Escanaba Area Fishing Report

October 21st, 2019

10/21/2019
Little Bay De Noc

The recent cold front that moved through the Midwest has dropped the water temperatures on Little Bay de Noc significantly and surely caused the walleye bite to heat up in the process. Look for fish to stack up along various points and steep breaks along the east shore of the upper bay as these fish move back into the upper bay. Fish are being caught in anywhere from 16 to 34 feet of water but most are found at the base of a steep break in 29 to 32 feet. Casting and vertical jigging hard body jigging baits such as the Moonshine Lures Shiver Minnow #3 has been our bait of choice as of late. When casting these baits position your boat at the base of the break casting the shiver minnow up into the shallower water and then slowly working it down the break with short pumps and allowing the bait to sit on bottom for a second or two before lifting it again. As always use your electronics first to locate fish, this is where side imaging can really come in useful. If you don’t have side imagining drove around until you mark fish under the boat then either throw the motor in reverse or hit spot lock on your bow mount to position yourself directly over the fish and drop down to them. Trolling large crankbaits such as #12 Rapala Husky Jerks on leadcore or with snap weights can be an extremely effective method to catch these fish as well. Other fall baits of choice would be the Rapala rippin rap, jigging raps, and live bait rigging sucker minnows. It may be cold but don’t winterize those boats just yet, some of the best fishing of the year is here.