Question on Big Walleye

[Presco]

Question for the board here as this group seems to be a wealth of fantastic information. I am looking for information on where the big females go just before and just after spawn. For the last 15 years, we've headed up to a lake in Ontario for their walleye opener and we are usually there just after ice out or within a few weeks. In many years, we've caught plenty of 25" eyes, but in other years, the big fish don't seem to be around. We've gone shallow or moved deeper and don't find them. We've never had issues finding and catching fish, just curious if anyone has an opinion on where the older, experienced fish are sitting. Water temps are typically in the high 40s and its a tea-stained lake with many deep holes approaching 50-75'. When we've caught numerous big fish, its usually up really shallow. I know this is sort of an open question, but would love to ask the question. So, if you had to catch a big walleye in early spring in cold water, where would you look? We have a traveling trophy which I've won 2 years in a row and nobody has ever won 3 in a row. Gotta have the ugly trophy on my desk for another year. Thanks for the advise.

[waterbound]

Every Opener we fish from shore and we catch plenty of fish with some nice ones thrown in. We just toss a shiner or fathead out to let it soak on the bottom and leave the bail open and loop the line around a can so it doesn't come off the reel. When a fish takes the bait the can falls over and we can just walk over and catch the fish. Not much of a tip, but it works for us every time.

[JohnMickish]

From what I have read and I have to believe it since I haven't done a study myself, is that walleyes spawn in 50-58 degree water temps. If you can catch it close to that, the big girls should be just outside the spawning sites in deeper water. The males show up after the females. If you are there during the spawn or just after it will be tough as they are in a recouperation mood, but they should be in the closest deep water.

I think if you are there when the water temps are in the low 40s your to early. Look for the fish on your sonar as they will probably still be deep, 30-40 feet close to some flats for feeding. If you can't find them there check 10-15 feet deep during the day if there is a mud flat/bay in the area. Mud will warm up faster in the sunlight than sand and rocks will. Jig, jig, jig.

[scott b]

If the water is clear fish at night. Try to hit it a couple of days before the full moon. Shallow rocks (1-6ft) When you are into a bunch of males, the females are generally a little deeper (6-12). Inlets with flowing water are a sure bet as long as grapefruit to golf ball sized rock is in the vicinity. Try 3-4" scented white twisters (Love my GULP!) on a 16th oz head, steady retrieve

[traveler]

If the water is clear fish at night. Try to hit it a couple of days before the full moon. Shallow rocks (1-6ft) When you are into a bunch of males, the females are generally a little deeper (6-12). Inlets with flowing water are a sure bet as long as grapefruit to golf ball sized rock is in the vicinity. Try 3-4" scented white twisters (Love my GULP!) on a 16th oz head, steady retrieve

Watching Brett Favre play for the Vikings is like watching your wife with another man. ...

Hotime......I wouldn't mind watching your wife with another man:)

[james_walleye]

We hit up a lake outside Kenora the week after opener and we do pretty well on big fish. Your success probably has something to do with exactly how far off the spawn the fish are. Take last year, the water temps were 46 degrees and we not very far off the spawn. Most of our big fish action came close to spawning areas, just outside them, on say the first mainlake point or "shelves" we call them. On a lot of spots we are fishing just hoping for a bite, but its a big bite. Go back in the bays and you smack "eaters", get just outside those areas and you find those big girls staged up. Sometimes its 10-12' and sometimes its 16-18', thats more trial and error. If your catching smallies, move a couple feet deeper, that is a general rule we follow that has worked. We have also had years where the water temps are well into the 50's, spring came earlier, and the fish are further off the spawn. The first points outside spawning areas are now loaded with those eaters and the big girls have moved on. Now we head to more mainlake points and mainlake shelves. On this lake you have some shorelines that drop like a ton of bricks right off shore into 20' of water and some shorelines where you have a nice shelf that you can be in 16' of water and be 40 yards off shore. Get the wind rolling up there and those get really good. Find a small point on these shorelines and you've hit the jackpot. Wind is always key for us as to which spots will be on fire. Last year we had a day when we just had a feeling on a spot because the wind was hitting it perfectly. We had never caught anything over 25" on this spot but that late afternoon i caught the 28 1/2" in my avatar and my friend got a 30".

We have also had years where the fish were so far along already that we found them on midlake reefs. These were our toughest years for the real big fish. We like those cold springs when those giants are still up "shallow".

[Presco]

Thanks james_walleye. Drop me a line at [email protected], we are actually on a lake a couple hours east of you on highway 17 past Dryden. We are probably up there about the same time and the lakes most likely have similar structure, I'd love to compare notes. I hear you on the points, we never have a problem catching eaters, its those big females that seem to appear out of nowhere. Its great when you find them. We've caught 4 fish over 26" in about 15 minutes and then nothing over 16" the rest of the day.

Like I said, certainly an open question, but I really want to understand the pattern.

[kingfish689]

there is a lake I fish on and has clear water and me a a buddy kept seeing fish on the bottom in one area in about 35fow next day we brought the camrea and there was a big grass flat loaded with big eyes just laying on the bottom everywhere this was late may early june. over the years i have been back there and the fish are always there and never biting just laying around resting after the spawn in the nice short soft grass wont even look at a bait put right in front of them.

[pushbutton]

caught most of my monsters from shore, early spring, at night, on the steep side of points right where the slope kind of funnels up in about 2- 5 ft of water. usually use floating rap with some split shot to get some distance out of cast. larger pre hooked swim baits also can be worked if no weeds, but they tend to be pretty heavy for 3 ft of water. last fall started experimenting with a 1/32 and 3 inch plastic in 1 to 2 ft of water, but the fish over 7 lbs were starting to wreak havoc on the the hooks. if fishing in a boat literally beach the boat and throw as if shore fishing. for whatever reason, you dont get as much action pitching into shore.

[james_walleye]

push are you talking a canadian shield lake or a MN lake?

[pushbutton]

minnesota shield