Early Season Walleye Strategies by Jerry Carlson

Opening day for the game fish season is a big event in much of the Midwest. This fact holds especially true for those that love to hunt for walleyes during the early part of the year.

In order to bring some success to the early season, there are two aspects to consider. One is location. Anglers can’t catch fish if they can’t find them. The other is presentation. Finding fish and getting them to bite is often two different scenarios.

When considering location, it is important to note that the spring spawning ritual plays a huge role in the location of early season walleyes.

Like all other spring spawning fish, walleyes make a migration from the deep water to shallow water right after ice out. They hang around in the shallows near hard bottom or rock rubble until the temperature is right for spawning. Their preferred spawning temperature ranges from 38-44 degrees Fahrenheit.

Once their spawning cycle is complete, they have a tendency to stay relatively close to where they did their spawning thing. This means they continue to relate to shoreline structure. This is especially true of the males. (It is important to note that shoreline structure includes large, shallow mid lake humps or islands.)

One reason that shoreline structure is so productive has to do with food. Walleyes aren’t the only fish making a spawning run in the spring. Pan fish and baitfish are also staging for their spawn.

In addition to the food being shallow, anglers need to realize that the summer habitat has not yet developed on the deep humps and reefs that are so productive in June. Without weed growth and baitfish habitat on the deep humps, the food source for walleyes is not present.

The key for locating early season walleyes falls back on baitfish location. With every lake developing a little differently, it is imperative that anglers take into consideration where the walleyes spawn and then where the nearest hard bottomed or sandy area is located that will be utilized by spawning baitfish. Walleyes are never far from their source of food.

Water temperature is key. Lakes that warm quickly or are located farther south will have walleyes located deeper than lakes that have their spring to summer development taking place at a slower pace.

As for presentation, location of the fish must be considered before a decision is made. For many situations, a Lindy rig presentation with a shiner minnow is hard to beat. Walleyes love shiners because they are the right shape for easy eating and digestion. Other minnows will certainly catch fish in the early season, but shiners are my favorite.

Although I will take along crawlers and leeches on my early season adventures, I find that on most lakes, minnows usually work the best for the first few weeks of the season. Minnows are readily accepted by hungry walleyes because the baitfish population in all lakes is at the yearly low in the spring. Because of this, predator fish must work a little harder to find food than they do later in the season.

It is important to note that there are lakes where leeches will consistently out produce all other live bait, even on opening weekend. Checking on the bait preference should be done before traveling to a new body of water in the spring.

At times, slip floats are the only way to go for opening day. This is especially true when fish are shallow and spooky. If schooled walleyes are under ten feet of water, they rarely tolerate boats trolling over them more than once or twice before they move to quieter surroundings.

Working scattered walleyes in shallow water can be a different story. If the fish are spread out, there is less danger of spooking them. Drifting or trolling scattered fish is often productive.

When it comes to early season walleye, there are no location and presentation strategies that are cut in stone. However, there are some basic parameters that do help. By understanding the predator and prey fish relationship and by using this information in presentation strategies, early season walleye angling can be very productive.