When it comes to finding and catching walleyes, the mantra “Seek ye forage first” is one of the In-Fisherman staff’s guiding principles. For good reason. Except for the peak of the spawn, an angler’s ability to identify the forage in a particular fishery plays a major role in mastering the walleye location puzzle.

In the late spring and early summer, for example, shiners moving into shallow shoreline areas to spawn draw hungry walleyes. And in fall, baitfish migrations, often into shallow current-washed areas, draw schools of hungry and aggressive ’eyes to feast on autumn’s bounty. Species such as gizzard shad, alewives, ciscoes, yellow perch, and rainbow smelt, along with various minnows, are often the main course in classic systems, and their location frequently dictates where the walleyes are. Savvy walleye seekers are aware of many such predator-prey interactions, yet few understand baitfish ways enough to fully capitalize on these connections. Worse, other walleye-forage relationships exist largely off the angler’s radar, including those involving bluegills and bullheads.

With that in mind, we’re offering a field-guide-type look at some of the most important forage species, to help you identify each and better understand how their life histories can help you catch more walleyes.

Alewife

Alosa pseudoharengus

Other Names: Big-eyed or river herring, golden shad, grey herring, mulhaden, sawbelly, seth, skipjack

Description: A small herring with a metallic, dark bluish-green back, silvery sides with faint horizontal stripes, and a white belly. Identifying characteristics include large eyes and large mouth, the lower jaw protruding beyond snout, and a purplish spot behind the upper edge of the gill.

Size: Freshwater—4 to 9 inches; marine—up to 15 inches

Food: Zooplankton, a variety of juvenile fish (including walleyes), algae

Spawning: Migrates into shallow areas as water temperatures reach upper 50ºF range, with peak spawning at 64ºF. Adhesive eggs are broadcast over a variety of substrates including gravel, sand, and submerged vegetation. Eggs hatch in 6 days with no parental attention.

Range: Native to the Atlantic Coast from South Carolina north to Red Bay, Labrador; introduced in many inland fisheries in the eastern U.S. Well established in three of the Great Lakes—Huron, Michigan, and Ontario—but less common in Erie and Superior.

Habits and Habitat: With the exception of the spawning period, alewives typically inhabit open water. In inland lakes they commonly suspend offshore from 20 to 80 feet deep from late August through March, after which they move closer to sharp shoreline breaks leading to harbors, beaches, and other spawning sites. Postspawn alewives retreat to deeper water.

Walleye Connection: Dense schools of alewives are a major food source for large predators such as walleyes, trout, and salmon, and an abundance of alewives can make it tough for anglers to compete. During early summer, structure-oriented walleyes often move offshore to greet incoming alewives. The action moves onto shoreline-connected points shortly thereafter. In both scenarios, crankbait-trolling programs can be successful. So can vertical-jigging for suspended walleyes with small jigs tipped with chunks of nightcrawler. As alewives move even shallower, night-fishing can be intense for anglers trolling minnowbaits along weededges. During the day, cast jig-and-minnow combos, crankbaits, and spinnerbaits along the edges of weedbeds for resident walleyes; or, fish jigging spoons along the bottoms of points where alewives move out to deeper water to hold during the day.

Gizzard shad

Dorosoma cepedianum

Other Names: Hickory shad, mud shad, skipjack

Description: Back is silvery blue fading to white sides and belly. Identifying characteristics include a small mouth, deep body, and threadlike last ray of dorsal fin. The lower jaw does not extend beyond the tip of the snout (as it does on very similar threadfin shad). Also, there is no yellow coloring on the tail of a gizzard shad, as there is on threadfin shad.

Size: 9 to 12 inches

Food: Plankton, also algae and insects

Spawning: Massive schools of gizzard shad spawn primarily at night, roiling at the surface in tributary streams, sheltered bays, and along shorelines in less than 10 feet of water. Fertilized eggs sink to bottom, where they hatch within 7 days without parental care.

Range: Native to the Great Lakes, St. Lawrence, Mississippi, Gulf Slope, and Atlantic drainages across much of North America, and widely introduced in other waters.

Habits and Habitat: A schooling fish of fertile rivers, oxbows, swamps, lakes, and manmade reservoirs, the gizzard shad sometimes moves into large streams but is more commonly found at or near the surface in open water offshore, where it filters plankton, algae, and other food items through its gill rakers. May also graze on bottom. It tolerates brackish and saline waters in coastal areas, and water temperatures to 95°F. Also withstands cooler water than related threadfin shad. Still, it is vulnerable to sudden and dramatic changes in temperature and dissolved oxygen levels, which can produce massive die-offs.

