhip' tosses with a leader 16 or 18 inches long saves your knot, saves your lure and saves big fish. It takes some getting used to, but long, tough casting leaders are the way to go for all-day bottom bouncing with crankbaits. Rods in the 8 to 9 foot range make it easy. That last couple feet of your line takes a lot of abuse cranking rocks and other cover.

Jigs are another good bait for picking points apart and feeling their ups and downs. A one ounce flippin jig with a trailer of some sort is great where weeds are thicker. Bucktails or twisters like you'd use for walleyes are just as good. Simply lifting the jig along and pausing it on bottom is a simple retrieve that works well. Popping a jig off a rock snag or ripping through weeds produces lots of pike.

You'll know you've got a winning point to revisit, invest time in and learn if you see or catch other types of fish off it. Walleye like the same points as pike. Without exception, the best pike points fished are also awesome spots for other species and in Wawang Lake this would be perch.  Good points are naturally attractive to all kinds of fish, and in Ontario lakes are rivers, they're all over the place.  Lots of favorite points will also produce great water fowl and wildlife photos. There's usually a diving duck, loon, kingfisher, heron, bear or other guest around for you to enjoy.

If you figure out that one part of the spot has a rocky ledge down 15 or 16 feet along one side, set up for long casts with a crankbait. Drive the lure down over a long retrieve, keep it moving and keep your rod tip low. Suspending lures like the Triple D are great here, running deep and staying deep.

If you find a small arm or finger of deep weeds off to one side, maybe try dropping a heavy spinnerbait or jig near it. Any type of presentation-related requirement is very case-specific. It's going to be your call to make as you learn the spot and what pike like on that type of water at that time of day or season. If size, cover, depth or wind warrants it, troll the spot. There are some days on big points in open water when it's simply blowing too hard to stay put and cast around. Trolling can be better. In the fall, this and freezing temperatures make the choice easier for you.

Good points for pike are almost always the same from lake to lake, and more than one type of point can be good and worth checking. As a final thought, and back-tracking a bit to investing time, reading and studying water, some great points are totally hidden. Underwater weeds that form a line that bends or juts out awkwardly are still very much 'points' in mind. So are extended rock flats off islands or shorelines. When you think about it, any and all types of structures have 'points' or 'pointed' elements to them. They may or may not be easily picked up watching the shoreline, islands or maps. A poor-looking rock face, weed bed or island might have a magic area sticking out from it. You'll only find it by putting in the time. GPS and even the best maps are pretty general.   If things got missed. Drawing and marking on your own map is a quick fix.

With big pike, always remember that they're not going to be up and snapping every time you drop the trolling motor to fish. They're a tough fish to catch consistently in the summer. But when they do show up on a point and are active and in range, the results can be pretty awesome. Check your winners a lot, fish them at prime times, learn their ins, outs, ups and downs and you'll hit a big one.

More Images of Woman Lake