Fall was definitely in the air, as cooler temperatures and strong W-NW winds made it feel even cooler. I headed out trolling on Ottertail lake, post Full Moon, to try my luck on some walleyes as I didn’t get the oppurtunity to get out during the week. The hope was that the walleyes would be starting to feed with it finally feeling like Fall.
I headed out with my good friend, David, to see how well the walleyes would cooperate. David had been out the weekend before and found things slow, but like myself he had not been out during the week. With the temperatures cooling off, we both hoped for a good bite.
The waves were rolling pretty good as we launched the boat, but we had some spots that were fairly protected. On our first pass David hooked up with first walleye of the evening. A nice 18-1/2" walleye. It wasn’t long and his rod was bending over again, wrong species this time though. We continued with our pass and it was a few minutes later and I had a good fish on. Our boat was drifting so quickly that I didn’t know how good of a fish I had. Soon enough we saw a nice walleye next to the boat and quickly scooped in the net. A nice 24-1/2" walleye was quickly CPR’d.
We continued to catch fish over the next couple hours, with 5 of the fish going 19" or better. Stickbaits were working well, as David had quite the lull in action with his Shad Rap. As soon as he switched over to a Husky Jerk, he was into catching fish again. The fish we caught had nice, fat bellies on them too so the fishing should continue to get better. I hope to continue to get out as Fall seems to be a quiet but rewarding time on the water, especially when hunting gets going full swing!
I am new to the October full moon bite. Does this bite mianly help trolling with stick baits or does it help jig fishing too. I have normally folded under wind and cold but have decided since the kids are getting older to try new things
Glad to see you braved these typhoon breezes….geez, enough already right? I’ll have to admit the wind kept me off the water the last 6 days – go figure, now that i have some time to fish the weather doesn’t cooperate…
Defintiely some nice fish coming out of OT this year and it sounds like you hooked up with some of those…
Do you ever do any rigging or jigging? or mainly trolling. Can’t wait to get back out there with some big minnows….the OT fish will have to wait though as I’m off for LOW in the morning for 5 days. Thanks for the report Loren, nice job.
Sweet report, sounds like a very fun night on OT. A walleye smacking a HJ is a feeling I hope I never forget and right now I cannot get enough of it.
With any full moon, the activity not just fish but all animals are heightened. For many, trolling a few days before and after the full moon can be rewarding. Some lakes though, are just good trolling lakes all season long. I exclusively troll the full moon, and it seems like October is generally the time to switch back to the stickbaits or original floating minnows. Shad Raps can still work, but don’t seem to be quite as effective.
Trev~ I really have only trolled OT. I know it can a be great lake for jigging and rigging too, just haven’t tried it, not sure why
One of these days I’ll get out there and jig up some walleyes 
Nice report Loren. I’ve been hearing some good things from up that way.
Thanks Loren – good stuff! Color selection can be really important in clear water lakes like Mille Lacs. I noticed you talked a bit about switching bait types/profiles – any difference in colors you’ve been seeing? Any top color you wouldn’t want to do without up there?
Thanks!
Joel
Thanks for a great read. 21 dgrees is Sparta this morning! Yep, that is a fall air
Great report Loren, that trip had to have been a blast.