September `eyes in Little Bay de Noc
Late summer and early fall means plenty of opportunity to bag trophy fish when you head to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and target Little Bay de Noc’s many reefs, weedbeds and open-water walleyes. Keep your fishing methods simple and you will have plenty of hits to keep you happy from now throughout the fall months.
“It’s hot, sticky weather and temperatures are high, and some might think the fish aren’t biting well,” says boat captain Marty Papke at Little Bay de Noc Fishing Charter’s. “Think again, because this summer-like bite can fool many anglers, but walleye can be hot.”
Jig for big walleyes
Stick a pig with a jig.
“One method I will use is a light tackle approach,” says Papke. “Jig fishing is probably my favorite method of fishing, and the techniques are simple. Many of these summer walleyes relate to the heavy weedbeds that abound in the Bay’s region. Healthy green cabbage and coontail weeds are present in large amounts and should be sought out as walleye hot spots.”
Papke suggests using 1/16- to 1/8-ounce Northland Fire Ball and Lip Stick jigs with colors such as orange, chartreuse and red. Tip your jig with a head-hooked minnow, or a half night crawler.
“This basic jig-and-bait approach always seems to work best for me,” says Papke. “You also need to use the right equipment. I like light action such as Abu Garcia and Berkley medium-light, six-foot rods work well for all jig-fishing situations. Spool your reels with 6- to 8-pound XL for best results.”
The basic presentation for late summer and early fall jigging is to target the pockets along the weed edge. Pitch you jig into each pocket you find and simply work it back to the boat with a variety of retrieves until you zero in on the one the walleyes want. You will want to use your trolling motor to keep moving down the weedline until you find active fish.
Crankbaits catch walleyes
Don’t forget your crankbaits.
“Casting crankbaits works well for walleyes and generally gets other action as well,” says Papke. “Shallow reefs prove to be a good starting area and Little Bay de Noc offers some excellent reefs to fish along with weedbeds.”
Papke suggests using a cast-pause-and-retrieve method to tempt walleyes with a crankbait. Wally Divers and Shad Raps are two of the best plugs for hooking Little Bay walleyes.
If covering water is what you like to do, the trolling bite is hard to beat.
“Some anglers find trolling to be a boring method of fishing but probably only because they are not successful at it,” says Papke. “Warm temperatures will cause many walleyes in the bay to be suspended. This situation will take you out into the 30- to 40-foot depths. This is when trolling is essential for you to be successful.”
Although finding walleyes in open water can be difficult, you will still want to locate structure such as reefs, points and weedbeds. Once you find productive structure, slowly move away from it using your electronics to search for schools of baitfish.
“Once you locate the fish, I suggest rigging a Floatn’ Spin spinner rig with a healthy fat crawler to hook the walleyes,” says Papke. “Using a Snap-On weight makes it easy to get these presentations to the desired fish depth, and running numerous lines is easy, spreading them out using Off-Shore’s planer boards. Trolling speeds should be slow just to keep the spinners revolving and to give action to the bait.”
Night fishing yields big bite
Venture out at night for the trophy bite.
“Night time can be trophy time on Little Bay de Noc,” says Papke. “Casting the weedbeds after dark, using a floating stick bait – like a size 18 Rapala – is a good choice for night fishing. Baitfish will move into the weedbeds before and after dark, and usually good numbers of fish, particularly large walleye, will come in to feed. A slow retrieve with intermittent twitches gets some very explosive hits at this time.”
“Another alternative method is slow trolling minnow baits in back of the boats using a long-lining approach. Many times we will put down the bow-mount electric motor and, maintaining a steady speed, anglers can let out approximately 100 feet of line and work these same weedy shores or move across the reef and rock areas where fish will also come closer to the surface, usually feeding quite heavily.”