Finding ciscoes can help you catch more giant walleye, lake trout, pike, bass and muskies this fall. Here’s how

TARGET THE THERMOCLINE

Throughout the fishing season, before I even make a cast, I slowly drop down my water thermometer to the bottom of a deep section of the lake. I let it remain there for a couple of seconds, then slowly bring it back up the surface, where it tells me the exact temperature at every five-foot interval. I take particular note of the depth at the top and bottom of the thermocline, where the temperature drops dramatically, with the values ranging between 10°C and 14°C.

Let’s say we’re fishing for walleye and pike, and the thermometer tells us the top of the thermocline is located about 24 feet down, while the bottom is at 38 feet. Now it’s simply a matter of scanning an underwater contour map of the lake to identify every potential walleye and northern pike structure—underwater point, reef, saddle, rock pile and shoal—that comes into contact with this band of water.

I did just that on one of the steamiest August days on record several years ago while fishing with two anglers from Saskatchewan. We simply retrieved 3/4- and one-ounce jig heads tipped with six-inch swimbaits across mid-lake shoals that plateaued out at approximately the same depth as the top of the thermocline. And to solidify our chances of success, the swimbaits were silvery white in colour and slender, just like ciscoes. In all, we landed 11 walleye weighing more than 10 pounds, topped off by a 35-inch, 15-pound Goliath that was one of the biggest walleye caught in North America that year.

These days, I like to go a step further, using my Helix 12 chartplotter and LakeMaster VX chip and program in the top and bottom depths so I can see the high percentage cisco-bearing water highlighted vividly in colour, where it intersects with each structure. Talk about opportunity meeting preparation (above)

Throughout the open-water season, this strategy is responsible for many of the biggest pike, muskies, smallmouth bass and lake trout I catch. And all it takes is navigating the subtle ups and downs of the thermocline based on the local weather conditions, and a change of baits or tweaking of presentations based on the targeted predator.

For northern pike and muskies, for example, the only alteration or modification I typically make is to swap out the 10- to 15-pound monofilament or fluorocarbon walleye leader for an ultra-thin, nearly invisible 13-, 20- or 26-pound leader of tie-able stainless steel. When I hook a fish with my heavy paddletail, the only question is whether it is a walleye, northern pike or muskie.

When I want to minimize catching walleye and concentrate more on big toothy critters, I’ll switch to a much bigger, cream-coloured Bondy Bait or Water Wolf Shadzilla. Typically, I vertically jig the Bondy Bait around the rim of the structure, keeping it within a few feet of the bottom at all times. With the Shadzilla, I cast it out and let it sink to the bottom before retrieving it back to the boat.

BONUS TIP: LOOKALIKE LURE

When angler Ken O’Brien caught his 65-pound Ontario record muskie on Georgian Bay in 1988 (above), he was trolling without a leader for whatever would bite. His bait of choice? Perhaps not surprisingly, a four-inch Rapala Countdown—the quintessential cisco imitation.