fall full moon walleye trolling

I have been doing some research into fall full moon trolling. It is something I have done by coincidence in the past but this year I am specifically going to target the sep/oct/nov full moons to troll on.

I know typically when night trolling you want to go dark and large profile. Seems like most people agree on that. What I can’t find a consensus on is does that line of thinking change during the full moon when all that light is entering the water?

I have talked to 2 different walleye guys I know who both profess to have good luck full moon trolling. One of them swears by chrome metallic baits with fire tiger being about as dark as he will get. The other runs black&gold or dark natural perch patterns.

I know I should really just buy both so I am prepared for anything. I do plan on doing that. Just looking for other opinions. Most of this trolling will be done in MN so I can only run 1 line.

have heard red can be good to. full moon doesnt always mean you are going to see any moon.

Color don’t matter as much when it comes to night imo. Bait profile and sound comes more into play. If anything I switch up the belly color of the bait since I’m usually higher in the water column.

One bait I wouldn’t leave the dock without is a hj clown though

nhamm wrote:

Color don’t matter as much when it comes to night imo. Bait profile and sound comes more into play. If anything I switch up the belly color of the bait since I’m usually higher in the water column.

One bait I wouldn’t leave the dock without is a hj clown though

HJs are what I am currently stocking up on.

On full moon nights, you typically get shorter bite windows. That makes it tougher for identifying HOW they are biting.

Pay close attention to how they are hooked. If they are T-boning the baits, you have the right profile and colors. If your getting soft bites where your looking fish or they are barely hooked by the last treb, change color….then change profile.

Two words – Tennessee Shad. By far the most consistent color on a husky jerk I have used on several different lakes while full moon trolling.

Jonesy wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>nhamm wrote:</div>
Color don’t matter as much when it comes to night imo. Bait profile and sound comes more into play. If anything I switch up the belly color of the bait since I’m usually higher in the water column.

One bait I wouldn’t leave the dock without is a hj clown though

HJs are what I am currently stocking up on.

Other lures Ive used are rouges and rapala bent lip shads. Another lure that I started using last spring is the shadow rap. Havent night trolled them yet but they sure worked well this spring slow trolling in the shallows this spring.

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Mike W wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Black98TransAm wrote:</div>

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>nhamm wrote:</div>
Color don’t matter as much when it comes to night imo. Bait profile and sound comes more into play. If anything I switch up the belly color of the bait since I’m usually higher in the water column.

One bait I wouldn’t leave the dock without is a hj clown though

HJs are what I am currently stocking up on.

Other lures Ive used are rouges and rapala bent lip shads. Another lure that I started using last spring is the shadow rap. Havent night trolled them yet but they sure worked well this spring slow trolling in the shallows this spring.

The baits Mike mentioned are no-doubters! When I used to guide on Mille Lacs I would always have a Storm Thunderstick out. The neutral buoyant Rogues and Tennessee Shad were cold stone walleye killers. There were some epic nights trolling with jointed Bombers as well.

this thread is getting me excited for Fall nights on the lake!

Perfect 10’s @ 3.0-3.7mph over the cabbage.

Hold on.

nhamm wrote:

Color don’t matter as much when it comes to night imo. Bait profile and sound comes more into play. If anything I switch up the belly color of the bait since I’m usually higher in the water column.

One bait I wouldn’t leave the dock without is a hj clown though

I disagree… I’ve seen one specific perch pattern out fish every other color 10-1 on several occasions.

But like anything, it only matters when it matters.

I think that color plays a huge role during Fall trolling. Many times the color of choice, as well as the style of bait, will change several times over the course of a night. Here are a few ideas of what I would choose based on various conditions that I think are key to choosing baits.

