Water temp and spawning activity

Just curious as to what the water temps are out their now and what they will be at the end of this week after this blast of warm weather. Im wondering if alot of fish are going to start unloading eggs now and curious as to what everyone else thinks. Ive heard it said by some that April 25th is spawning time for walleyes on the upper miss give or take a day every year. But then Ive heard other people say that they all dump their eggs at different times. Just curious if the current conditions will trigger the spawn. I kind of hope they all start spawning now and get it over with and with great success again this year! I know this past year the YOY samplings on pool 8 smashed all-time records at over 800 yoy’s per hour due to the high water last year. Hoping for another year like that!

Not all the fish will spawn at the same time… and some, maybe most, will spawn this week. We had male walleyes dripping milt and dekaja tried to upload a pic of a POST-spawn 26.5″ walleye he caught on pool 4 this weekend. The 10# fish I caught was full of spawn… but not ready to drop eggs yet.

On another note, about 4 years ago, I caught and cleaned a 20″ walleye that was still full of spawn…. in July. Not kidding. I have witnesses. The spawn was all conjealed and an off-color…. but it was spawn and likely being reabsorbed into the body for some unknown reason.

My guess is it wouldn’t be far off thinking to assume that most of the walleyes will finish spawning over the next 10 days…. but there will be some stragglers. Or why else would all those males hang around the spawning beds for so long after the majority of the spawn is behind us?

Typical males holding out hopes for a lucky break!…LOL

Well… I have NO idea what temps are now…. but it sounds like fish are spawning in the lower pools (pool 13 anyway) according to John Pitlo….. he also had the following to say to me a while ago when I asked about this springs spawn….

“I know that in our part of the river, the biggest controlling factor on walleye reproductive success is the rate of water warming during the spawning and incubation period (April 15 to May 5). Spawning reaches its peak when water temperature ranges from 42 to 50 degrees”

So with this REALLY warm weather I think its harmful to the spawn because a gradual warm up of .5 degrees a day is ideal.. this will rocket the temp up.. then a cool down may drop it down and that is very bad…… I would say the spawn is on right now… and the date you list April 25 I suppose could be the peak… though I would not know that for sure…. but I would say most likely its on in lower pools now.. and soon will be on the upper pools if its not already… (and I would guess its on NOW, with this warmer weather!)…..

All i have to say is after today and tomorrow, that water is going to be just a boiling, hopefully them eggs stay cold!!!! jk, i know they should be fine, I don’t think it could ever get to warm on them, James you prolly know, could it ever get to warm for them and disrupt the spawning?

Spawning is generally triggered by several factors – water temperature and day length are two of the strongest. In Pool 13 – we have collected our first walleye eggs as early as March 31 and as late as April 14. Males arrive at the spawning grounds before the females are ready and stay on the spawning grounds for about 3- 31/2 weeks (this data from radio tagged fish). Females first move to backwater lakes that are warmer than the main channel – then move to main channel borders sites near spawning areas. They actually move onto spawning grounds at night – we have not followed a radio tagged female onto the spawning grounds during the day (It might happend, but we have not seen it). In Pool 13, spawning usually peaks a week on either side of the second week in April (depending on water temperature), and usually coincides with spring high water. On Friday, our water temperture in Pool 13 was 47, today (Monday) it is 55!! Fish are spawning as I post this. Hope we don’t have a cold rain that will cool the water too rapidly. On the average – we collect the first walleye larvae (just hatched fish) around May 5.

Wow. All great replies guys! I am just fascinated by this topic and really appreciate the responses.

A special thanks goes to fishsqzr for taking time to post here on FTR!

What a treat!

Interesting reading guys….water down here in southeast Ia is up and dirty…haven’t talked to anybody to get the water temp., but I suppose we should be a little ahead of you guys up north on the spawn.