Fall Walleye Jigging the St. Clair and Detroit Rivers

The deer aren't the only species fired up this fall! I've managed to sneak in a few evenings on the rivers in between hunts and let me tell you, they are producing right now. Port Huron and Downtown Detroit are holding some decent sized walleye this fall.

A 3/4 ounce antifreeze jig head and a wide variety of the 4" Lunker City Fin-S-Fish plastics will get you some nice fish. Slightly darker colors like the Vampire and Lady Jane were producing in Detroit. Lighter colors like Blue Ice and Purple Ice were the hot colors in Port Huron. The Black/Blue Flake Chartreuse Tail color got us on some of the fish in dirtier water and even produced a few smallmouth bass. I also have had some luck with Lunker City Ribsters in Black and Pro Purple in the past. Get creative and don't be afraid to try new and weird color combos. If you so desire, you can also tip this set up with a minnow as the water gets cooler. I always try to use stinger hooks as well in case the fish aren't super aggressive. We were able to find pockets of fish in 29-35 foot of water with water temperatures in the 40s. We caught our 2-man limits in about 5 drifts and then played catch and release. Try to find spots with structure, walleye always seem to be around oddities in the river. The spots we were fishing mainly fluctuated in depth throughout our drift.

The basic set up I like to use for jigging is the Denali Myriad Walleye Spinning Rods or the Berkley Lightning Spinning Rods with 8-10 pound PowerPro Braid with a 10-12 pound fluorocarbon leader. Try not to get caught up in the "only expensive gear will catch fish" mentality. Let's be real, I've caught tons of walleye on a Barbie pole with the exact same set up. I also like to use my ANGLR Bullseye Fishing Tracker to mark groups of fish for future reference. Don't let the cold weather keep you away from your limits! Bundle up and make those lines tight!