Whether it is fishing at your favorite spot ? be it Lake Manitoba Narrows or at Icelandic village of Gimli , on the west shore of Lake Winnipeg these seem to be where most Walleye fisherman seem to focus on , at least in their minds , as the place and places to locate , find and land those giant killer Walleyes of their dreams. However in a major way , when it comes to finding and landing those large and even giant Walleye fish , don't forget or rule out those other bodies of water referred to or called rivers. Just as, for good reasons, the head is attached to the body, most lakes are attached to, and either receive water from, or drain into rivers. Walleye don't forget rivers, and indeed know and traverse them well, and so should you as a most avid Walleye fisherman.

However what are Walleye fish movements in rivers generally? Why it is that Walleye fisherman seem not to talk much about fishing in rivers. It's not even that scientific information about Walleye locales and numbers in river waters are not around ? however they do not seem to get much notice at all.

For example one study that was concerned with Walleyes in a big river environment and then compared to those with large navigation dams , backwater areas and various structural elements found that Walleye fish behavior and mood changes actually occurred , in the very same fish , in different types of water current. It seems that the same Walleye fish will act entirely differently in different types of water current. The important lesson then for you to know and follow as a successful Walleye fisherman is that when fishing in river streams, as opposed to a lake areas and areas of lakes, is that if you fish in a river environment, even if you are used to ?your Walleye? acting in a certain way and means generally, you may well have to change your fishing choices and presentations. That is of course if you want to catch those Walleye fish.

For example take slack water areas. It seems that fish swam three times as far between stops than these same Walleye fish did when there was good current. It is well known, by almost all fishermen who have gone after Walleyes, not Walleye fish are one smart breed ? no Ted Stevens here. They are not about to waste their vital energies for no reason. The Walleye know full well that in reduced current flow , often the prey is not concentrated or swirled to them , instead they have to move around and hunt more ? just to find that same volume of prey food , to keep their nutrient intake levels high. However on the other hand, in the case of an eddy the eddy will serve to concentrate food right directly to those Walleye fish in their own concentrated areas.

What about swimming speeds and directions. It seems that Walleye fish will swim the fastest overall, and cover the greatest distances when they are swimming at right angles to the current of the river. On the other hand it seems to make little difference to the fish indeed what direction they are swimming against the current or currents. Walleye fish are strong swimmers in any river current. Amazingly their swimming speeds and skills are so adept , skilled and powerful that they can swim at the same speeds either with or against river currents- be they strong river currents or not that powerful.

Next in terms of depth in river waters the summary was that Walleyes seem to prefer depths of less than 16 feet themselves most of the time. You can generally count on your Walleyes, when fishing rivers, to spent most of the time in slack water and indeed in almost 2/3 of the duration in slack water of those eddies. Count on the fish lingering in somewhat shallower water in those eddies in areas of 3 to 6 foot depths and then less often moving on to somewhat deeper areas of five to ten feet in depth.

Lastly in terms of movement and motion around the clock what are the best times to locate those Walleye fish and indeed are there predictable daily movements or clocks to those favorite wily fish? As most Walleye fisherman well know and can relate, between the time periods of 9 pm and 3 am, the Walleyes are generally resting in slack water. As the 3 am deadline time emerges those same fish to ?begin to move?. Some will move out of the slack water areas and even begin to cruise in a manner that might well be called ?random? or even ?randomly?.

Eventually about 9 am , these same Walleye fish will take up what might be called ?positions? in eddy areas and will generally stay there and stick around most of the day with activity by the Walleye fish in these eddies areas peaking and being their greatest and most active generally around the noon time periods. This has been long noted by avid and serious Walleye fisherman who then note and report will last until 3 pm or so, until by 8 pm in the evening time periods when these same Walleye fish will then again move back and position themselves in the slack water areas.

In the end it can be said , that although avid Walleye fisherman dream of their choice landed Walleye fish with backgrounds of lake waters, if you want to catch and land those giant killer Walleye fish don't rule out nor forget river and river fishing for Walleye as well.