Eager to Bite and Willing to Fight

Walleye have just endured a long winter beneath the ice. Coldwater temperatures, low light conditions, and low oxygen levels have all taken their toll on the walleye. Not to mention, they have just finished spawning which has further stressed and depleted their energy level. This is where it gets tricky for eager walleye anglers who have anxiously waited all winter to fish the open water.

Female walleye are now running on their reserves and are in a rest and recovery pattern. Female walleye will still feed, but they have little interest in running down fast-moving baits. The less energy they have to use to feed, the better, and even then, they can be very finicky when it comes to feeding. The proverbial lock-jaw. In most cases, walleye anglers targeting female walleye within the first two weeks of the season opener will often find the walleye bite very slow. However, male walleye are often overlooked but more than willing to bite an angler's offering.

Reservoirs

I find reservoirs a little more predictable than natural lakes during the first two weeks of the season. Reservoirs have man-made dams and water gates where water levels and flow are controlled, rock shorelines, rock walls, overflow or runoff culverts, and a variety of other man-made structures. On all these man-made structures rocks of all sizes and gravel are used to build and support the structures. Best of all, they are easy to locate because anglers can easily see the rock structures when looking at the shoreline. However, not all rock structures are created equal when it comes to the walleye. For whatever reason, walleye will prefer to hold on one rocky location and not the other although they may all look identical to the angler. Finding the areas walleye are using may come down to trial and error. However, I’ve had my best luck keying in on rocks ranging from soft-ball size down to chunk gravel in eight to 12 feet of water. However, where I like to start fishing is at the culverts with rock structures supporting them and scattered rocks on the bottom of the reservoir around the culverts as mentioned above. I believe walleye key in on these culvert locations because of the consistent water flow which creates oxygen-rich water.

Natural lakes

When fishing natural lakes, I look for rock structures as mentioned above. If you look at the shoreline and all you see is dirt, trees, mud, or grass/weeds to the water's edge, then all of a sudden you see rocks or find a rocky bottom, stop and fish it. If the lake has a natural inlet or outlet such as a feeder creek, runoff stream, or even a river inlet or outlet, fish it. That’s moving water creating aeration and most of the time there are rocks in the area just beneath the surface. If you can’t find the obvious, you will be forced to search until you find walleye. However, if you’re targeting male walleye during the first two weeks of opening day, don’t be afraid to fish shallow. Again, I’ve consistently caught male walleye during May in as little as two feet of water and my favourite depths would be eight to 12 feet of water with rocks.