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Walleye
Stizostedion vitreum
- Length: 13 to 25 inches
- Weight: 1 to 5 pounds
- Coloring: olive-brown to golden-brown
to yellow on back; paler sides; yellowish white underside
- Common Names: walleye pike, yellow
walleye, pickerel, yellow pickerel, pike-perch, wall-eyed pickerel, dore (French)
- Found in Lakes: Michigan, Huron,
Ontario, Erie and Superior
- Anglers enjoy walleyes year-round as
strong, if unspectacular, game fish. During the day, these large-finned,
brassy-colored fish often rest on the bottom, hovering in the shade of submerged objects
or in the shadows of deep water. They emerge at dusk to feed over shallow weed beds or
rocky shoals. In midsummer, they often remain near the bottom, even at night.
In the past, commercial fishing for walleyes
flourished in the upper Great Lakes, particularly in Lake Michigan's Green Bay and Lake
Huron's Saginaw Bay. Then, after a productive period from the late 1940s to the early
1950s, the population and commercial catch of walleyes began to decline. This trend
continued until the 1970s, when walleye populations exploded in Lake Erie and stocking
programs in Green Bay began to show signs of success.
Walleyes live about seven years, but are most
often caught as one- to three-pound three-year-olds. In Lake Erie, where walleyes are most
abundant, the largest individual on record weighed almost 12 pounds. The record catch is a
22 pound, 11 ounce fish from Greers Ferry Lake, Arkansas.
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copyright University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute
Brook Trout illustration copyright 1998 Gina
Mikel
Walleye photograph (c)
Shedd Aquarium (Patrice Ceisel) (e-mail)
Drawing from Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
Last updated 11 February 2002 by Seaman |