MISQUAH — Big Pelican read 62 Monday morning, down two on the week and down eight since the fair, and the fish have responded the way they always respond to that number, which is by getting serious.

The walleye are still on the eight-to-fourteen-foot breaks I described two weeks ago and there is no reason to send you anywhere else. What has changed is the bait. Crawlers are finished for the year in my opinion and mostly finished in practice; the shop went through more minnows this weekend than in the last three weekends combined, and a plain jig and a fathead on the break at first light is the whole program. Slow. Slower than you think. If you believe you are fishing too slowly in the middle of September you are fishing correctly.

Panfish remain the best-kept secret on this chain and I have now printed that four times, which means it is not a secret and is simply being ignored. Deep weed edges, small jig, one minnow.

Northerns are aggressive and will keep getting worse, which for a northern is better. If you are losing terminal tackle you are in the right place.

The landing lot held six trailers Saturday, which is up from two, and every one of them belonged to somebody who had decided that a boat is a better use of an open Saturday than a shotgun. I am not going to take a position on that in print. I fished Sunday.

The ramp lip on the right-hand side about eight feet down is still there. Back down the left. The county still knows. This is the third week.

One more thing and then I will stop. The walleye are eating harder because the water is cooling, and that will continue right through October and into the part of November when a person questions his own judgment. This is the six best weeks of the year on this chain. There are six trailers in the lot. Draw your own conclusion; I have drawn mine and it is that I do not mind.