Walleye color?

[eyepatrol]

Why is it that on some lakes, walleyes are silvery in color while on others they may be that nice gold, or even sometimes green? I assume it has something to do with the water clarity?

Does the color indicate at all what depth the fish may be residing in? For example....darker color means deeper water and lighter color means shallower water???

Just curious about this since my mind seems to be focused on walleyes for some reason or another.

[musky hunter]

They have some response to their surroundings. Ligheter backgrounds = a lighter color fish. I fish dark water a lot, and sometimes get a walleye so dark that the belly is almost that perchlike orange with a dark olive body. (Boulder Lake walleye north of Duluth). But put the fish in the live well for a few hours and they will lighten up, but never get as light as a clearer water walleye. Catch one out of Winnie and it will have a light belly and a golden color. St. Louis River walleyes are usually dark, but many darken up after migrating from Lake Superior, where they had a much lighter color. And the darkening can happen in a day in the river, it seems to be that fast. Also, I speculate a genetic component to the color varies from strain to strain.

[2x4]

I also believe that the walleye gets its color from the minerals that are in the water. I did a fly in fishing trip about 45 minutes north of Ear Falls, Ontario. The walleye were black and silver with a blue iridescence. It was unbelievable how cool they looked. I was told by the resort owners that when they are tossed on the ice, the snow around the fish would turn blue.

[PikeTipper]

Someone with 2 live wells should try painting the bottom of one live well black and leave the other the way it is. Throw a walleye into each and see what they look like after a couple of hours.

[Deitz Dittrich]

There are a lot of different things that come into play in a fishes color. Much of it has to do with water clarity and diet. And yes fish can change thier color to somewhat match thier surroundings. And actually the darker fish come from shallower water and the lighter fish deeper.

However, most has to do with water clarity and diet.

[Bobby Bass]

All the walleys that I ever catch are green! cuz that is what is costs to catch them!

[Dave B]

They can change colors in your live well.

[Willy]

They are just like a camelion. They change to whatever surroundings they are in. They change color in my livewell too. They can be dark and gold when you pull them from the lake, but sit in the livewell for a few hours and are silvery, almost white, then take them out and put them in a black bucket for a while before you clean them and they are dark again.