Night Trolling Walleye in the Alexandria area

Normally I don’t start night trolling the shallow rocky areas until the water temps fall in early October. But one evening last week I found myself short on daylight, and since the rigging bite slows at dusk, I decided to give trolling a shot. I chose an area that is primarily composed of rock and gravel with scattered weed clumps in 8-11 FOW.

Most of the lakes I fish in Central MN are packed with small 2”-3” perch, and the lake I happened to be fishing was no exception. So picking a lure that mimics that natural forage was a must. Even though most “Perch” lures on the market are very dark in color, in reality, a perch is a fairly light colored fish. That’s why I chose to use the new “Natural Perch” Shadling by Lindy. This is the most accurate colored perch bait I’ve ever seen, and on this particular evening the fish couldn’t have agreed more!

I wasn’t five minutes into my first pass when I felt the infamous “slack and smack”. For those of you that don’t troll, the slack is when a fish chases the bait from the back and surges in for the kill. This puts that short moment of slack in your line, and of course the smack is when the slack is removed and the fish doubles over your rod! Even though I’ve boated hundreds of walleye this way the “slack and smack” is something myself and other anglers dream about year round.

The first fish that came to the boat was a fat 17” walleye. Over the next couple hours, I made pass after pass over this rocky area and I was able to boat nearly 20 fish in that 15”-18” range. Even though these aren’t trophy fish, they are by far the best table fare you can find. From now until ice up this same technique is going to produce fish. The only difference is that as the water temp drops, the larger females will start showing up. These shallow areas are the primary feeding grounds for large walleye looking to fatten up for the winter months.

If you find yourself looking for either some good action or a trophy walleye this Fall, pick the right bait for your body of water, find the shallow areas that are holding bait fish, and hang on! I can almost feel that “Slack-Smack” and the crisp October air in my face. I can’t wait!