Where did my walleyes go?

[mixxedbagg]

This summer, I managed to do alright with walleyes on the upper Mississippi, which is now quite low. Now, I can't find them anywhere. I thought maybe they would be moving to the deep holes with the water levels being so low, but it hasn't worked out. Then a friend told me they would be really shallow right now, but I haven't picked any up....not to mention that you'd be able to see any shallow fishin the river right now.

So, any tips on how to find river walleyes in October? What water temps drive them to their wintering holes?

[kingfish689]

Walleyes will move up river in low water or as the water temp drops. so if there is a dam in your area I would start looking there and then down steam from there.In most cases they will move many miles up river till they come to some kind of barrier.they will stop in some of the holes on there way.but wont stay long once they start to move. hope this helps you out some good luck and see you on the water

[Northlander]

Like said try out any d a m areas and then deep channel bends or deep weed edges. I also like to troll deep channels with cranks or sticks with lead core this time of year.

[Rick G]

Like the guys said dams or main channels should be looked at first. I am getting quite a few still in deeper water during the day and on the shallow rock bars in the evening.

[mixxedbagg]

Thanks for the advice. In my case, the only dam would be the one at the paper mill in Grand Rapids. You can't get a boat of any kind there right now, but it is heavily shorefished...and probably pretty fished out.

So, in the absence of a dam, what else would stop a walleye where it's at?

[Northlander]

Very shallow fats water with deeper water below it is your next best bet. Deep inside bends and any wing dams or natural current breaks into deeper water. Another good spot is the deeper weed lines if you can still find them.

Some days when there is a bit of wind the shallow flats that are warmer can be the ticket.

[Rick G]

Also try neck downs (places where the river gets narrow and has more current then wider areas). The mouths of feeder creeks and any large eddys can also be good this time of year

[mixxedbagg]

Results: I went out on the Mississippi in southern Itasca County this morning to try every piece of advice. I wasn't very optimistic about the bluebird sky, but I was able to tempt a few fish. Overall, it was slow, but I pulled 3 nice walleyes. All fish were caught in 12' of water at the tail end of the deepest hole around in a narrow spot. The bottom was gravel/rock there. The deep hole itself was not at all productive despite 14' of water and lots of timber at the bottom.

I could not get a bite on anything in less than 10' of water. Tried twisters and cranks but 2 fish came on minnows and 1 on a crawler.

Is it likely that the hole itself was holding fish but the active ones were down below it on the hard bottom with a little more current. Or is something different happening?

[Float tube guy]

i know last year the only fish i caught up shallow this time of year were after sunset and into the night .......big and slow

[kingfish689]

when they are in the bottom of the hole they are resting out of the curent . and when they feed they will move up in front of the hole or just in back of it or somewhere around that is more faverable (an eddy or wing dam or maybe just a log or rock in the water) so they can ambush their prey.learn to slow roll a jig through these shallow water aeras and you will up your walleye count. I like a small 1/8 or 1/4 oz jig depending on curent and depth with a powerbait twister tail. i like pumkinseed color myself