HOW MUCH WEIGHT DO WALLEYES LOOSE

[Apex]

WELL WE ALL GOT TO TALKING ON OPENER AFTER A PHENOMENAL DAY OF FISHING AND THE TOPIC CAME UP WHEN WE WERE HAVING A COUPLE OF COCKTAILS. HOW MUCH WEIGHT DO YOU THINK WALLEYES LOOSE AFTER SPAWN? WE ALL CAME TO AN AGREEMENT THAT ITS NOT POUNDS MORE LIKE MAYBE A 1/2 POUND. DOES ANYONE OUT THERE HAVE A ANSWER TO THIS QUESTION?

[slimngrizzly]

Well just to chime in here... Ive been involved with a fair amount of egg stripping with the DNR. I would say first of all its all relative to the size of the fish...... a half a pound? Well sure thats true on a 17-19 inch walleye maybe. Weve netted several walleye out of shallow nutrient rich lakes in the 28-29" range that will go in the ballpark of 12 pounds. I would bet those same fish in the middle of july or so would just break 8 pounds. Keep in mind, this is not all "egg weight". The pre-spawn fish are similar to a pre-rut buck. Well fed, fattened, they are in top physical condition for the events to come.

To me, its opened my eyes as to "what is a truely big walleye"? I believe a 30" is a remarkable walleye! A 10 pounder is so often the bench mark to a mounter, but so often in winter a fairly young, short fish can pack on enough weight to make 10 pounds fairly easily. In spring sampling, the number of 30" walleyes compared to 28" is mindblowing. But an egg-filled 10 pounder is quite common. I guess they are all trophys to someone:)

[Northlander]

I got a 31" eye Sunday on the St. Louis River that was only 8.52# and that same fish in July on Lake Superior would be about 10.5# or so.

[Musky Buck]

My cousin's 31" on Saturday weighed 10.76 pounds and appeared to be egg free I would guess.

[Northlander]

Where was it caught? Mine was on a river and river fish are usually thinner and Lake Superior walleyes grow Sloooow.

But as with any fish you have some that break the rules on both sides of the tape.

[Musky Buck]

Right on let's call it about a 1,000 acre lake in Ottertail county, big difference yes. Right on NL, some are thinner and some are thicker, I like that little gem of a lake we did so well on over the years because it has a great tullibee pop. and a modest to low pike pop., the lake just seems to grow large fish walleye,pike,bass. The river fish I tend to catch seldomly now but they always seemed thinner overall. A 31" is a beauty no matter what the scale says and congrats on breaking that tough to break 30" mark.

[Islandlaker]

Man congrats on the big fish guys! The biggest walleye I ever caught was a 25 incher, that was a few years ago, didn't weigh it but measured it and let it go.

[TrophyEyes]

I caught a post spawn female up by Flin Flon/Snow Lake. It measured 33 1/2" and just over 14lbs. My guess is that fish would have easily been in the 17 or 18lbs 2-3 weeks earlier.