Spring Walleye

It’s that time of year again only it’s a few weeks early. I’m not sure if that is good or bad. Granted the early spring has given us a jump on the Lake Erie walleye season but it may move the whole walleye migration ahead.

Fishing for spring walleye can be a very productive time. The fish are hungry from a long cold winter and they are starting to spawn. The action can be fast and furious with big walleye plentiful.

There are some drawbacks with the biggest one being the weather. It is usually cold and rainy and the weather is always unpredictable. The weathermen miss it more often than they get it right. The lake temperature will be in the low to mid 40’s which makes handling the wet fish a cold job. Launch ramps and bait are often iffy at best. Calling ahead is always in order.

Even with the drawbacks mentioned the fishing can be awesome. Jigging the reefs, casting crank baits on the reefs and trolling along the drop off to deeper water is the best way to catch a trophy walleye. All three of these methods require a boat. If you have one or can go with a friend you are in good shape. If not you will have to depend on Charters or Headboats which can also be iffy early in the season.

For those of you that don’t know, a Headboat is a charter except it takes a larger number of fishermen. Sometimes as many as 20+ people. It’s not my preferred method but it is more economical that a regular charter and if you are lucky enough to hook up with a good outfit you should catch quite a few fish. Be prepared to watch out for lures whizzing past your ear and more than one line tangle with another fisherman. The upside to the headboats is that they can be a lot of fun and you always meet some very interesting people.

Spring walleye fishing is usually measured in weeks not months. There are a lot of variables that affect it but water temperature seems to be the biggest one. Once the water temperature on the reefs start to warm up the walleye will start moving to deeper water. Speaking of water temperatures I have been following the increasing temperatures for the last month.

Starting at the end of the first week and through the third week of March the land temperatures were far above normal. These record temperatures caused the Lake Erie water temperatures to increase rapidly. On March 21 the water temperatures at the three reporting stations ( Toledo, Cleveland and Erie) were all at or above 40 degrees. From there the Toledo water temperature rocketed to 55 degrees on March 27. It seemed once the water temperatures hit the mid 40’s the spring walleye bite was on.

Todays Lake Erie water temperatures were 51 in Toledo, 44 in Cleveland and 41 in Erie. As you can see the west (shallow) end of the lake is 7 to 10 degrees warmer. As the year progresses and the western basin of Lake Erie reaches its maximum temperatures the walleye will start to migrate east to find the cooler waters. Will that migration be early this year? Only time will tell but I predict a hot summer with an early walleye move to the cooler waters of the central basin.