If you’ve ever fished for walleye before, you’ll know that the worst fishing happens during their spawning season. However, some of the best fishing happens right after spawning. Female walleye will completely stop feeding while spawning, a period of time that can last for two weeks or more, sometimes lasting a month.
Knowing more about walleye spawning can lead to a better fishing season, and can prevent uneventful fishing trips. Learn all about walleye spawning here!
Table of Contents
When Do Walleye Spawn?
Unfortunately, spawning for walleye doesn’t come down to a specific temperature in the water, a specific date, or even a specific event. For the most part, biologists lean towards temperature being the main indicator, but walleye are a mysterious fish and they seem to enjoy proving people wrong every chance they get.
Generally speaking, walleye will start the spawn as water temperatures begin to reach about 40 degrees fahrenheit, and the spawn stops by the time the water hits about 50 degrees. While this might be close to true, it still doesn’t explain populations of fish that start earlier than this, or later. Larger fish will start spawning earlier, too, meaning that there may be a biological indicator that we don’t understand, as well.
Many older fishermen will tell you that walleye spawning is determined by the phases of the moon, and that it’s best to start fishing for walleye during the spawning season within the first few days of the new moon or the full moon. This logic, while it may seem antiquated, tends to hold true. Whatever the forces are that push walleye to spawn, we don’t truly understand them despite studying the fish for decades.
In most cases, walleye start spawning in late March, and continue to spawn into early April. The further north you travel, however, the later spawning occurs. Depending on how far north you are, spawning can occur into early May.
Where Do Walleye Like to Spawn?
Generally, there are two good locations to fish for spawning walleye, depending on what bodies of water are available to you; lakes and rivers. Each has their own set of structures and areas that walleye will spawn in, and knowing the water you’re fishing will increase your likelihood of having a good day of fishing.
Lakes
Walleye that live in lakes are going to be spawning in the more shallow parts of the water, typically between 3 and 6 feet in depth. They’ll be on the lookout for hard bottomed portions of the lake, covered in rock and gravel, and will be looking for structures like reefs and staircases. Before the spawn begins, females can be found staging off of the reefs or structures they plan on spawning near, waiting for night to fall or for low-light conditions to emerge. They may not be interested in feeding at this point in time, however, as the spawn is what they’re focused on.
Males can be found in close proximity to females, typically feeding while waiting for the spawning to actually begin. Males are going to be easier to catch at this point in time.
Rivers
When spawning in rivers, walleye like a strong current in waters with a hard bottom that have access to slower waters nearby. These slower waters are where the actual spawning will take place, and the waters are typically more shallow than you’d anticipate for these fish. Shallow for river spawning walleye typically means depths of 2 feet, far shallower than that of their lake dwelling counterparts.
Look for rivers and creeks that are feeding into larger bodies of water. These shallow areas will have warmer water and ideal conditions for spawning walleye in the spring.
What is Spawning Like For Walleye?
Walleye, like some other fish species, return to the place where they have laid their eggs previously, and will continue to do so for the entirety of their lives. Once you’ve found a walleye spawning bed, you’ve essentially found a honey hole for fishing for years to come, so long as the walleye population is still around.
Females and males will cohabitate for the majority of the spawning season, not that they tend to stray too far from each other regularly since they’re schooling fish. The two will go into two completely different sets of behavior, however.
During the spawning season, female walleye will spend most of their time making their way back to the beds that they were born in, and where they have spawned previously. This can take weeks to accomplish, and all of their energy is spent making this move and evading predators. During this time, females will not feed actively. They have only one goal; laying their eggs. Then, after their eggs have been released, the female walleye will resume feeding, more aggressive than most other times during the year.
Male walleye will continue to feed throughout the spawn as they make their way to the spawning grounds. Unlike females, they continue their normal habits throughout the season without changing course.
Even though the spawning season may take a few weeks to complete, the actual spawning itself takes a single night. The act of discharging eggs and milt can be completed within hours for each fish. Following the completion of this, the female walleye will return to deeper waters and resume their typical habits. Males will stay in the spawning areas until all females have disappeared, then will return to deeper waters as well.
How to Fish For Walleye During the Spawn
When fishing for walleye, you’ll need to create a strategy involving not only the baits you’ll use, but also the timing and the location of your fishing.
Timing and Location
Fishing for walleye during spawning season comes down to a lot of strategic location planning, as well as getting your timing just right. Understanding where the spawning beds are is much easier than predicting the timeframe for fishing. That being said, you can employ strategies depending on what you find during your first few fishing trips during the season.
If spawning has already started, it’s entirely likely that you’ll need to get to shallow waters, and you’ll only be getting bites from male walleye. Fishing these areas during the spawn can prove to be frustrating, and sometimes entirely fruitless. This is where timing and location really come into play.
Paying attention to the activity of the walleye during spawning will pay off, and you can likely predict where they’ll be following the event. Female fish will be voracious, and will move out to deeper waters to feed. The males will soon follow. These few weeks before summer are the best fishing for walleye, as they’ll be the most active they are all year, and they won’t have moved to the deepest water that they live in during summer, yet.
Bait
Fishing for walleye requires many different bait and lure setups. While minnow and jig setups work most often, it’s a good idea to have a bit of variety on hand at all times; walleye can be picky.
- Swimbaits – Swimbaits in combination with a small jighead are a great setup for catching walleye. They can be moved through the water quickly for hungry females, or slowed down for males in the spawning area.
- Jerkbaits – Jerkbaits are great for catching walleye, as they can be slowed down during cooler months, and are typically flashy and appealing to walleye.
- Crankbaits – Both lipped and lipless crankbaits are an excellent choice for spring walleye fishing, as they will sink to the bottom and move in an appealing manner as you crank them in, drawing in walleye flawlessly.
Key Takeaways
While walleye are generally a pretty elusive fish, they don’t have to be. Fishing for walleye during spawning season can prove to be some of the most fruitful fishing for them throughout the year. Understanding their spawning habits, as well as locations, is key to catching some of the best walleye you can find.
Read more about How Do Walleye Feed?