September Walleye, Oneida Lake?

[Todd in NY]

I've only fished Oneida Lake once, and that was back in early July. Are the walleye going to be on the shallow shoals this time of year, or in deeper water? I'll be launching from the public launch just east of Bridgeport. I'm not asking for your secret honey holes, just a starting point. PM me if you prefer. Any good info is greatly appreciated!

[Todd in NY]

Over 70 views and not a peep.

 

Crickets

[ontherise]

[emoji214]

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[Miss em]

I have had decent catches out in the deep water north of Shakelton Shoals.  Plug bite with plugs right on the bottom with the riggers.  Catch a bunch of jack perch out there on the plugs too.  Perch Rapalas seem to hold their own.  Bare Naked Reef runners on inlines as close you can get them to bottom too.  

[Chowdaire]

I haven't fished it much this year but in terms of general patterns and what I've heard from a couple of friends we're into the fall transition so the bait is concentrating and getting pushed shallow. This means you should be able to find fish on shallow structure, especially morning and evening (and real shallow at night). Any decent weeds will still hold fish too. During the days as we get later into fall the eyes will stack up in certain deep locations and you can crush them jigging blades, raps, etc. Don't think we're close to that yet though so I'd concentrate on structure. 

 

One thing on Oneida. Unless it's night time work your baits aggressively. Being aggressive with your presentation can be the difference between putting a couple fish in the boat or 20+.

 

 

 

[Todd in NY]

Thanks guys! I trolled in 30-ish feet of water along the south shore, with stick bates and worm harnesses. Tried shallow sticks and deep sticks. Brought home 3 walleye, threw one back. We fought a strong 15-20 mph wind all day, and WEEDS/GRASS suspended from the surface down. Had to check our lures every 20-30 minutes just to clean the grass off the hooks. Compared to the other boats we talked to, we had a pretty good day. Tough conditions but we had fun.