Al Lindner has witnessed all the fishing trends that have happened for over 50 years—size, shape, tactics, and color; you name it. Right now, color is again the latest hot topic. Some of today’s hottest performing lure paint jobs are options that we would have never considered using years ago!

Embracing the Late-Season Window

“Lazy days like this in fall help me make it through the winter,” Al quips as the boat drifts across a windswept reservoir. Water temperatures hover in the mid-50s, and every hook-set feels like borrowed time before ice locks the lake. This narrow window—when temps fall from the high 50s into the low 40s—is the prime stretch for power-fishing artificials. Walleyes are feeding hard, brown bass mingle on the same mid-depth flats, and a pair of quarter-ounce jigs can make short work of both.

The Year of Color

Tackle trends come in cycles: first downsizing, then new shapes—now color. Every major manufacturer, from hardbaits to plastics, rolled out bold palettes this season. Ten years ago nobody would have tied on neon chartreuse with magenta laminate for walleyes; today that combination routinely puts “Minnesota gold” in the net.

Al and James lean heavily on Big Bite’s Suicide Shad paddletails and buck-tailed Moontail Jigs poured on mooneye heads. Each bait is available in walleye-centric hues—think “Purple Smelt,” “Hot Sauce,” and “Green Goby”—that turn as many smallmouth heads as they do marble-eyes. The takeaway is simple: keep your confidence baits, but add daring new colors this winter and watch your catch rates spike next season.

Hair Jigs & Paddle Tails: Two Presentations, One Mind-Set

• Snap-jigged paddletail (Suicide Shad on a mooneye head) – excels for walleyes that want a sharp hop-and-drop.
• Buck-tail Moontail – dances on the pause, triggering bass and opportunistic eyes with an undulating fall.

Because both jigs fish cleanly from six all the way to 15 feet, the duo can cover expansive flats quickly. It’s common to hear twin hook-sets—one angler boats a 25-inch walleye while the other leans into a four-pound brown bass. Neither bait has a “wrong” retrieve: straight swim, lift-drop, or aggressive snap all draw strikes when matched to mood and depth.

Quarter-Ounce Magic in the Shallows

Fishing eight feet of water with a ¼-oz head may seem heavy, yet that extra weight is critical. It makes the paddletail shoot skyward and crash back, and lets the buck-tail “dance” on taut line. Drop to ⅛ oz and you lose the cadence walleyes crave. The heavier head also cuts wind drift—key when fronts usher colder water into the system.

Temperature Tactics

• 45 °F and warmer: artificials shine. Cover water; trigger reaction bites.
• 42 °F and colder: live bait becomes insurance. A jig-and-minnow or rigged redtail can save the day when plastics lose their edge.

Knowing when to switch keeps the livewell balanced between eaters and photo fish. As Al slips a plump “dinner walleye” into the tank, he reminds us that only a handful of fish fries remain before first ice.

Rod, Line & Leader—A System, Not Pieces

Rod: Both anglers wield St. Croix’s revamped Eyecon walleye lineup. Al prefers the 6’10″ medium-light “Snap Jig” model for paddletails; Jaren opts for a 7’ medium “Hair Jig” stick. Sensitivity and crisp recovery drive both choices.

Main line:

• James – Sufix 832 Hi-Vis Braid (10 lb) for bite-detecting sensitivity.
• Al – Sufix Advanced Monofilament Hi-Vis (6 lb) for controlled slack and a subtler fall.

Regardless of main line, visibility matters. Watching the slack jump is often the only strike indicator.

Leader: 18–24 in. of Sufix Advanced Fluorocarbon in 8–10 lb bridges abrasion resistance and stealth.

Matching rod power to jig weight, pairing hi-vis main line with a clear fluoro leader, and learning to “read” the line on the drop are the fundamental skills driving double-digit fall days.

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Boat Control, Tackle Strategy, and Perspective on the Water

Reading the Water: Boat Control and Moving Fish

As fall walleyes slide up onto big, shallow flats, boat control becomes everything. The key to success isn’t just lure selection—it’s your ability to cover water efficiently. Flats may hold a hundred fish, but they’re not grouped tight. Instead, expect pockets of two, three, or eight fish scattered across a quarter-mile stretch in depths ranging from six to nine feet.

Tools like MEGA 360 Imaging help anglers track these constantly moving fish. With fish on the move, success hinges on staying mobile, adjusting on the fly, and visualizing a flat as a dynamic structure. The approach is slow and deliberate: bumping along with your trolling motor, scanning constantly, and peppering casts across a broad area.

Reels Matter: Speed, Comfort, and Balance

Both anglers run 2500-size spinning reels—a detail that’s often overlooked but essential when fishing slack-line techniques like snap jigging or jerkbaits. A larger spool means more line pickup per crank, which is critical when you’re creating slack to let the bait fall naturally, then needing to quickly catch up on a bite.

Al swears by the Daiwa Fuego, a high-performance reel with a surprisingly modest price point, while Jaren is using the flagship Daiwa Exist, a lightweight marvel with buttery-smooth drag. The bottom line? Daiwa’s lineup is reliable across price tiers, offering comfort, precision, and durability that make long days of casting far less taxing.

Swapping Tactics When Cover Gets Snaggy

As the anglers worked through a few snag-heavy stretches in the reservoir, they began to dip into their hardbait arsenal. When bottom structure devours jigs, lures like the Rapala X-Rap or Shad Rap shine. These fall staples offer erratic action and draw strikes from both bass and walleyes. Plus, they come through rough terrain better and often outfish jigs when fish are suspended or active higher in the column.

In classic fall fashion, Jaren hooked a dinner-sized walleye while Al followed up with a thick smallmouth. Spot-locking in place, they capitalized on the mixed-species mayhem, doubling up on trophy-class brown bass and gold-standard walleyes.

Fall Fish are Bold—Your Colors Should Be Too

The show’s theme circled back again and again to color. Low light? Hazy mornings? Certain shades outperform. Midday sun? Time to switch. Whether you’re tossing paddle tails, hair jigs, or crankbaits, don’t be afraid to cycle through vibrant, even “unnatural” hues. Bright orange, electric pink, nuclear chartreuse—colors that once felt too loud are now proving their place in modern fall fishing.

Aggressive predators like walleyes, smallmouth, and muskies are surprisingly responsive to these “ugly duckling” lures. Jaren even noted catching a quality smallmouth on a bait that looked “like nothing nature has to offer”—a perfect example of how striking visuals can sometimes outpace realism.