March Brings the Walleye Spawn

I often hear folks discussing 'March Madness', but when I hear that particular term I always think about walleye. In Kansas, the walleye spawn begins in March. District Fisheries Biologists across the state are currently engaged in walleye egg taking operations to supply fertilized walleye, saugeye, and sauger eggs to the state fish hatcheries to produce fry and fingerlings for stocking in state managed waters.

I understand that some folks like basketball, but I've yet to hear of anyone being able to set the DVR to record the walleye spawn or catching a nice 'eye from the comfort of the couch! If you've been waiting for the spawn, the time is now.

Here's two pictures from last week.

Big boys! A couple of 21-inch plus males waiting on the lady 'eyes.
Attachment 85836

Big girl! A female of this size will have around 120,000 eggs. Fish like this is what keeps all those males hanging around the spawning areas!
Attachment 85839

If you're looking for a way to pass the time before the crappie spawn, grab a rod and hit a rocky shoreline at your local walleye fishery. You can catch the basketball highlights after you get home!

Great information Craig! Nice pics too!

Craig,
Are those pictures from El Dorado? Those are some nice eyes.

I would like to know which lake those came from also. How much longer until it's over for Cheney, El Dorado, and Marion?

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Originally Posted by sah

Craig,
Are those pictures from El Dorado? Those are some nice eyes.

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sah,

Yes, the fish in the pictures above were caught in El Dorado.

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Originally Posted by Superx10

.........How much longer until it's over for Cheney, El Dorado, and Marion?

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Superx10,

Good question, especially this year. Traditionally, the walleye spawn will continue through the first week of April with some stragglers hanging on until the middle of the month. Things are usually wrapped up by the end of the third week of April.

What baits and techniques work best for not getting hung in the rocks?Nice eye's.May have to try Hillsdale.

Great pics and info.

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Originally Posted by PurpleCrappie

What baits and techniques work best for not getting hung in the rocks?Nice eye's.May have to try Hillsdale.

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PurpleCrappie,

The more popular bait type is the stick bait, slash bait, or jerk bait type such as the original Rapala, Husky Jerks, Rogues, and Rapala X-Raps. These baits will reach bottom in the shallow water without burying in too deep and you can control depth with the speed of your retrieve. Some of the baits are buoyant and will float out of the rocks if the retrieve is stopped but a neutrally buoyant bait or one that is only slightly buoyant is preferred as it will 'hang' in the face of the walleye longer than one that rockets back up to the surface after the retrieve is stopped. Vary the retrieve to see what the fish are liking. Sometimes a 'twitch, twitch, pause' is very effective and other times a steady slow retrieve is best.

Casts should be made parallel to shallow shorelines. This will keep your bait 'in the zone' much longer than a cast perpendicular to shore. Spawning fish will be very shallow. On shallow sloping banks (such as the dam at Hillsdale) a pair of waders is nearly a must. One can wade out to 3 feet of water and make long parallel casts. If the bait becomes snagged in the rocks, simply walk over and get it. It doesn't take long to justify the cost of waders when you are saving $7 to $10 crankbaits on a regular basis! Dams, such as the one at Marion, are very steep and much more difficult to wade unless you stay near the ends of the dam. The dam at Cheney is very steep and usually very slick with algae and wading is impossible in the center of the dam. However, the ends are shallow and can be fished via waders. For safety reasons, know the area that you are fishing and what you are walking off in to!

Nighttime is usually best for fishing during the spawn as fish concentration is highest during the dark hours. However, males will usually be in the shallow water throughout the spawn and they can be caught. Angler pressure is much lower during the daylight hours. Notice in the pics above that it was 'daylight' when these fish were caught and they were shallow!

Walleye act a bit differently during the spawn in regards to their willingness to bite. Unlike spawning crappie and white bass that are very willing to take a lure, spawning walleye can be quite reluctant to accept a lure. So even though the walleye are very concentrated during the spawn they may not offer fast fishing action. The attitude of the walleye changes when they hit the flats and feed heavily after the spawn. Even though the fish are slower to bite during the spawn, the chance at the at trophy is high during the spawn as females are heavy with eggs. Large females can lose 1 to 2 pounds after dropping their eggs which makes a big difference on an 8lb frame!

Good luck!

Craig,
You said that the males will often stay shallow during the day, do the females back out to a little deeper water during the day or do they also generally stay shallow? Thanks for education us.

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Originally Posted by sah

Craig,
You said that the males will often stay shallow during the day, do the females back out to a little deeper water during the day or do they also generally stay shallow? Thanks for education us.