Walleye Connection: Gizzard shad are prolific preyfish that make up a large part of walleye diets in systems where the two species coexist. Because shad follow clouds of plankton, they tend to gather on downwind areas after several days of consistent wind—a situation benefiting walleyes and savvy anglers alike. Another key shad pattern hinges on the nocturnal spawning orgies that attract walleyes of monstrous proportions.

Throughout the year when walleyes are keying on nomadic shad, finding baitfish clouds with sonar is a critical first step to setting up trolling passes for walleye wolfpacks shadowing the schools. Longline-, downrigger-, and leadcore-based trolling systems all have potential for targeting two hot zones—one just beneath the mass of shad, the other 10 to 15 feet beneath it (resting walleyes).

Bluegill

Lepomis macrochirus

Other Names: Bream, copperbelly, pond perch, sunfish, sun perch

Description: A round, flat-bodied member of the sunfish family, the bluegill has a dark olive back; dark, silver-blue or bluish-olive upper sides; and yellow belly. Distinguishing characteristics include a dark earflap (lacking light or red margins), dark vertical bars on the sides, small mouth, long, pointed pectoral fin, and a dark blotch on the dorsal fin.

Size: 6 to 10 inches

Food: Insects, crustaceans, algae, leeches, snails, zooplankton, small fish

Spawning: Bluegills may spawn from April to October at water temperatures from 67ºF to 80ºF, but peak reproductive activity occurs when water temperatures reach the upper 70ºF range. Parental males excavate nests or beds on coarse sand or gravel in large colonies. Females deposit eggs in the nests and are then chased off by the males, each of which guards its bed until fry disperse.

Range: Native to the St. Lawrence, Great Lakes, and Mississippi River basins from Quebec south to the Gulf of Mexico and northern Mexico. Widely introduced elsewhere.

Habits and Habitat: Bluegills are fond of quiet, weedy waters offering food and cover. They are common in many lakes, ponds, slow-flowing streams and rivers with gravel, mud, or sandy bottoms. Bluegills of all sizes are found shallow early in the season; large adults typically move deeper following the spawn. Although bluegills possess acute daytime vision, helpful for feeding on small aquatic creatures, they see poorly in low light, making them vulnerable to predation by walleyes.

Walleye Connection: Though few anglers realize or capitalize on it, bluegills and other panfish such as black and white crappies are important walleye forage in many waters. Young panfish called “flats” are readily available to walleyes in early summer, when large schools suspend in open water near the most fertile areas of the lake. Through summer, walleyes prowling weededges or pockets in weedflats prey on young panfish.

One of the classic bluegill connections occurs in fall, as weedbeds die and cover becomes scarce. Hungry walleyes move in for the feast and are vulnerable to crankbaits, such as lures in the Rapala DT Series and the Cotton Cordell Big O, along with livebait presentations such as 4-inch sucker minnows fished under slipfloats. In northern areas, walleyes continue to feed on bluegills under the ice—often making twilight forays into weedbeds lying in 6 to 12 feet of water to dine on visually challenged ’gills. Drill holes well in advance of evening, and deploy tip-ups with livebait and aggressive tactics with swimming lures and jigging spoons as needed.

Brown Bullhead

Ameirus nebulosus

Other Names: Creek cat, horned pout, speckled bullhead, red cat

Description: The brown bullhead has a dark yellowish to olive-brown back and upper sides, with noticeable mottling not seen on the black bullhead or channel catfish. It lacks scales and has obvious barbels (black or dusky, not white) around the mouth. Identifying characteristics include a flap-like adipose fin, a squared, rounded, or slightly forked tail, mottled back and sides, and a slight overbite.

Size: 7 to 14 inches

Food: Insect larvae, crustaceans, snails, small crayfish, worms, small fish, fish eggs

Spawning: Males fan out a saucer-shaped nest in mud in spring, typically late April or May in much of the walleye’s range. Nests in natural cavities are also used. The female deposits up to 10,000 eggs, which are guarded by both parents until hatching in about 8 days.

Range: Native to the Atlantic and Gulf Slope drainages, from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to Alabama, and the St. Lawrence, Great Lakes, Hudson Bay, and Mississippi River basins from Quebec to Louisiana. Widely introduced elsewhere.

Habits and Habitat: Brown bullheads are common in weedy lakes, ponds, impoundments, sloughs, backwaters, and slow-flowing rivers and streams. Ideal water temperatures range from 78 to 82ºF. Bullhead schools feed on or near bottom, often picking midgefly larvae (bloodworms) from soft bottom. Hardy fish, they are able to withstand low oxygen levels and cloudy water conditions. Active primarily at night but will forage during the day.

