Mid-Day Walleyes

It seems like James and crew spend a lot of their time fishing walleyes from sun up to sun down, and from the looks of it catch their fair share with the sun high in the sky.

What are some key things everyone looks for to catch walleyes during the day? Lake and water type/color, structure and depth, presentation?

It would seem dark or stained water could make things easier, but what about on clear lakes?

I live in NW WI, and have little to no luck catching walleyes unless the sun is fairly low in the sky. Have tried moving off structure and fishing as deep as 30 feet with nothing to show for it but sometimes perch and a northern or two. At least some of this is on light to medium stained water. Part 2 of that question is how deep are you willing to fish? I don’t feel good about bringing a walleye up from deeper than 30 feet and letting it go. Ideally it would be from 20 feet or less. With that said some fish “seem” to be able to tolerate coming from deep water better than others – maybe walleyes can handle a 30 foot trip if brought up slowly???

I think sometimes we make it seem a lot more complex than it really is. Find some structure, drill it out, fish where there are marks, if they don’t commit change up presentation, if they still don’t commit keep experimenting with lures or go find different structure. Rinse and repeat. Sometimes they just aren’t biting. Usually some cloud and snow cover help a lot during the day too, imo.

Mid-day bite for walleyes is really going to vary based on the lake. Most natural lakes with clearer water its tough during the middle of the day.
If you have noticed, many of the lakes where fish are caught in the middle of the day are either stained water or they are “new” lakes like those in NE SD or SE ND because of all the excess water. These are shallow bodies of water and the clarity is poor.
Even at that your odds are better in low light conditions because of walleyes sensitivity to light with their eyes.
Cloud cover and heavy snowpack also help tremendously.
Red Lake its a common tactic to look for rough ice and you can do much better then where there is smooth ice.

Life of a fish? Find food without becoming food. Clear lakes with pike and muskies can keep walters down because they do not want to be lunch or they cannot compete with a pikes speed. Low light is where a walter has an edge with its prey and competition.

Dark water makes sense. However, I used to live in Chippewa County and fished Lake Wissota. Stained water and we did well fishing river channels in 18 to 25 feet of water. Still was an early morning or late afternoon into dark bite. Tip ups out all day and jigging with no walleye action.

The stained water responses make sense, but I seem to remember Mille Lacs episodes catching walleyes during the day too.

Do most just accept that walleyes are typically a low light fish, or have some of you figured out ways to catch them mid day?

curleytail wrote:

Dark water makes sense. However, I used to live in Chippewa County and fished Lake Wissota. Stained water and we did well fishing river channels in 18 to 25 feet of water. Still was an early morning or late afternoon into dark bite. Tip ups out all day and jigging with no <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>walleye action.

The stained water responses make sense, but I seem to remember Mille Lacs episodes catching walleyes during the day too.

Do most just accept that walleyes are typically a low light fish, or have some of you figured out ways to catch them mid day?

Well…that’s a darn good riddle. Walleyes be walleyes? That is why I go by “Walleyestudent”…and we all are for that matter.

Mille Lacs is clear, however open water during the brightest of skies…daytime, they can be caught with almost relative ease.

Ice season? Sure, there can be some occasional walleyes caught during the day, especially for guides, tv fishing pro’s and those that stay on the move and pick up a fish here and there.

Already this year is sounding like last year in that it will be a struggle to get daytime walleye action, with night time…overnight providing the majority of catching.

Hmmm? Changes in forage could be a factor, but?

Everybody back to the classroom.

Since we are talking about ice season, the intensity of the sun is a huge factor.

I’ve noticed a few days after a high pressure system move through in summer for fish to feed more actively, while some might argue that the conditions stabilized, but when you see the vapor trails from planes really bloom out I’d argue there’s more water vapor in the air breaking up that sunlight. Cold air holds much less moisture nowadays, but for me it helps the theory that the light intensity in itself is key.

Factor that with there’s a huge chunk of ice on top of the water breaking it up which may or may not have snow on top breaking it up even further. Just those factors alone make it more than tolerable for marble eyes to feed during the day.

A lot of lake’s in northern Wis just don’t have the numbers of walleye in them. Unlike some of your better lakes, they got to be there to catch them. That’s one reason prime periods are the best. DK.

nhamm wrote:

Just those factors alone make it more than tolerable for marble eyes to feed during the day.

