Water Temp & Spawn

[West Basin]

42 degrees water temperature. This can vary up and down but for our latitude the main spawning event is near 42 degrees. Once the water temperature gets near 40 the fish are ready and waiting. If the temp gets to and stays at or is rising from 42 then the big spawn is on. The fish are in the area beforehand so fishing begins as soon as the water temps start rising from their winter lows and get near 40. There are always walleye around in the Lake Erie Western Basin, it's not like the rivers where there are only large numbers of walleye there in the spring. So you can fish for and catch them year 'round. They just concentrate on the spawning reefs and shoals once the water temps rise to the spawning temperatures. It only takes a walleye hours to swim a good distance to reach a spawning location, so the fish can be nearby quite a while before they actually go to and stay on the spawning areas.

It does appear, at this point because of warmer weather and less winter ice, that this year's main spawn will be in the early range, probably the first two weeks of April. Just keep a watch on the water temperature.