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sah,

The females will move off the shorelines during the day, how far is a good question--probably just far enough to escape harassment by the males. However, prespawn females may seek out shallow warmer water during daylight hours to help speed the ripening of the eggs. Males will wait in shallow water for the females to show up to spawn. The females move back and forth from shallow water to deep water during the nighttime hours depending on their 'mood' and stage of ripeness.

We saw some very nice fish today at Hillsdale and had a mixture of green, ripe, and spent females. Water temperature of 56F is definitely ahead of 'normal' for this time of the year.

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Originally Posted by Craig Johnson

I often hear folks discussing 'March Madness', but when I hear that particular term I always think about walleye. In Kansas, the walleye spawn begins in March. District Fisheries Biologists across the state are currently engaged in walleye egg taking operations to supply fertilized walleye, saugeye, and sauger eggs to the state fish hatcheries to produce fry and fingerlings for stocking in state managed waters.

I understand that some folks like basketball, but I've yet to hear of anyone being able to set the DVR to record the walleye spawn or catching a nice 'eye from the comfort of the couch! If you've been waiting for the spawn, the time is now.

Here's two pictures from last week.

Big boys! A couple of 21-inch plus males waiting on the lady 'eyes.
Attachment 85836

Big girl! A female of this size will have around 120,000 eggs. Fish like this is what keeps all those males hanging around the spawning areas!
Attachment 85839

If you're looking for a way to pass the time before the crappie spawn, grab a rod and hit a rocky shoreline at your local walleye fishery. You can catch the basketball highlights after you get home!

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This thread is from 2012 but it contains some info that applies to 2013 as well. Thought some of the new guys may have missed this last year...

Fish On!!:fish

Thanks for bringing it back to the top. I'm one of the guys that missed it last year.

Craig,

Nice reading but do walleyes prefer the big rocks as in the dam area? Should they not be in any rocky areas in the lakes? I am just thinking of all the rocky areas at Clinton and what type of rocks would be the best target.

Zeepo

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Originally Posted by Craig Johnson

This thread is from 2012 but it contains some info that applies to 2013 as well. Thought some of the new guys may have missed this last year...

Fish On!!:fish

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Hey Craig, just thought I'd ask your opinion on keeping walleyes during the spawn.....keep the males only and release all females?? What you think will have an influence on how I view future catch and keep or catch and release options ( not that I'm ever a threat to the future populations of walleyes....dang hard to catch for me). Thanks for your input.....you guys do a great job for all us fishers! :ThumbsUp

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Originally Posted by slabby joe

Hey Craig, just thought I'd ask your opinion on keeping walleyes during the spawn.....keep the males only and release all females?? What you think will have an influence on how I view future catch and keep or catch and release options ( not that I'm ever a threat to the future populations of walleyes....dang hard to catch for me). Thanks for your input.....you guys do a great job for all us fishers! :ThumbsUp

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Slabby,

If you catch a fish with legal methods and legal means and that fish is legal for harvest (meets length and creel limits for that particular water body) then you can harvest it. KDWPT doesn't have any data that shows that fishing for walleye during the spawn in any way damages the population. There is not any difference in harvesting a female walleye 2 days, 2 weeks, 2 months, or 6 months before the spawn as they are still gone and won't be spawning again. However, some anglers don't see it that way and they believe that a near spawning fish should be released to complete the spawn. Many Kansas reservoirs have poor walleye recruitment from natural spawns so KDWPT stocks walleye to keep the populations at appropriate levels. A few lakes, Marion and Wilson reservoirs for example, do have good natural production from the walleye spawn and these lakes are not stocked often. Fishing is allowed during the walleye spawn and the fish are still able to pull off good spawns and support the population without supplemental stocking.

Fishing during the walleye spawn is the only time during the year that some anglers will have access to walleye. As you know, the spawn brings walleye to shallow, near shore areas giving non-boating anglers a chance to catch walleye that are normally located out of casting distance. Although some large fish can be caught during the spawn, biologically this harvest isn't doing the population any harm. As many have noted on this board, walleye spawn fishing is NOT the best time to catch walleye as they are preoccupied with creating the next year class and catching can be dismally slow. Most concentrated doesn't always equate to great fishing. The spawn is a fairly short time frame and although a lot of anglers participate the fishing is not fast and furious like it is for spawning crappie or white bass.

Now, what should an angler keep during the walleye spawn? That is up to the angler! If your fish is of legal length,you are under your daily creel limit, you are under your possession limit and you want to keep the fish, keep it. If you want to fight the fish to shore, snap some pictures, and turn it loose that is great. Anglers feel strongly on both sides of this subject, but harvest is harvest no matter the time of year. Our walleye populations are closely monitored. If over harvest is occurring then management modifications will be made to keep the population healthy.

