Walleyes likely originated as a fish of flowing water, inhabiting a vast waterscape of rivers that once fed thousands of natural lakes throughout the North Country of the upper US and southern Canada. As glacial run-off receded and walleyes adapted to lifestyles in various types of natural lakes, classic behavior emerged.

Today, anglers often have preconceived notions regarding walleye location, based upon fish behavior in deep, clear, rocky waters where natural reproduction sustains the fishery. Yet either through stocking or natural reproduction, walleyes today inhabit less-than-classic natural lakes as well. This creates fishing opportunity and confusion. Let’s sort out fact from fiction and perception from misconception, for locating and catching walleyes in natural lakes.

Rockin’ to the Classics—Clear, deep water, rock and sand substrate, a band or fringe of deep weeds along the first drop-off, and self-sustaining populations of walleyes, many of which grow large, are indicators of classic northern walleye waters. Moderately fertile and relatively cool, their 60- to 100-foot-plus basins often support suspended cisco forage, along with mixed fisheries of pike, muskies, bass, panfish, and assorted forage like perch and minnows. They offer a little bit of everything to many species, especially walleyes.

Spawning typically occurs in rocky feeder creeks, along rock shorelines, atop shallow rock reefs, or in some combination thereof. Many walleye populations are self-sustaining, though some are bolstered by stocking if fishing pressure and harvest take an excessive toll. Walleyes that aren’t caught and kept typically live long and prosper, with excellent prospects for reaching or topping 10 pounds.

These are diverse habitats with many options and oftentimes simultaneous patterns, particularly in summer. In general, the largest walleyes use deep structure above the summer thermocline, where livebait rigging and jigging classic points and humps excel. Yet many of the largest fish also suspend and feed on ciscoes, making open-water trolling tactics a viable but seldom-used option. Many anglers are too brainwashed by traditional methods to put much faith in modern basin strategies, preferring to trust their luck to rigs and jigs.

These waters also host substantial weedline fisheries, particularly in late spring, and then again in late summer when oxygen depletion in the depths sends fish scurrying back into the cool shade of the weeds. Ply weedlines with jigs or crankbaits during the day, and fish above them with cranks at night. Windswept shallow rockpiles and reefs may draw feeding forays, day and night. In summer, many of the largest fish become active only at night, during twilight, or in periods of wind-triggered feeding.

In fall, fish drop deep, using classic structure in the 30- to 60-foot levels. Vertically rig and jig points, twists, and turns along steep breaklines meeting the main basin. (Some of the same areas offer some of the best trophy walleye ice fishing.) In late fall, walleyes may move at night to shallow creek mouths to feed on shiners, or to rock-sand shorelines adjoining deep water to feed on fall-spawning ciscoes. Cast or troll minnow-imitators in the shallows at night.

Many Canadian shield lakes fall into this category, though they differ somewhat in landform, fertility, and water temperature.

Stocked Weedy Environments—If it lives like a bass, eats like a bass in areas where bass usually live, is it a bass? Not necessarily. Where walleyes are stocked into weedy natural lakes, they must adapt to local conditions. If forage, cover, and habitat dictate a lifestyle in and around leafy cover, so be it. We have weed walleyes.

Moderately fertile, weedy natural lakes often lack sufficient rocky spawning grounds for successful walleye reproduction. If the fish can’t migrate upstream to clean rock and gravel shoals, the population must be supported by stocking. They may attempt to spawn along silted-in gravel and stone shorelines, but nothing good comes from it. Following the attempt, they move back to developing weed-cover for much of the year.

During postspawn and presummer, walleyes roam weedflats in the 6- to 12-foot range. They tend to lay low and inactive during the day, but respond to longline trolling with minnow-imitators at night. Some fish may move out over the relatively shallow basin—usually in less than 40 feet of water—to feed on emerging mayflies during a June hatch. Suspended baitfish forage, however, generally is lacking. Once the thermocline solidifies and pushes fish shallow, usually in July, life centers along the deep weedline throughout summer.

Probing pockets, points, and turns along the deep edge is key to success. Pitching a jig and plastic tail or jig and livebait tickles the weededge and drops down between stalks. Brittle cabbage weeds are easiest to work through, generally breaking clean when a sharp wrist snap of the rod is used to free the open-hook jig. In denser, softer coontail, however, weedless jigs often are necessary to penetrate and slither between stalks; fouled lures tend to uproot the stalks when pressure is applied. In extremely dense cover, backtroll weedless livebait rigs parallel to the base of the deep weededge, moving in close enough to tickle the fringe without frequent fouling. Lowlight periods tend to outproduce midday hours.

In fall, weeds die. Walleyes may linger along the deeper outer fringe of green weeds as long as the weeds remain healthy. Or, with the dissolution of the thermocline, walleyes may, in fact, drop deep into newly reoxygenated depths, relating to any form of deep hump or tip of a point meeting the basin—just as walleyes in classic lakes do, providing that deep forage like perch or minnows is present. If so, deep livebait rigging or jigging excels. This is one time of year that weed walleyes act like classic walleyes.

As a general rule, walleyes in small weedy lakes are more territorial and less mobile than those in larger, more intricately structured waters. Fish may remain in one general weedy area all summer, compared to variable patterns and frequent long forays around the lake in larger waters.

Fertile Prairie Waters—Shallow, featureless basins and dark, warm, fertile waters often support algae blooms in summer. Hardly seems like a walleye environment. It isn’t. Walleyes stocked into such waters may not find suitable spawning areas, but they do find abundant food and often grow fast and die young. Fish reach trophy size in a few years, but seldom live ten years or longer like their counterparts in other waters.

Prairie or farm country lakes are dishpan soup bowls, receiving nutrient-rich agricultural run-off. They brim with forage—minnows, shad, carp, bullheads, white bass, frogs, and salamanders—and walleyes have no trouble finding food. What they have trouble finding is classic structure; it doesn’t exist. The shoreline tapers to a wide open basin. Only along shore are rocks present—often placed as riprap by man—plus assorted shallow weeds, often reeds.

Walleyes attempt to spawn in such waters, moving toward current inlets at creeks or narrows, but the act generally goes unrewarded. These, too, are stocked waters. Most of the year, walleyes roam the open basin, either suspending or lying near bottom, feeding on suspended forage. Open-water trolling tactics incorporating planer boards and crankbaits often are best.

For the structure-minded angler, there’s still hope. Walleyes make occasional feeding forays into windblown shorelines and weedgrowth, following and trapping prey along shoreline rock walls that plunge to 3 or 4 feet, or in reed or cane beds, which the fish penetrate like shallow forests. Cast cranks or jigs along prominent shoreline rock lips, cast spinnerbaits through reedbeds, or pitch jig and leech combos into cane beds.

Night fishing is a viable alternative in such fisheries, as fish move toward the shoreline under cover of darkness. Fall is prime time as walleyes move shallow at night to intercept frogs or salamanders reentering the lake from adjacent swamps. Toss neutrally buoyant minnow-imitator crankbaits. Shorecast, wade, or fish from a boat.

Pseudo Rocky Patterns—The classic misconception regarding walleyes in natural lakes is that all you need do is find rocky structure falling into deep water to find fish, and that livebait rigs and jigs are all you need to catch ‘em. In some cases, yes. In others, such areas don’t even exist, and faster-moving tactics like crankbaits, spinner-bottom bouncer-crawler harnesses, or weedless jigs or spinnerbaits might be more appropriate. As always, read conditions, predict walleye location and behavior based on the available options, match your tactics to the conditions, and catch fish. Naturally.