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The walleye's exists in waters ranging from tiny natural walleye lakes of 50 acres or less to Lake Erie's Western Basin That is over 1265 square miles. You can find them from the very clear deep lakes of Canada, to very cloudy silted shallow waters.They are equally comfortable in still or flowing water.
Natural lakes provide far more walleye habitat than any other type of water.North America natural lakes are home to the majority of the walleye's population, when you look at percentage breakdown of the entire walleye habitat spectrum. Here's a breakdown by percentage: 94% Natural walleye lakes, 5% man-made reservoirs, 1% rivers and streams.
As a result of widespread stocking outside their native range,walleyes are now found in 32 % of all the freshwater acreage in North America creating many pristine walleye fishing waters.
You will find very high concentrations of walleye in large shallow lakes, that have medium to to low water clarity. A good example is the western basin of Lake Erie. A large expansion of water is likely to have the windswept shorelines needed and reefs that make ideal walleye spawning habitat. And a shallow fishing lake is likely to provide more food then deep water walleye lakes. If the shoreline drops sharply into the depths and has few shallow feeding shelves, the chances are the walleyes will not be abundant. Waters of low clarity limit the sunlight penetration and shield the walleye's light sensitive eyes.
Lets talk a bit about the different classifications of lakes. The first type of lake we will discuss is a Oligotrophic lake, which have fair to good walleye numbers.Oligotrophic walleye fishing lakes are excellent for spawning because there are so many rocky basins,but they tend to be cold and infertile.
As we said before, a Oligotrophic lake will have fair to good walleye populations, and these walleye fishing lakes are usually cold and infertile, but have many rocky basins that make good spawning habitat. Walleyes in Oligotrophic deep lakes will live longer but will not grow as big or as fast as in shallower, low clarity warmer fertile lakes. Walleyes in these lakes grow more slowly but live longer then in warmer water. Most Oligotropic lakes are in remote areas, so anglers take fewer walleyes.
Mesotrophic lakes generally have the largest population of walleyes. These moderately fertile lakes produce good food crop, so walleyes grow fairly fast. Most of these fishing lakes have enough gravel or rubble bottom for successful spawning. Mesotropical walleye lakes seldom have a winter kill but may lack oxygen at the deeper depths.
A Eutrophic lake will be highly fertile and have abundant food supplies. Walleyes in one of these walleye lakes grow rapidly, but because of allot of silted deposits will offer limited spawning habitat. The natural walleye habitat is normally low and expensive stocking is needed. If a Eutrophic walleye fishing lake is less than 25ft deep, a heavy snow cover for any length of time will cause multiple winter fish kills |
