spring walleye hotspots
By Richard Anderson
March 2006

The opening of the spring walleye season once saw me feverishly tuning up the boat and motor, straightening out the old tackle box, and hunting down the latest and greatest rod, reel, or lure. When I hit the water, though, the reality of finding spawn-centric fish in changing water temperatures often took the air out of my sails quicker than you could say "snag." A few decades later, with a variety of waterbodies under my belt, I've stumbled across less-than-obvious spring walleye haunts that continue to bail me out in a pinch. In fact, a lot of them have proven to be much more productive than many conventional spots.

1. SLOW-MOVING CREEKS
Traditional thinking is that walleye only spawn in fast-flowing, gravel-laden tributaries. While this is certainly true, it's also a surefire way to miss indistinct, slower-moving creeks and sloughs. Often no more than a boat length in width, these small waterways sometimes dry up in hot summers and are only capable of supporting walleye during high spring runoff. In cold, late springs with above-average water levels, these "ditches" can become spawning havens because they have warmer water than their larger, faster-flowing counterparts. In fact, they might even be attached to and flow into prime spawning rivers, but will host the bulk of walleye because they've detoured into the warmer climes and often stay for some time after the actual spawn is over. Regardless of how small they appear, their proximity to prime spawning grounds, or even whether they have visible current, they can hold a lot of walleye.

To find out if one does, you'll often have to do a bit of bush-whacking with your boat as you navigate through a maze of grass, over-hanging brush, and submerged timber or beaver dam remnants. Many such flows in northern Ontario, at least, are so narrow, shallow, and choked off at their entrances that they demand a great deal of boat manoeuvring creativity, but none are too small to not seriously explore. Over the years I've spent many spring days on bush-crashing safaris in full-blown shore-lunch-panic mode trying to locate walleye because none were biting at our regular spots. The effort has frequently paid handsome dividends of boatfuls of sticks and fish.

In my experience, the best small feeders are those fed by a series of little creeks, a string of ponds, beaver dams, or even tiny lakes. It saves time if you locate these potential targets on a topographic map before hitting the water, but in general, the most productive seem to be those with bigger water sources. While depth isn't as critical as the water source, I prefer to fish a feeder that has a few corner pools or runs with 7- to 8-foot depths, but I've also caught fish along weeds, reeds, and flooded brush in feeders with average depths of only 5 feet.

The approach you use will have a major impact on the number of fish caught, as walleye in these micro-waterways are spooked easily by a boat. Fish your way in, because prime spots are often closest to the main body of water.

The presentation of choice is a jig pitched ahead of the boat close and parallel to the banks, while you move quietly upstream with a bow-mounted electric motor. With a partner, you get the best coverage if you're both in the bow, with one of you pitching the left bank, the other the right. As soon as you get your first fish, back off, avoid driving over the spot, and continue fishing from an anchored position or, as I like to do, from a spot along the bank where I beach the boat into weeds or tie it off on overhanging brush. From a fixed position you can continue pitching jigs or switch to floats and bait for less active fish. Once you've caught what the spot has to offer, pull up stakes, continue upstream, and repeat the process.

Walleye usually leave these secondary waters shortly after spawning, so keep this in mind. Especially in southern Ontario, walleye might have vacated the premises by the time the angling seasons open. In late springs, though, you might find a virtual golden bonanza all to yourself.

2. POTHOLES
In the lexicon of the spring walleye angler, "potholes" are small lakes attached to prime walleye water by a slow-moving, shallow, hard-to-navigate creek. It might be 100 yards or a few miles long, but either way it will end in a shallow lake. In fact, the best are 30 feet or less deep. They warm more quickly than deep lakes and early season walleye there go on the bite sooner.

Remote pothole lakes are rarely fished. As with spring feeder creeks, high water levels are often the only opportunity you get to travel into a pothole lake. Even if access is possible in summer, these lakes are often so warm that they get weed choked and difficult to fish. Prime time is spring time.