spring walleye run

I was wondering if there is a specific rule of thump as to the why and when of the spring run,(besides the spawn) be it temp, flow, or amount of daylight hours. With the warmer than average winter we have had, what should one expect? Would like to hear your comments. thanks John

Usualy the (big transition) starts when the water has a significant rise to it. But some fish start to trickel up by the biological clock. If the water were not to rise by normal spawn time. Then I believe the fish tend to move by their time clock… Longer day light….bio clock…water temp …..

Lower water will definatly change their routes and destinations. I am not possative but I believe that once the water temp.hit 40 they would tend to move without a water rise.

Just my 2 pennies

I’m not a ichthyologist but I usually go by water temp..and that lucky spring feeling that Predator2 is speaking about..Start seeking them when temps start 40ish

There is a lot of info in the “Articles” section on the main page. One you may want to review is the pool 4 telementry study done by the DNR.

Here is a link:

http://www.fishtheriver.com/articles/pool4.htm

J>

ReefRunner, You may not be a Ichthyowhatever, but I think you have one sitting on your head. Don’t delay,get it looked at now!

For thirty some years I have heard two things. 45 degree water temp & The full moon closest to April fools day. This year that would be March 28th. I always have a hard time differentiating between pre-spawn, spawn, and post spawn peaks cause My fishing rarely slows down, and until May I still see an occasional fish with eggs in it. The fish down here seem to start getting into position(prespawn?), about the second week of March . From now until then can be some miserable fishing with even the dinks aren’t biting. Lawrence

the fish seem to have their “wintering” spots….. and then they move… on pool 2 they sit in their wintering spots usually until early March… then they start to move and are hard to find and catch after that….. which is the time I normally switch and start going to pool 4… cuz thats where the action is then……

yes agree completey with river eyes here on pool 5 the walleyes have a wintering spot about a mile below the dam in about 20-25 feet. Year after year u can find a good number of walleyes in this spot. It is a place where barges are put when they are unloading coal at the Powerplant. This area is very snaggy because of the amout of debri on the bottom…you lose most of your jigs to barge ropes..soon as the water warms to around 45 the fish start the make there transtion up river from there wintering spot.

Flick

What I have seen over the years on Pool 2 is exactly what Rivereyes was talking about, but when the waters are warming and fish start their movement to their spawning area, this has been when I have boated some of my biggest fish from Pool 2. Yes, and although they can become at times a little more trickier to find, there are great dividends to be paid to the ones who do find them. Besides the fall fishing here on Pool 2, this is one of my favorite times to be down here.

Yeah… Ive mostly been a numbers “freak” so when the numbers stop coming in then I move to where I can get them….. for some reason Ive never really focused on the larger fish… but Ive seen what your talking about in pool 2… often when the numbers “stop” then the size picks up…. there have been a few days on 2 where I only caught 3-4 fish.. but the smallest would be better than 6 #’s…. when the big girls hit they really hit hard!…..