Large points, bars, offshore humps or other prominent structural features break off sharply into the deep basin, forming wall-like drop-offs to deep water. Inside corners or dips along these areas are high-percentage spots for walleyes to herd suspended ciscoes, bottom-hugging perch, or other baitfish into the corner where there’s nowhere to escape.  Run the drop-off with your electronics, searching for the presence of baitfish or walleyes. Invest a minute or two to determine the primary depth of activity, and how far the fish are off bottom. Pay particular attention to the base of the drop-off, where the steep slope meets the soft basin of the lake. This transition appears on your electronics as strong reflections indicating good signal return. Drop your sinker or jig, and you’ll feel hard bottom—thunk!--rocks, sand, etc. Move a few feet deeper, and both the sonar reflection and your sense of feel turn to mush. That’s soft bottom.  Where walleyes are 30, 40, 50 feet deep and more, you need to fish slowly and precisely to tuck your lures or baits into corners or along slight projections. Three primary tactics come to mind: jigging, live bait rigging, and three-way rigging.

Vertical jigging is probably my favorite, since you can fish a heavy jig anywhere from super-slow or even stationary, to covering a modest amount of the surrounding territory.  Use a heavy enough jig to keep your line as vertical as possible when moving slowly along with your electric trolling motor, or when controlled drifting or backtrolling along the edge of the structure. Most of the time, I use a 3/8-, 5/8- or jumbo 1-ounce Fuzz-E-Grub jig, tipped with a 2 ½- to 3-inch fathead minnow or shiner. Raise the combo slightly off bottom and then dip it back down to touch the basin, gently rising and falling like an injured minnow. Keep your index finger poised on the line to detect differences in bottom content or the subtle take of a walleye in deep water. A 6’ 6’ medium action spinning rod (I use a Shimano Compre) spooled with 6- or 8-pound Trilene XT is about right.

Live bait rigging with large, 4- to 8-inch chubs, shiners or suckers is another dynamic tactic for this time of year. Rigs allow you to present hefty, bulky, lively minnows in deep water. When you drag a big minnow in front of a walleye’s nose, the minnow recognizes the threat and immediately begins struggling to get away. This gets the walleye’s attention, and alerts you to the fish’s presence when you feel the minnow begin to jump and panic. Classic Lindy Walking Sinkers in 1/2-, ¾- or even up to 1 1/2-ounce sizes cover the extreme depths with big minnows. Move slowly with your trolling motor, imparting frequent pauses when necessary to keep the minnow on or near bottom. A 6’ 6” medium power spinning rod is about right for fishing these heavy-sinker rigs, teamed with either 6-pound-test mono or FireLine. Start with about a 6-foot snell of either Trilene mono or, for spooky fish in clear water, invisible Vanish fluorocarbon. Experiment from there as to leader length to see what works best. Importantly, match hook size to bait size, ensuring sufficient gap to set the hook when a walleye strikes, rather than burying the hook point in the hefty minnow. Big livebaits require large #2, #1, even #1/0 single hooks for balanced presentations. Mustad Ultra Point Octopus or Livebait style single hooks should do the job nicely.

I creep along in my Lund 2025, lifting the sinker off bottom and allowing the minnow to glide a few feet before settling the sinker back to bottom. This ensures that your bait is near bottom, and not moving along too swiftly. Avoid dragging whenever boulder snags threaten to eat your sinkers. When you get a bite, instantly release your finger grip on the line, drop a small amount of slack to the fish, and let it inhale the bait for a suitable amount of time. That interval varies from almost instantaneously on some days to a minute or more of subtle teasing, picking up the line occasionally and placing slight pressure on the fish to try to get it to take the bait deeper within its mouth.

Three-way rigging is another system that provides advantages for fishing in deep water. Tie a three-way swivel to the end of your main line. Then add a 2- to 4-foot dropper line with a heavy big bell sinker to one rung of the swivel. Finally, add a long, 6-foot leader of 8- to 10-pound-test mono to the third loop of the swivel. The end of the system could feature a baited hook, a small spinner and minnow combo, or perhaps a minnow-imitator lure.  For moving very slowly, a simple single hook and big minnow, hooked up through the lips, is a good choice. A 2- or 3-ounce sinker will plunge to bottom and stay there until you lift it up slightly, drift along, then lower again to ensure that your rig is near bottom. When a fish strikes, simply dip the rod tip to create momentary slack as the triangular rig collapses back toward the fish. Then sweep-set forward to set the hook. For a slightly faster drifting or trolling presentation, substitute a relatively small #1 or #2 spinner harness with a large (3/0 or 4/0) single Aberdeen hook, and insert the hook point into the minnow’s mouth, out the gill, and then nick it back into the skin just below the dorsal. Move just fast enough to get the spinner barely flickin’ or rotating. Or remove the spinner rig and substitute a #11 Original Rapala Minnow. Tie your knot to an O-ring at the nose, and move just fast enough to wiggle the lure.  Three-ways let you fish slightly faster than livebait rigs or jigs, but they require heavier tackle and sinkers. You’re far better off using skinny FireLine, or even wire line, which will cut the water like a knife and maintain a more vertical attitude. A 6’ 6” rod with a long handle tucks under your forearm to relieve stress.  Three-ways also position your lures or baits slightly farther off bottom than jigs or rigs. If your electronics reveal fish that are suspended 3 to 5 feet off bottom and you simply aren’t catching them with traditional rigging or jigging, it’s time to switch to a three-way.

In the final analysis, we have three basic systems for precisely fishing the edges of deep-water structures in fall. Live bait rigs are the most subtle presentation, and three-ways perhaps the most aggressive, with jigs falling somewhere in between. Show the fish your options every time out and let them make the decision for you."

- Al Lindner

More tips and tricks!