September and October roll around each year with the thoughts of ducks, grouse, and pheasants strong in many minds, but for diehard walleye anglers, fall means big fish time. For most of them, it's a time to dig out the jigs and start the vertical decent for walleyes. But some Professional Walleye Trail pros have started digging into their winter tackle boxes to dredge up big walleyes during fall.

Think about it, all ice-fishing techniques are vertical presentations. Why wouldn't these techniques work in the fall, when most anglers are fishing vertically anyway? They should work, but it's hard to abandon a good technique to try something new--if it's not broke, don't fix it. These pros would argue, though, that winter presentations sometimes produce more and bigger fish than standard jigging techniques.

Swimming Lures--The Jigging Rap is a well-known winter walleye lure. Kim "Chief" Papineau now uses this lure year-round. He uses it in lakes, rivers, and reservoirs, especially during fall. "In the fall, I especially like the Jigging Rap on deep midlake humps," Papineau says. "The bait has a lot more action than a jig. It has more flash and vibration, to call fish in from a greater distance. Add a minnow to a Jigging Rap to create a larger profile bait with the addition of scent and taste."

Spoons--Jigging spoons have been around for ages. They are top-notch producers through the ice, but Daryl Christensen has turned his jigging spoons into fall weapons, too. In fact, he exclusively fishes spoons in October. Christensen uses spoons on every piece of available in lakes, adding that they're particularly effective on deeper structures. He works the spoon with an aggressive snapping motion: a quick 2- to 3-foot lift, then a pause to let the spoon freefall to the bottom. Most of the strikes occur on the fall, and they usually are aggressive.

Christensen never tips his spoon with livebait, feeling that it hinders the lure's action. Jigging spoons exhibit lots of flash and vibration as they're snapped up or allowed to flutter toward the bottom on a slack line, but a minnow or even a minnow head tends to limit these characteristics. Spoons ranging from 1/2 to 1 ounce meet most of Christensen's deep jigging needs.

Bladebaits--Another bait that's been around for a long time, and was a staple for ice fisherman for many years. This bait still works. PWT Pro Bobby Crow uses bladebaits for river walleyes during fall. He feels this is the best way trigger aggressive walleyes holding in deep channels. His fishes them vertically along the deep (18- to 24-foot) river channels with a snap jigging technique. The key is to freefall the bait while monitoring the line for strikes. These sonar style baits have extreme vibration, good flash, and a dancing fall. They also allow anglers to cover water quickly.

The common theme among these ice-fishing lures is flash and vibration. Many anglers consider them too aggressive for lethargic fall walleyes, but they're deadly effective. Walleyes often feed heavily in cooling water, and baits that attract attention often trigger strikes from fish that ignore finesse presentations.

So when you dig your ice fishing box out to prepare for the coming ice season, drop it in the boat for a trip or two on open water. You'll soon learn what some of the top PWT pros already know--some of the best ice fishing presentations also work wonders during fall.