The walleye and sauger bite remains excellent, with anglers enjoying steady action as we transition into fall. Fish are being found at various depths, but the sweet spot is consistently around 18 to 29 feet.
Jigging action has intensified with the cooling waters, now at 64°F. Popular jig colors this week include gold, orange, chartreuse, and pink. Some anglers have reported impressive catches jigging with frozen emerald shiners.
Anglers are still successfully jigging on or near structures, while others are locating schools of walleyes and saugers over deep muddy and sand to mud transition areas. Utilizing sonar technology can be particularly effective in finding fish in these conditions.
Spinners and trolling crankbaits are also yielding great results, offering versatile strategies during this transitional phase. As the season progresses, jigging will become the primary technique. For those using spinners, colors like gold, pink, orange, glow red, and glow white have proven successful. Be sure to adjust your weights from 1.5-3 ounces to correspond with your drifting or trolling depth and speed.
When trolling crankbaits, anglers are landing nice walleyes with notable colors such as gold, chrome/blue, pink UV, firetiger, and chartreuse. Faster trolling speeds up to 3.5 mph are producing bigger fish.
An increasing number of walleyes are appearing along the south shore of Big Traverse Bay, indicating a shift towards fall patterns. Good numbers of fish are chasing shiners and moving closer to the shorelines. The bite is promising and building up nicely for the fall jigging season both on the lake and in the Rainy River.
Rainy River:
A variety of species continues to be caught in the Rainy River, thanks to a robust current flow that gives fall anglers optimism for a successful shiner and walleye run this year. Reports are already surfacing of nice walleyes being caught in the river.
Shiners have been spotted all the way up to Birchdale, setting the stage for an exciting fall on the river. Reports of walleyes being caught from the docks are getting out. As always, Mother Nature will ultimately decide the outcome.
Sturgeon fishing is picking up, adding to the excitement of this angling season. The final day for the summer sturgeon keep season is September 30th, but they can be caught and immediately released after that.
14 сен 2024
