Like pre-season football, the walleye spawn is usually just a pre-season practice before the real fishing takes place in spring and summer. Contrary to what most fishermen believe, fishing for wall-eye, and even harvesting walleye during the spawn is not detrimental to the health of the population. Although not everyone will agree, several studies and most fish­eries biologists do agree that spawning harvest is minimal and that the benefits of allowing shore anglers a shot at walleyes far out weigh the benefits a closed season may provide.

In general, big walleye are probably females but in some systems there are good numbers of large males and there are certainly small females as well. So by keeping smaller fish and releasing the big ones you may think you’re doing the right thing and in most cases you probably are, but you could have just released a large male and filleted a small female. Some anglers believe they can tell the sex of a walleye during the summer, which is not true. Fisheries biologists use a mathemat­ical formula that uses several morphological measurements to determine the sex of a summertime walleye and even then there is a significant margin of error. If you plan to harvest any walleye during the course of a year, you could have the least amount of impact on the population by fishing the spawn and selectively harvesting males.

When to Go

Here are a few tips for fishing the spawn. For starters, remember that the spawn can almost come and go before you know it, so you better be prepared to go when the conditions come together. The most important factor that influences the spawn is water temperature. Walleyes usually spawn when the temperature is 40-45 degrees, but keep in mind that there are exceptions to everything when it comes to fish. Walleye are also influenced by photoperiod so some years when the weather just doesn’t want to warm up but the day length is right, they will spawn in the upper 30’s. For the most part, April is the peak spawning month across the walleye belt of the Midwest. However, the “heat” of the spawn is usually about a two­week period. Here in Kansas, that magical two weeks is usually the last week in March and the first week in April. In northern Minnesota it would probably be around the end of April or the beginning of May.

The first thing a spawn fisherman needs to do is determine when that mystical two weeks is likely to occur in your area. This can be done by monitoring the water temperature yourself or by calling a local biologist to see when fish usually spawn in the area. Remember that the smaller bodies of water will warm much faster than the bigger ones. If a biologist tells you that they usually begin collecting eggs the second week in April in a larger body of water, your smaller community lake may be past its prime during that time period, so monitor the lake yourself to find out for sure.

Shore Fishing or Boot Fishing?

Once you’ve determined that the time is right, head out and brave those cold early spring nights. Walleyes can be had during the day but most spawning walleyes are caught under the cover of darkness. I have found that the best way to become familiar with the particular body of water that you are fishing during the spawn is to fish from shore. In most reservoirs this will likely involve fishing from the face of the dam, When you fig­ure out where the best spawning areas are and you are familiar with the lake you may want to venture out in the boat but I have found that in most cases fishing from shore is more effective.

I am more confident the fish are there and that usually encourages me to keep trying. Walleyes can definitely be a challenge to catch during the spawn, most nights it’s only one or two fish that make a success­ful trip but if you keep at it you will hit the jackpot one night when everything is just right. I have found that the best nights seem to be when the weather is fairly sta­ble and there is about a 5-10 mile an hour wind blowing into the face of the dam. Calm nights are almost never as good as windy nights. During calm conditions I do better fishing from a boat. My general rule of thumb is if it’s windy, 1 fish from shore and if it’s calm 1 will sometimes take the boat out.

Shoreline Techniques

When I head to the lake I have a fair­ly simple checklist. 1 use a fanny pack packed with a variety of stick baits, (I pre­fer Reef Runner rip sticks) a stringer, small tape measure and a small trout-like landing net which is bungee corded to the fanny pack. I also have a small penlight type hat that I use only to navigate my way along the shoreline and to retie lures. You don’t want to have any lights on when you’re fishing because you will spook the fish. When I get to my spot I begin casting my lure parallel to the shore, which can sometimes be difficult when the wind is blowing and it’s dark so you can’t see what the heck you’re doing. Many times your lure lands right into the same rocks that you are standing on. That’s one reason why I like the rip sticks, they are big and heavy and cast well under these conditions.

I usually start out with the fire-tiger color and sometimes switch to a gold clown color or a silver/chrome color depending on water clarity but fire-tiger works under most conditions. Once 1 have worked over a spot (about 15 minutes) then I move on down the shoreline and start all over again, that is unless I catch fish and then I will stick around for a while. If fish happen to splash within casting distance, by all means, cast to them but you proba­bly only have about a five percent chance of getting one of those to bite but it’s worth a try. Play around with your retrieve until you find what the fish want but I have found that a slow steady retrieve works most of time.

Boating Techniques

If the weather is going to be calm and you want to venture out in the boat, here’s my advice. The reason I do not do as well from shore on calm nights is likely because the fish are spawning a little deeper and they probably aren’t as active in general. Therefore it’s harder to catch fish cast­ing parallel to shore and you can’t cover as much water effectively in search of active spawners. By slow trolling stick-baits with the electric motor on your boat it allows you to cover more water and present the bait more consistently in a little deeper water.

For most of us, the spawn is the first open water opportunity at walleye that we have. It can be both enjoyable and challenging so if you haven’t ever fished for the spawners, give it a try. I have also found that if you regularly fish during the spawn each year you do tend to get a feel for what the population might be like for the upcoming year. Much like pre-season football, it really can give you a pre-season preview of what is to come.

-Chad Richardson resides in Milford, Kansas and is a wildlife biologist for the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Chad Is also a fishing guide, tournament angler and past winner of the Kansas Walleye Association state championship.