| Winter |
|
During the 'frozen' period of the
year, the walleye stays in deeper waters offshore |
| Cold Water |
|
5-6° While temperatures are
slightly rising in the early spring, the walleye moves to
shallower waters along shorelines, always looking for structures
that provide cover |
| Pre Spawn |
|
7° During the pre-spawn season,
the walleye is on the move. Depending on the lake or river
structure, this can be up to 200 km. It has been suspected and
observed, that they return to areas where they hatched and/or
previously spawned. |
| Spawn |
|
8° The females are following the
male walleyes to the spawning grounds and are often chased by
several males. The female walleye produces between 50,000 and
500,000 eggs and is dropping these generally in one day. The male
walleye stays normally for a longer period of time until all
females have departed. |
| Post Spawn |
|
9-10° Walleyes do not provide
parental care, and move quickly in deeper waters (3 - 8 meters).
In larger waters the fish can move several kilometers a day, and
locating the fish at this time can be really difficult. |
| Pre Summer |
|
10-11° During this time the
walleye is still on the move. Changing locations and lures are the
key to catch any fish during this time of the year. |
| Peak Summer |
|
12-14° This is the most difficult
time to locate walleyes. For about 2 weeks the waters bloom with
life. All the young fish can be found from ½ meter to 10 meters
of depth. Do not spend too much time on one spot - try different
locations and different depths. |
| Summer |
|
13-16° During this time the
walleye develops a feeding pattern that remains stable for weeks
or even months. Cloudy and windy days have been proven to be more
successful for the angler than sunny days. |
| Post Summer |
|
9-12° Although the feeding
pattern of the walleye will stay intact, due to the shorter
daylight, the water starts to cool off. The fish is looking for
access to deeper water or moves to steep shorelines |
| Fall |
|
7-8° During this time a very
dramatic change takes place in all the lakes: As water
temperatures are changing between the surface and the bottom, the
circulation is almost vertically from the very surface to the very
bottom. During this time the walleye can be found in any depth,
but seems to like fast breaking structures. |
