Pre or Post Spawn

[Dazed]

The last 3 weeks we have been catching a lot of walleyes/saugars. The males seem to be milk-less or empty belly's. The bigger fish full of eggs, but have not cleaned a fish with milk. How long does it take for a male to get it's milk for spawn?? I got a lot of females thru the ice and late fall with eggs . But do not know when the males start producing milk. The water temp here is low 40ty's April 5
Any help would be gratefully acepeted.

[lundman1660]

I fish the Mississippi in Dubuque and the ideal temp for spawn is between 45 to 50 degrees. Our water is 46 right now and I caught some milking males last week. hope this helps. Mike

[Dazed]

Our water is in the 40tys here to. But the fish we have kept . Do not have milk in them. that between all of us is close to 50ty fish.they are 16 to 20 in long.both walleye and saugar. We are trying to figure out if these fish have already spawned or or if they are not mature yet. The females we caught were plumb full of eggs..parts of our river where these fish are being catch are 46 some down to 42.

[Klaas Act - Rich Ziert]

Eyes can spawn in water as low as the 30's, and as high as 50-60's.
River fiosh are generally more consistant. All bodies of water are different. Some sections of lakes/rivers are different even yet. All weather patterns/fluctuating water temps/quality of water, etc., are different. "MILT" can be manufactured more rapidly than eggs - more or less when needed. If fish have eggs, they haven't spawned, or they aborted the spawn. The reasons are too many to list to be accurate unless a specific and qualifiedstudy is performed for your situation.

[KLN2 ul]

If the milt is gone in the males, those fish have spawned. They will not produce milt for this year's spawn.

It's not uncommon for walleye in a body of water to spawn during a three to four week period. Sometimes the hens won't get the right conditions and will not spawn at all, absorbing the eggs. During the next few weeks, as you clean them, look for those females to lose the eggs or reabsorb them.

The fact that you caught spawned-out males, proves the myth wrong that "you can't catch walleye for a couple of weeks after they spawn"