Fall Northern Fishing

I fish for northerns in deep water in July and August, once it gets to early September they disappear. Do all or most fish go to adjacent shallow flats then? Or does the bite just slow down in September? I'm thinking of trolling large shallow flats this fall (October). Does anyone do that in the fall for northerns? If so, any suggestions? If not, what are some other techniques for fishing fall northerns? Also, I typically fish east central Wisconsin. Does anyone have any suggestions for fishing northerns in the fall in that part of the state? Thanks.

In regards to live bait leaders I generally run 30 lb fluoro (seaguar blue label). It ties well and is very resilient, after it gets chewed up a bit I just cut back and retie. With that said I use a relatively light drag. They will go straight through braid and I've seen it happen many times. As far as casting goes I make my own solid wire leaders out of 174 lb single strand AFW.

I fish pike all year round in the same location and catch em there every part of the year. Have you ever tried using a 1 oz sinker attached to a 2 ft fluorocarbon leader with a large floating jig head with a creek chub or sucker on it? Find a weed edge that drops off into deeper water cast it out and let it sink to the bottom. Once its on the bottom reel in the slack, set your drag wide open so when the fish runs with it your line screams out and your pole doesn't go with it. When your ready tighten your drag and set the hook. That's how I fish pike during the summer until ice up, Never fails. If you don't get a fish in twenty minutes try a new spot. I've tried the whole trolling thing and never have been as successful. Using a small perch off the bottom works excellent too. The yellow flash of the perch can be seen at a very long distance. Fish how you want but this works for me

NPike Guy, thanks for the comments on water temp. I would agree, fishing can be a little tough in the fall, before the water turnsover. The bite has been really good lately, biggest being 34" in the past couple weeks. In regards to line, I do like using heavy mono for leaders. I get few break offs and it doesn't seem to affect the bite. I don't use wire leaders, haven't in years. Fin

I wouldn't say a pike couldn't bite Power Pro line, but it is pretty durable stuff. I almost never use a leader when I fish with it. But, I fish a lot of spinners and safety pin style baits. That style of fishing prevents a lot of strikes getting deep enough to hit the line. If you soak live bait or something similar you WILL get bit off more often.

I fish a small bass lake that has a lot of northern in and they keep biting off my lures. I have tried wired leaders and tiger wire and I do not get any action. As soon as I take the leaders off I get action. Is there a fishing line out there that northern cannot bite off but will not affect lure action?

In my experience the hardest time to specifically target big northerns is in early Summer and Fall pre-turnover. It seems like when the water is in that 50-70 degree range they can really be anywhere. My best luck targeting them in those conditions is to essentially fish them like I fish muskies. Throw big baits on the best looking structure you can find or fan cast deep weed beds with a big jerkbait or twitchbait. Post-turnover I find that they set up on steep breaks in 10-20 FOW and you can really hammer them with bulldawgs, jerkabits, and dragging suckers near the bottom.

I have tried drifting suckers, however, the lakes I fish are pretty big and seems like I'm looking for a needle in a haystack. Didn't know if I need to find ways to cover more water. I may look to fish some of the Winnebago chain this fall, any thoughts on fall northern on the Winnebago chain?

have u fished for them with suckers/shiners like you do for muskie in the fall?