Good question Slabby! I hope you catch your monster walleye this year...whether it is during the spawn or on the flats!! :highfive

Thanks for the in-depth response Craig. It's appreciated.

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Originally Posted by zeepo

Craig,

Nice reading but do walleyes prefer the big rocks as in the dam area? Should they not be in any rocky areas in the lakes? I am just thinking of all the rocky areas at Clinton and what type of rocks would be the best target.

Zeepo

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Zeepo,

I must have overlooked your post. I apologize for the late response.

You are correct. Many of the rocky areas around a lake will hold spawning walleye. I would look for rocky shorelines that have deep water near by. A rocky point surrounded by expanses of shallow water wouldn't be my first place to start. But a shallow rocky point that is near a drop to deep water would be a great place to look. Many anglers only target the dam. Other anglers 'chase' the walleye spawn as they do the crappie spawn. Up lake areas will typically warm more quickly than the main lake dam area and some years it is possible to 'chase' the spawn from the upper reaches to the lower lake as the spawn progresses. Walleye will begin cruising the warm water up lake areas before the water warms enough to be attractive at the dam. Many of the other rocky areas do not see the pressure that the dams do and fishing can be better as a result. Walleye will spawn on small gravel to large rip rap and everything in between. Look for 'clean' rock to focus your efforts. Algae covered or slimy rocks aren't as attractive as the clean rock as the walleye want their eggs to stick to the rocks after being fertilized.

The statewide egg collection effort has met its goal and nets have been pulled from all of the lakes. Unless there is a sudden change in hatch rates at the hatchery the nets are done for the year. The Milford crew pulled nets on Friday and the Cedar Bluff and Hillsdale crews pulled on Saturday.

The 2013 collection goals required to produce fry and fingerling walleye, saugeye, and sauger for stocking public fishing waters across the state included the following: 90 million walleye eggs, 14 million saugeye eggs (walleye eggs fertilized with sauger milt), and 2 million sauger eggs.

Craig just wanted to say I enjoyed our conversation as always and a thanks for all the info and hard work you guys put in....

Craig - this is such a great read and pertinent to this time of the year (plus the other thread that was just started) I figured I would bring it to the top for others to enjoy! Wondering how this strange winter weather will effect the Kansas spawn?

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Originally Posted by Tommy Skarlis

Craig - this is such a great read and pertinent to this time of the year (plus the other thread that was just started) I figured I would bring it to the top for others to enjoy! Wondering how this strange winter weather will effect the Kansas spawn?

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Tommy,

From my experience of working the walleye spawn over the years, the timing remains very consistent from one year to the next despite the highly variable weather that we may have. Usually fish are actively spawning in good numbers during the third week of March. A few of the lakes, like Melvern and Milford reservoirs, get to rolling about a week later. While the start of the spawning season isn't highly influenced by the weather, the duration of the spawn can be. Years with quickly rising water temperatures may see a shortened spawn and years with stable/slowly rising water temps may see a drawn out spawn running past the middle of April.

Great looking fish!! Thanks for the info, Craig!

Great thread with good info.i may try to get out this year for the spawn as I sold my boat last year and have yet to replace it.Thanks for the info.

Great post, thanks

The egg collection crew working Cedar Bluff collected 2.1 million walleye eggs yesterday 3/17/2014 with a water temp. of 39.8F. The spawn is on... Don't wait too long to get out and try for that monster 'eye!

The 2015 walleye spawn is well on its way! Thought I would bring this back to the top again so we could add to the info already included here.

Below is a video I put together after working the 2014 walleye spawn that shows how the walleye broodfish are collected.

https://youtu.be/GpyleTf12p0

Great post. I got some pointers to try out.

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Originally Posted by Craig Johnson

The egg collection crew working Cedar Bluff collected 2.1 million walleye eggs yesterday 3/17/2014 with a water temp. of 39.8F. The spawn is on... Don't wait too long to get out and try for that monster 'eye!

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Be handy to get at least 1 of those 2.1 million eggs back in Cedar Bluff. Unfortunately that doesn't happen.

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Originally Posted by burns_312

Be handy to get at least 1 of those 2.1 million eggs back in Cedar Bluff. Unfortunately that doesn't happen.

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LOL take your negativity somewhere else...

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Originally Posted by BiglerM

LOL take your negativity somewhere else...

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Not being negative at all, just stating an opinion. I'll still catch plenty of fish there this spring and summer.

Lots of Walleye in Cedar Bluff!