Photo: Engbretson, Eric / U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Sander vitreus

How to catch Walleye

Walleye feed in 34–78°F water and bite best at 55–70°F. Fish Scouter's season calendar follows them in 42 waters; in October they are at their peak in Ohio fresh water, Indiana fresh water, Illinois fresh water and 22 more.

25 pts · trophy at 26"Feeds 34–78°FBest 55–70°FIn season nowLakeReservoirRiverBridgeFishing pierDock / pilings

About

The marble-eyed perch of the North: a night feeder with glassy eyes that see in the dark, schooled on the rock reefs and the river runs from Lake Erie to the Missouri reservoirs and south in the TVA mountain lakes. The best-eating fish in fresh water, by popular vote.

How to fish it

Low light is everything — dawn, dusk, night, wind, cloud. Jig the rock and the current breaks in spring; troll crawler harnesses on the flats and crankbaits on the breaklines in summer; the river mouths in fall.

What it eats

jig and minnownightcrawler harnessescrankbaits trolled at nightleechesblade baits in the rivers

Live bait for it

Minnows (fatheads, shiners)Hooked lightly through the lips or behind the dorsal on a #6 to #2 hook under a slip bobber for crappie, perch and walleye; a big golden shiner on a 2/0 to 4/0 for largemouth, pike and stripers.

LeechesHooked once through the sucker end on a #8 to #4 hook under a slip bobber or on a live-bait rig — walleye and smallmouth can't leave them alone.

NightcrawlersWhole on a #6 to #2 hook under a bobber or on a bottom rig; threaded on a spinner harness drifted for walleye. The bait that catches everything in fresh water.