Walleye's with Eggs????

[Wayne Sieber]

Was it just my group, or did anyone else experience what we did - Two of the walleyes we kept were full of eggs!!! Both the fish were about 20", both caught in the same area and both had full (!!) egg sacks. That was something I hope I never see again - Not good. Anyone else???? FYI, were fishing in the Aitkin area.

[tommyk]

My guess is that with the up and down weather some walleyes did not actually spawn and just reabsorbed the eggs.

[outdoor ran]

I've found eggs in walleyes in June before, sometimes they just don't drop them.

[Cooter]

Lots of milk in two walleyes I caught this past weekend near Spooner, WI.

[scsavre]

Not too uncommon for weather like ours.

I have never kept any that were full, but have heard they taste bad. Anyway I just read an article yesterday that said fishing and even catching waleyes durring the spawn has no effect on that fish or the fish populations.

[Captain B.R.K]

You aren't in the minority here....unfortunately we keep 6 walleyes for a fish fry Saturday night and 1 of the eyes had eggs in it. Felt bad, but what do you do?!?!

[Hoffer]

I do some ice-fishing on the lake I grew up in that is located in West Central MN. I rarely keep any fish I catch - but when I am up visiting my parents - I will sometimes keep a fish or 2 for them to have for Dinner. When I have kept a few of these walleyes in December - they have been full of eggs - and I mean FULL. The egg sacks were just huge! I dont know if that is normal for a walleye to have eggs in December cause I normally dont keep any fish - but I thought that was always a little weird! Do they normally already grow their eggs in the Winter getting ready for the next spawning season???

[Gissert]

Yep, it is very common to see eggs in winter caught walleyes. We see the milt in males also, especially later on in the winter.

We try not to kill females if possible, but sometimes that 17 incher has eggs. My BIL will actually eats them. He coats them in the breading that we use for the fillets, and then quasi deep fries them in a cast iron pan. Not my cup of tea, but he sure likes them.

[EBass]

Maybe in that lake they just don't spawn. You know stocked walleyes. Just a thought. And yup in the winter they begin to make eggs for the spring spawn. I think most female fish do. I rarely keep anything so I don't know forsure, but seems logical.