Chuck Bettinson is all smiles after catching this nice southern Michigan walleye. Photo by www.gnatoutdoors.com.

Most Great Lakes locations produced outstanding walleye fishing in 2006. With a year to grow and several strong year-classes to capitalize on, anglers can expect walleye angling on the Great Lakes to be even hotter this season. Try to fish these hotspots this year. However, you will notice we left out Lake Erie, mainly because that Great Lake is worthy of its own full-length feature story in our upcoming June issue.

SAGINAW BAY
“Anglers enjoyed good walleye fishing all summer long in 2006 on Saginaw Bay,” said Southern Lake Michigan Management Unit fisheries supervisor Jim Baker.

Baker admitted that the walleyes weren’t the biggest, but they sure made up for it in numbers.

“We have had three outstanding natural year-classes that are now carrying the fishery,” Baker said. “There are a lot of fish in the pipeline.”

When asked why there was such a huge jump in natural reproduction and spawning success, Baker said he could sum it up in one word: “alewives.” He continued, “We never knew how big a factor alewives were in limiting perch and walleye numbers until now.”

Baker said fisheries managers had a pretty good feel for the number of naturally spawned walleyes versus planted fish that were in the bay due to extensive tagging and netting studies that had been done. Baker said studies showed that about 80 percent of the walleyes captured were stocked fish versus 20 percent natural fish prior to 2003. After the tremendous year-classes in 2003 through 2005 and excellent walleye survival, the ratio flip-flopped 360 degrees. Now 80 percent of the walleyes found in the bay are naturally reproduced and only 20 percent are the result of planting.

“We had near-perfect conditions for spawning and hatching for several years in a row,” Baker said.

In fact, the bay is now supporting so many walleyes that the decision was made to not even stock it in 2006. Instead, more than 39 bodies of water in the Lake Huron Basin got the extra walleyes. How does that bode for anglers in 2007?

“I’m expecting a banner year in 2007,” Baker stated. “There’s going to be a lot of medium-sized walleyes in the 16- to 18-inch range.”