Walleye

What it looks like

• Large, elongated fish
• Back is olive-green to brown; sides paler with yellow flecks
• No distinct blotches or bands on adults
• White tip on lower tail fin
• Spiny and soft dorsal fins separated
• Large mouth extends below back edge of eye
• Large teeth

Size

• Typical length: 35.5–58.4 centimetres (14-23 inches)
• Typical weight: 0.68–1.36 kilograms (1.5-3 pounds)
• Ontario record: 10.1 kilograms (22.3 pounds)

Similar fish

• Yellow Perch

Where it's found

Range

• throughout Ontario
• especially common in the Great Lakes basin and Northern Ontario
• use Fish ON-Line, an interactive mapping tool, to find specific lakes and rivers

Habitat

• a range of river and lake conditions
• from cold, clear water to warm, weedy and stained water
• soft mud bottoms to flooded timber, rubble or bedrock
• preferred cover – weed, wood, rock

Angling Tips

• walleye avoid light—best times to fish are morning and evening, and cloudy or overcast days
• take almost any bait or lure in spring, and feed well in fall
• more challenging to catch in summer
• cast or troll with spinners or minnow-imitating plugs
• troll with worm harness rigs of spinners and beads
• still-fish, drift or troll live baits on slip-sinker or "bottom-bouncing" rigs
• ice fish with jigs, jigging spoons or minnows

Common Baits

• jigs tipped with soft plastics, live bait or bucktail
• minnow-imitating plugs
• minnows, earthworms, crayfish