Sky conditions vs color – A general rule of thumb that I go with is the brighter the conditions the brighter colored the bait
Clear sky and bright moon – I prefer chrome baits with my favorite lure being a clown colored rattlin rogue.
Overcast dark nights – I prefer dark colors with a dark blue Rapala HJ12 Husky Jerk being my go-to lure
Partly cloudy with moon – Baits that are somewhere in the middle – Firetiger and Tennessee shad HJ12’s are my favorite

Water Temperature – The warmer the water the tighter/faster wobble of bait that I would choose
55+ degrees – In warmer water I love using shad style baits, especially the bent-lip Rapala SSR Shad Raps
45-50 degrees – There are still nights where Shad style baits will still be best but generally now is were I start to switch to stick baits with Husky Jerks being the perfect all-around Fall bait
45 degrees and below – Slow speeds 1.5 mph and below are key and the baits with the loosest/slowest wobble start to shine. Rattlin Rogues are my go-to.

Wild Card – Rapala UV colored Husky Jerks
It wasn’t Fall trolling but this past Spring once the sun went down it didn’t matter what the conditions were Pink & Green UV colored husky jerks out-fished every other style/color by a 2-1 ratio. It is the first time in 10+ years of night trolling that I had 4 people in the same boat using the exact same lures.

Will

Couple of weeks ago I was running a firetiger thunderstick and buddy was running a #13 firetiger rap equal fish numbers that night.Two nights later we ran salmos same lake different flat.He ran a brown#4 hornet and I ran a hot perch bullhead.Equal fish caught again.First night clear sky second night overcast.I dont think it mattered what we ran,the fish were there and were hungry.Purpledescent has been good,tennesee shad.Husky jerks,thundersticks,bullheads,hornets.If they are on the flats or shallow they are there to eat and I dont get too caught up in colors.

You guys do know that the late night trolling works all year long right? I use #5 and 7’s mid summer and stick baits in the fall. I’ve trolled 10 nights in the past month. None of which were near the full moon. 6 nights were great and 2 were slower. I troll in 4′-12′ of water at around 2mph. It’s funny, you can tell 20 min into the night how the bite will be.

In my opinion the full moon can make fish bite great but I’ve had just as many nights during a new moon with equally great results. The full moon will certainly make the people flock to the lake though. At this point I try to avoid full moons. I have the lake to myself during non-full moon time periods.

I do use more metallic baits when the moon is out. During the non-full moon time periods I use perch colored baits. Good luck!

crappie55369 wrote:

this thread is getting me excited for Fall nights on the lake!

Without a doubt fall is my absolute favorite time to fish. I typically don’t like trolling but I love fall night time trolling.

Joe Scegura wrote:

You guys do know that the late night trolling works all year long right? I use #5 and 7’s mid summer and stick baits in the fall. I’ve trolled 10 nights in the past month. None of which were near the full moon. 6 nights were great and 2 were slower. I troll in 4′-12′ of water at around 2mph. It’s funny, you can tell 20 min into the night how the bite will be.

In my opinion the full moon can make fish bite great but I’ve had just as many nights during a new moon with equally great results. The full moon will certainly make the people flock to the lake though. At this point I try to avoid full moons. I have the lake to myself during non-full moon time periods.

I do use more metallic baits when the moon is out. During the non-full moon time periods I use perch colored baits. Good luck!

I will be on the lake a alot at night. I just am planning on hitting the full moons this year. In the past it has always been on accident. I can say though that I have noticed a better bite during the full moon.

Right now I have been stocking up on some HJ14s. Seems big I know but I have had people outfish me 3:1 using them. I think I will grab some 12’s also.

Now onto the speed subject. The technological angler put out a article a few years back discussing fall full moon trolling. He suggests speeds in the 1.6-1.8 range. For the most part my speeds have been 1.4-2.3 What I am finding interesting is how many guys I have seen suggest going faster in the 3.0 range.

Bumping this up. Thursday night will be Striker bib weather, and hopefully the wind behaves to make for a great bite. Otter Tail, Miltona and Leech are all on the hit list for the weekend, looking for big fish as they have been elusive the last couple months.

Target Walleye got me on to the Hit Stick train, they’ve worked well up shallow. Shadow raps and HJ’s not far behind.

Good luck out there.

I change my answer 5 yrs later, color is very important.

