This is my first fall with a boat and am looking to target some of the elusive "wally's". I have a couple ideas for lakes around the west metro but am wondering...

When does the walleye action begin to pick up for the fall?
What baits work best in fall?
How deep are fall walleyes?
And any other tricks of the trade...

What are everyone's thoughts?

It picks up as the water temps drop. I would troll Shad raps, Husky jerk-baits on the weed edges, or over any rock reefs. Slip bobber fishing also has it's place if there is a good wind.

how low are you looking for the water temps to drop?

Wait until after turnover, then look for stable weather.

I think there's always walleyes in shallow water at night, but when you get to 55 degrees you'll get more fish moving shallow, and below 50 degrees it can really get good. Slow your trolling speed as the water cools, and change from shad styles to minnow styles as the water cools. 55 degrees is sort of the turning point.

I like trolling shallow weedlines, both the outside edge, over the top of the weeds, and the inside edge. Rocky shorelines, bars and points are good too. The channels between the bays on Lake Minnetonka can be good. You can catch fish in deeper water, but I usually focus my efforts after dark on the shallow fish ---- they're there to feed.

If you're bobber fishing or casting instead of trolling, so not covering as much water, you want to focus on smaller pieces of prime structure, ie/ rocks and channels.

Good luck, hope this helps.

You can get a few nice during the late day hours, but sunrise and sunset is the best times to be in the water.

Thanks for the info guys.

Are leeches and nightcrawlers not as good as minnows in the fall?

IS the daytime bite non existent around the metro?

If I was to go out on Sunday how deep of water should I start out in? I will probably go an hour before sunset till around midnight.

I wasn't on Tonka today but was on a lake close to it. I started working an irregular weedline on the windblown shore in 6-10 fow. Nothing. So I went looking with my electronics and I think I found some walleyes in open water, I made a few trolling passes through there and pulled out a few bass and sunfish on small baits on leadcore. Those fish were caught in 28-30 fow. Once I got shallower than 28 feet I didn't mark much, although keep in mind this was in the middle of the afternoon.

I know you asked about fall fishing but right now you need to go out with the mindset that this is summer. Water was 73 degrees today.