Go Deep Young Man!
By Mike Frisch

Fall is one of the best times of the year to be a walleye angler. The lakes are less crowded, the weather is often pleasant, and most importantly, the fish are on the bite!

In fact, fall not only means numbers of fish being brought to the boat, but some of the season?s biggest walleye are often landed now as well.  Finding fall walleye in lakes is often a deepwater affair. The fish often locate along sharp-breaking drop-offs where flats and points plummet into some of the deepest water a lake offers. Fifty-plus foot water depths are not uncommon walleye-holding areas at this time.

Good electronics are important for finding fall walleye, as fish can usually be ?seen? easily in deep water. For that reason, I like to cruise along sharp breaks keeping a close eye on my sonar for the presence of fish that are probably walleye. When located, I save an icon on my GPS and start fishing.

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Cold Front Blues
By Jim Saric

?Wonderful,? I said sarcastically, as the cabin screen door was ripped off the front door by the wind. I peeked out the window and the rain/sleet squall was pelleting the window with ice crystals. 

The day before was 75 degrees and warm, and today was just plain ugly. We listened to the marine radio coined the ?bad news box? by one of my close friends and it had nothing but bad news. High winds, scattered rain and sleet with highs in the low 50s were forecasted. It was a classic early fall storm in northern Minnesota. Since we were filming an episode for ?The Musky Hunter? television show, we waited in the cabin for a few hours to see if the squalls would stop or ease-up. Filming in the rain/sleet is really not good for the camera.

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Fall Riprap Banks: Fast Food Joints 
By Ron Kruger

To tell you the truth, September used to be a puzzle to me. Even though one of the first big bass I caught decades ago was from the bank along riprap during the fall, for most

of my boating and guiding years I never even thought to look there when the sumac turned brilliant shades of red.  I kept expecting electronics to point the way to offshore honey holes. I sort of got stuck on the ledges during that period.

The fact is, bass and other gamefish scatter during the stable lake and weather conditions of September. They?re not ganged up on ledges and drops like they were all summer. When lakes begin cooling during fall, fish move to the banks much like they did during spring, but this time they aren?t coming in for hanky-panky?they?re interested in putting on some winter weight. They?re looking primarily for tasty tidbits with fins, and one of the highest concentrations of baitfish can be found along the deeper riprap banks. At this time of year there may be schools 
of shad roaming the open waters, but the minnows of nearly every other species will be hiding amongst shoreline cover, and riprap is one of their preferred shelters.