Walleye Connection: You might think a bullhead’s sharp, venomous spines would make it tough for walleyes to swallow, but in truth juvenile bullheads are easy to catch and a common forage item in fertile fisheries. Particularly in eutrophic lakes (often equipped with aerators to prevent winterkill) that have high numbers of bullheads and walleyes, bullheads are a primary forage year-round, even during the winter when they are rooted out of the mud. A key time to take advantage of the bullhead-walleye connection is in the Postspawn Period (for both species), when bullheads of all sizes are moving out of marshes and other fertile areas—and walleyes are feeding aggressively. Check necked-down current areas connecting marshes with the main lake, as well as bars near such travel corridors.

Rainbow Smelt

Osmerus mordax

Other Names: Lake herring, leefish, frost fish

Description: A small, slender, silvery fish with a dark olive-green back, silvery, purplish-blue to pinkish sides, and white belly. Identifying characteristics include an adipose fin, deeply forked tail, upper jaw that extends beyond the eye, and large mouth with canine teeth.

Size: 7 to 10 inches

Food: Fish eggs, small fish, insect larvae, crustaceans

Spawning: Makes spawning run into small tributaries in spring at water temperatures from upper 40ºF to lower 50ºF range. Also may spawn over mainlake gravel deltas near shore. Spawns at night over bars and shallow riffles with current—a broadcast spawner, providing no parental care to eggs or fry.

Range: Found in the Arctic, Atlantic, and Pacific coastal drainages; also introduced and established in numerous inland fisheries including all five  Great Lakes, the Mississippi River, and many coolwater reservoir systems.

Habits and Habitat: A saltwater species native to the Atlantic Ocean but introduced to freshwater systems across much of northern North America, the rainbow smelt matures in the open sea or open water of large lakes before migrating into tributaries to spawn. It prefers cool water temperatures and often remains in shallow water early in the season, before moving out to suspend in deeper water as temperatures rise.

Walleye Connection: In a somewhat ironic relationship, smelt compete with juvenile walleyes (and other small fish) for food and may prey upon walleye eggs and fry, thus hurting walleye populations; but smelt are also excellent forage. In reservoir systems, smelt often suspend near long points meeting deep water, attracting walleyes and providing savvy anglers with high-percentage trolling opportunities. Smelt also shift into shallow water, typically at night or in windy conditions—shadowed by hungry walleyes that present yet another forage-based fishing opportunity. In the Great Lakes, smelt may hold in 100 feet or more of water during the day; shallow forays are common; and walleyes intercepting these migrations are vulnerable to fishermen using minnowbaits that mimic the smelt’s slender profile. Come fall, smelt and walleyes move into major bays of natural lakes and drowned rivermouths, offering yet another angling pattern.

Yellow Perch

Perca flavescens

Other Names: American, lake, or ringed perch, green hornet

Description: Bright green to olive or golden-brown back with 6 to 9 dark vertical bars on bright yellowish green or yellow-orange sides; milky white belly. Distinguishing characteristics include long dorsal fin with two distinct lobes, and their lack of an adipose fin or large canine teeth.

Size: 6 to 11 inches

Food: Fish, crayfish, snails, insects, leeches

Spawning: In spring as water temperatures reach 45ºF, perch deposit strands of eggs among vegetation at night in shallow, weedy areas of lakes or sheltered areas of rivers. Each female may produce up to 200,000 eggs, which hatch in about 2 weeks with no parental care. Young perch migrate to open water, where they stay until moving into shoreline weedbeds at about 1 inch in length.

Range: Native to much of southern Canada and the northern U.S. east of the Rocky Mountains, although there are reports of native populations south to the Mobile Basin in Alabama. Widely introduced across the continent.

Habits and Habitat: Yellow perch prefer warm to cool, clear lakes with ample vegetation, and are also found to a lesser degree in slow-flowing weedy streams. Adaptable fish, they tolerate low oxygen and high levels of nutrients and suspended solids (turbidity). Often found in spindle-shaped schools of 50 to 200 or more fish of similar size and age, perch forage during the day, moving toward shore and settling to bottom as darkness falls and their eyesight fades.

Walleye Connection: Yellow perch are the predominant preyfish in many lakes in the northern and central portions of the walleye’s range, making up a large part of the walleye diet once juvenile fish switch from invertebrates to fish early in their first year.

Huge perch hatches can make walleye fishing difficult, but in general an understanding of perch behavior can put more walleyes in your livewell. Juvenile and adult perch are structure-oriented, often holding on or near bottom on points, humps, or deep flats connected to the shoreline. Large schools often gather on gravel shelves on sandy bars, small fingers on points, or slight depressions on sunken islands. Walleyes feed on perch year-round, but one of the key times for the interspecies connection is the perch spawn, when juvenile perch follow adults into spawning areas.

