By Mike Peluso

My lake days on both Devils Lake and Lake Sakakawea are slowly winding down. I still have the rest of September booked, but those trips are mostly on Sakakawea before I drop down to the river near Bismarck for October and November, weather permitting.

We did have a great first half of the week for walleyes on Devils Lake and an even better second half on Sakakawea. There are lots of changes to talk about up on Sakakawea. The most notable is that the walleyes can be found a lot shallower now and in decent numbers. Another exciting thing that we are seeing is that the walleyes are switching off crawlers to minnows as their preferred bait. This tells me we are getting closer to the magic of a fall walleye bite.

After spending four days checking a ton of areas, depths, and structure I did notice the walleyes are really relating to big rocks. It seems as if you can fish those areas (without losing all your tackle) you will do well!

We mixed it up between minnows and crawlers and pretty much used everything in between and it seemed the more basic we went in presentation, the better the bite was. We will see how the warmer days affect things, so that may all change again.

One thing I can guarantee is we will be out all next week on Sakakawea trying to figure it out!

Again, at this time I’m not booking anymore Sakakawea or Devils Lake open water trips. The rest from September 30th until freeze up will be on the Missouri River near Bismarck somewhere targeting those big fall walleyes.

Mike Peluso is a Dakota Edge Outdoors contributing writer and licensed ND fishing guide specializing in walleyes on the state’s premier waters.

Featured Photo: Walleyes are being found a good deal shallower on Lake Sakakawea as the fall transition begins. DEO Photo by Mike Peluso.