Original rapalas gonna get a workout this weekend

I don’t troll anymore, just chuck and wind from shore at Mille Lacs. I have spent many hours out there over the past few Fall’s. Some nights color and lure choice don’t matter. But I would say around 50% of the time; they prefer something. It may be the style of bait, s feathered treble, rattles, color, or size; I have seen it all make a difference at one time or another. I bring multiple rods, and if I am not getting bit I switch things up until I do. Occasionally, I’ll get hit on everything I throw once or twice and then nothing until I switch something, and the process is rinse and repeat.

Deuces wrote:

I change my answer 5 yrs later, color is very important.
Original rapalas gonna get a workout this weekend

It sure can be. I didn’t relies how important it can be until we were out and I had every color of that Rapala except the one color you had. Nick +10 fish me 0. I had to try all the other colors before I took the one right color out of Nicks tackle box. 5 seconds later I had a fish. Another reason when I buy a lure I have to buy them all.

SR and HJ’s are on the menu for this weekend on the pond. Gonna be good weather too.

Another ML guy.
I’m hosting grand daughter’s guy, the guys father, & son in law.
I really dont fishing more than 2 out of my LE 1900 so I’m going to give my tritoon w/ Merc 90 hp 4 stroke.
Reconfigured (2) 5 gal buckets as a sea anchor. I already had HDS sonars. I’ll be doing some test runs 1st.
Rogues have been good for me from mid Aug on in low light. I’m of the bright night bright (metallic) baits & dark (red RR) on those nights.
Line is worth talking about IMHO.
I like 10 lb XT for hook ups / stretch, & keeping the baits higher & away from the boat.
I like braid for the sensitivity if there is a salad floating in the water. I tend to reel in and either check for fouling or change baits every 10 to 15 minutes.
My pet peeve is someone back trolling on a busy reef at night.
Almost as bad is someone crowding you when you are on fish.

Most water temps near me are hovering in that 55-58 deg range. Hoping the sharp drop in temps doesn’t spur a turnover right off the bat. Other than that pretty optimistic.

Big fan of Rogues as well. Otherwise I have always found a HJ that they will eventually take.
Bass Pundit-I have not seen the migration of eyes pushing real shallow yet but should be soon. Last year they were stacked in like a foot of water and swimming next to the shore.

404 ERROR wrote:

SR and HJ’s are on the menu for this weekend on the pond. Gonna be good weather too.

I’ll be up as well. Staying at Matt’s place at red door. Hunting north of there for ducks in the am and trolling the evening bite

Good chance I’ll be out on the north end to Saturday night.

Ripjiggen wrote:

Big fan of Rogues as well. Otherwise I have always found a HJ that they will eventually take.
Bass Pundit-I have not seen the migration of eyes pushing real shallow yet but should be soon. Last year they were stacked in like a foot of water and swimming next to the shore.

Last year was tough. I think my best night was two fish. They just weren’t around where I fished on the nights I fished. I bring a spotlight with me and have a bright headlamp. There would always be a few dinky ones swimming around. Hopefully, the water being up slightly this year will help. I will head over there sometime in the next few days. Will be interested to see if the eyes have a thing for a Megabass Dark Sleeper swimbait. Largemouth bass sure love it.

Dusk to 8PM was a solid bite. Water at 55, seemed like fish were hanging around 6’ near the deep holes and inside weed edges. Black/chrome and black/orange worked, although the bite slowed down big time after 9. Thinking about it the morning after, I wish I would have tried some shallow shad raps, maybe something with more vibration. Otherwise a real nice night. Threw back a few over 20”, kept a few for lunch today.

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Better conditions tonight, decent fishing.

Anyone know how to catch unders on leech?

Little slow for us last night. Ended up with 5 on the north end. Lots of dirty water in that area to contend with. Caught them on bent lip shads and husky jerks.

Yeah grass weeds are bad on the pond. Smallie bite during day was good however. Trolling was avg for eyes.
Gander were you on Mille lacs?