Emerald Shiner

Notropis atherinoides

Other Names: Buckeye shiner, common emerald or lake shiner, plains shiner, lake silverside

Description: An elongated, streamlined minnow with pale olive-yellow or silvery back with narrow, horizontal emerald stripe on bluish-silver sides and a white belly. Identifying characteristics include forked tail, single dorsal fin with 8 rays and no spines, round lateral line scales, and large mouth that lacks barbels. Also, the emerald shiner has 10 to 12 (usually 11) anal fin rays, compared to the similar spottail shiner, which has 8 (rarely 7) anal fin rays.

Size: 2.5 to 4 inches

Food: Zooplankton, aquatic and terrestrial insects, algae

Spawning: Emerald shiners spawn when water temperatures reach the low 70ºF range, typically from late May to mid-July (sometimes into August) in walleye country. Large schools of shiners broadcast and fertilize eggs at night near the surface over a variety of bottom types including sand, gravel, and vegetation.

Range: Native from the Mackenzie, St. Lawrence, and Hudson drainages, south through the Great Lakes and Mississippi River systems to the Gulf Slope from Mobile Bay, Alabama, to Galveston Bay, Texas.

General Habits: Emerald shiners look delicate but actually are hardy members of the minnow family. They favor near-surface areas of the open waters of large, deep rivers and large lakes and reservoirs. Though they may be found in bays and backwaters, they tend to stay offshore during the summer. A fall migration, mainly of young-of-the-year fish, moves inshore to drowned rivermouths and harbors. Shiners move up and down in the water column in correspondence with light levels and penetration.

Walleye Connection: Along with other species of shiners such as the spottail, the emerald shiner is an important food source for walleyes in many fisheries. It’s worth noting that although emerald shiners reach just 4 inches in length, studies have shown that walleyes from 22 to 26 inches select them as prey during spring and fall.

From an angler’s perspective, one of the most important shiner-walleye connections occurs during the shiner spawn, when hungry walleyes focus on giant schools of these silvery baitfish. Key areas where walleyes target spawning shiners include sand and gravel shoals at tributary mouths, shorelines, and lower reaches of inflowing streams. Bulrush beds adjacent to deep water are also good bets. Much of the carnage occurs at dusk and after dark—minnowbaits and jigs are top options during these lowlight feeding sprees. Still, daytime jig-casting can be productive at times. Another full-sun option is trolling minnowbaits or livebait rigs along breaklines just offshore from spawning areas.

Cisco

Coregonus artedi

Other Names: Lake herring, tullibee

Description: Silvery sides, often with purple or pinkish tinge. Identifying characteristics include adipose fin and long, deep body. May be distinguished  from the very similar lake whitefish by its slight underbite or jaws of equal length. In whitefish, the snout extends over the lower jaw.

Size: With more than 22 described subspecies, average size is highly variable by lake of origin. Lengths of 12 to 14 inches are common in many waters, while other systems produce ciscoes topping 20 inches. In contrast, Ten Mile Lake, Minnesota, rarely produces specimens more than 3.2 inches long.

Food: Plankton, aquatic insects, small crustaceans

Spawning: As water temperatures reach the lower 40ºF to upper 30ºF range, schools of ciscoes gather to scatter eggs and milt over rock, gravel, or sand in depths of 8 feet of less (deeper in the Great Lakes). Eggs sink to bottom and hatch the following spring, with no care from parents.

Range: Native to much of Canada and the northern U.S. in the St. Lawrence-Great Lakes, Arctic, and upper Mississippi River drainages south to northern Illinois, Minnesota, and Ohio. Introduced in other areas including the Missouri River system, where it is established in some locations.

Habits and Habitat: A coldwater fish of oligotrophic and mid-mesotrophic lakes, the cisco prefers water temperatures in the mid-50ºF range and cannot tolerate temps above about 75°F. As a result it is often found below the thermocline where dissolved oxygen levels are at least 5 parts per million—sometimes venturing into depths of 150 feet or more, at least during the day. By night, schools of ciscoes rise to the surface to feed on zooplankton or emerging insects.

Walleye Connection: Though ciscoes are a favorite food of walleyes, the two species’ paths cross only at key times (due largely to different temperature preferences). When their travels coincide, however, key fishing patterns emerge. One occurs on summer nights when ciscoes move toward the surface to feed. Longline-trolling with large minnowbaits over deep water can be very productive. This pattern fizzles when surface waters warm to the upper 60ºF range. In lakes where ciscoes are forced out of their comfort zone in late summer by declining oxygen levels, walleyes often take advantage of their plight, suspending 25 to 35 feet down to harass the weakened baitfish.

In fall, another connection is established as ciscoes spawn over shallow humps, points, and hard-bottom flats near shore. Schools of walleyes move in to take advantage of the abundant forage, offering nighttime action for hardy anglers trolling or casting large minnowbaits.