On Monday I got the opportunity to take out a client of mine along with one of his friends. The goal was to fish deep diving crankbaits via planer boards out in the open water in the afternoon and migrate to the shallows at evening.
My last couple of trips out, I certainly noticed on my X-15 the decline in the number of baitfish and arcs that are cruising around in the open water. Obviously, one reason is the fish are starting their fall patterns and migrating to shallower structure. I also think maybe another reason is that a lot of tullibees died off this summer and maybe their is a lack of baitfish out there in the open water for those big walleyes to feed on. 
Regardless, I wanted to find out if there were any big girls left out there and if they were willing to fall victim to a deep tail dancer or a deep thunderstick.
It didn’t take too long to find out and we had our first hit- leadcore – Deep Tail Dancer. 
Scott grabbed the rod and we quickly boated a decent 24.5 incher. Nice start guys!
And then an hour or so went by and nothing. I was starting to think maybe we need to change things up a bit. However, that soon changed when suddenly the starboard planer got a hit (fire tiger-deep thunderstick) and this time it was Jim’s turn!
As soon as we got the board off, BANG – the leadcore rod goes off again and we had our first double of the day! 
Both fish ended up coming to the boat about the same time. With some great teamwork we were fortunate enough to land both fish – identical 26 inchers! Nice double guys! 
And then another lull in the action…. Just when you think you got them figured out. We finally decided to search for some better sign. After cruising and stopping for about 3 miles. I found what I was looking for and we set up again. As soon as we got the last rod down – bang – a hit on the starboard side – deep thunderstick strikes again 
and we had our first eater in the livewell. About a half hour later – bang another 24 inch walleye falls victim to the deep tail dancer – bleeding tiger.
As the sun set, we slowly worked our way to shallower water eventually ending up in 16 feet of water. We had to adjust our lines accordingly so that our cranks would not bottom out. Then things got a little crazy. Within a short period of time, we ended up boating another 6 fish with 4 being between 22- 25 inches. Two of these fish were caught very close to the surface when we were cranking in our baits checking our cranks for debris. One rod only had 10 feet of line out! Hmmm….. think the fall pattern is starting to happen….
It was now pitch black and we were had to rely on the sound of our clickers because the boards were no longer visible. When all of a sudden there was a big hit on the leadcore again! No doubt about this one! Jim grabbed the rod and the fight was on. The fish made a couple of runs and then kind of hunkered down. It was not the typical fight for a walleye. Soon we found out why! It was a big pike feeding at night! Once that fish saw the boat she decided that was not for her! After a couple of more runs and we finally netted this girl. Nice Bonus Fish Jim! 
We quickly snapped a picture and released her to be caught again.
We ended the night catching 10 eyes all falling victim to deep tail dancers and deep thundersticks. Thanks Jim and Scott for a memorable night on the water. And Tina too – for tagging along so we could get another line out!!!
Im just giving you guys some grief 
Nice pics and a good report even though i didn’t read it “don’t need tips for walleyes im da masta for the big eyes 
What’s a 
