Walleye Fishing on Lake Roosevelt

Walleye have become popular sport fishing at Lake Roosevelt.

Star Tribune

The Introduction of Walleye

One of the most popular sport fish in the northern and central United States has developed a similar reputation in Washington, and specifically at Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area, in the last couple of decades. Known for its exquisite flavor and large size, this newcomer called walleye (Sander vitreus) is providing additional excitement and opportunity in a state already rich with fishing resources.

Walleye are not native Washington fish, and their origin to the state is unknown. The first verification of a walleye in Washington was in 1962, from Banks Lake in eastern Washington. Soon afterwards, populations began to show up in Lake Roosevelt (connected to Banks Lake through a huge pipe and pump). Since then, they have spread from these original sites to the remainder of the mainstem Columbia river, from near the mouth, to the Canadian border.

Walleyes continued to advance to other waters in the central Columbia Basin. Using irrigation canals as frontier highways, they have established populations in Moses Lake, Potholes Reservoir, Billy Clapp Lake, Long Lake, Crescent Lake and Soda Lake. The Department of Fish and Wildlife has also stocked walleyes in some of these lakes to supplement the populations, as well as to create a new fishery in Sprague Lake.

Why fish for walleye?

The walleyes appeal is certainly not for its fight. Rather, it is their performance at the dinner table that keeps anglers returning, trip after trip. Many people consider walleyes to be the best-flavored white-fleshed fish in freshwater.

A good day's fishing for walleyes will yield several two-to- three-pound fish, with an occasional fish up to ten pounds. The current state record was set in Februrary 2014 with a 20.3 pound walleye caught on Lake Wallula, along the Columbia River.

USFWS

One characteristic that helps identify walleye are their large, opaque-white eyes. This feature is an adaptation to the fish's habits and preferences, and a clue for the perceptive angler. The large eyes have extremely fine light receptivity to see prey in dimly lit waters. Walleyes evolved in turbid waters and in deep lakes and this ability to "see in the dark" has provided the necessary edge to survive.

Experienced anglers know that this adaptation to dark conditions means they stay away from bright, sunny waters. When they have to come up to the surface or to shallow shore areas to feed or spawn, walleyes look for muddy waters or they wait and move in from dusk to dawn. This is the best time to fish for them.

Three walleye caught from Lake Roosvelt.

NPS Photo

When walleyes reach maturity, they become highly migratory. As soon as the lakes and rivers begin to warm and thaw in early spring, walleyes make spawning journeys from their winter holding areas. Some of these migrations will cover dozens of miles to headwater tributaries. Other spawning may occur along shallow rocky lake shores, but in either instance, spawning areas are less than five feet deep. The only proven natural reproduction of walleyes in Washington is in Lake Roosevelt and intermittently in Lake Umatilla (John Day Pool).

During spring spawning runs, walleyes stack up in headwater streams and below dams and are easy prey for anglers-in-the-know. Most of the famous walleye holes throughout the country are these types of waters.

After spawning, walleyes will return to the main lake or river, staying in the shallows throughout the spring and early summer until the waters warm, then moving to deep, cooler water during the day, returning to feed at dusk. During winter, it is generally thought that walleyes hold up in deep waters until the spawning urge strikes again, but little is actually known about the winter habits of this fish.