I agree wholeheartedly, but that’s not what we’re seeing??

catmando wrote:

A lot of lake’s in northern Wis just don’t have the numbers of walleye in them. Unlike some of your better lakes, they got to be there to catch them.

I agree wholeheartedly, I always struggled to catch a walleye in N WI.

I also agree with the above statement regarding walleyes in Wi. Wisconsin doesnt seem to have many lakes that are known for walleyes like MN does.

On large bodies of water, Lake Erie or Saginaw Bay, mid day bites are common. Those lakes are full of fish though…you can always find feeding fish, just takes some running and gunning. On clearer inland lakes, it’s much tougher. On sunny, high pressure days I’ll try deeper during the day, usually with tip ups.There are some lakes i fish in northern Michigan I’ll either perch fish in the afternoon or ride the sled to the tavern for a burger and brew.

Good replies so far. It does seem like hitting on the very large water body and high numbers/concentrated fish is somewhat of a connection. That’s something I’m lacking of course.

I don’t believe it’s strictly light levels. I can catch walleyes all day in bright skys early in the spring on clear water. Early ice the bite window might last a couple hours. By later on it seems to sometimes just be a one or 2 bite window and they are done. Typically I’m fishing 8 to 22 feet though, on or along structure and wonder if other locations would provide a longer window or daytime bite.

Interesting discussion. Part of the difference is no doubt lakes and numbers of fish. However, we do have a couple lakes with at least pretty good numbers, and it seems a daylight bite could be possible. It will be interesting to try to figure it out.

Tucker

Comes down to statistics. The more fish per acre the better your chances. Same reason I can easily shoot a deer in southern WI and spend days in northern Wi without seeing a thing.

Y2ba wrote:

There are some lakes i fish in northern Michigan I’ll either <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>perch fish in the afternoon or ride the sled to the tavern for a burger and brew.

We do that here in Minnesota too.

curleytail wrote:

I don’t believe it’s strictly light levels. I can catch walleyes all day in bright skys early in the spring on clear water. Early ice the bite window might last a couple hours. By later on it seems to sometimes just be a one or 2 bite window and they are done.

Tucker

As the winter (ice season) progresses, remember that fish metabolism decreases. Big factor is oxygen levels diminish with dying weeds that suck the oxygen level rather than contribute. Add in that with an ice cap, there is no wave action which replenishes oxygen content. So what you have toward mid to late ice is fish existing with lower oxygen levels. They don’t want to move around much.

Try running around up in the mountains (high altitudes) for awhile and see how that affects your motivation to keep running all day.

Walleyestudent Andy Cox wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>Y2ba wrote:</div>
There are some lakes i fish in northern Michigan I’ll either <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>perch fish in the afternoon or ride the sled to the tavern for a burger and brew.

We do that here in Minnesota too.

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>curleytail wrote:</div>
I don’t believe it’s strictly light levels. I can catch walleyes all day in bright skys early in the spring on clear water. Early ice the bite window might last a couple hours. By later on it seems to sometimes just be a one or 2 bite window and they are done.

Tucker

As the winter (ice season) progresses, remember that fish metabolism decreases. Big factor is oxygen levels diminish with dying weeds that suck the oxygen level rather than contribute. Add in that with an ice cap, there is no wave action which replenishes oxygen content. So what you have toward mid to late ice is fish existing with lower oxygen levels. They don’t want to move around much.

Try running around up in the mountains (high altitudes) for awhile and see how that affects your motivation to keep running all day.

Andy, point taken. However, my point is still that walleyes WILL feed in bright conditions, and in winter with lower sun angles, ice and snow cover, i don’t think it’s strictly that it’s too bright during the day. Of course factors like oxygen content are a significant factor, and maybe it tends to push fish into feeding more at prime time than when their environmental conditions are perfect.

trophybucs wrote:

Comes down to statistics. The more fish per acre the better your chances. Same reason I can easily shoot a deer in southern WI and spend days in northern Wi without seeing a thing.

Certainly understand that. As somebody that loves to bowhunt and hunts the public land around Hayward WI I sure understand that!