Male -vs- Female

[perchboy]

Stupid question. I've never known how to tell the difference between male and female walleyes. Basically I've just always said that pretty much anything over 18 or 19 was a female. How do you tell??

[Chad]

Good question.

I caught a 29" on Devils Lake this spring and it barely weighed 8lbs. We caught another that was 27" which went over 9.

Our guess that the first long and skinny may have been a very old male. I am sure there is some scientific way to make the determination.

[night_eyes]

I asked a game warden once and he said in general most walleyes over 17" are female. I dont know if there is a way to tell..i dont think there really is...but not sure.

[eyewinder]

When in doubt, I run the fish past a mall -- if it becomes terrifically agitated and tries to break out of whatever sort of container I'm transporting it in, it's gotta be a . . .:)

[Bret N]

If you're fishing early in the year during the spawn, it's pretty easy to tell. Usually the smaller males will be milting, discharging white fluid. Most times they are the smaller fish, but I did run into a guy this spring on Mississippi that caught a 5# male. After the spring run when it's next to impossible to tell the difference between males and females, I assume that all fish over 18 ro 20" are female and release them. Hope this helps. Bret

[Matt]

Don't really know if this works for other fish but for Muskies you have to look at the anis. If I remember right the male's is circular with an offcenter circle inside the first. The female's is keyhole shaped.

[MR.Pike]

You got it Matt!

[Grampa_Joe]

The male has the old skeleton key shape and the female is pear shaped if sexually mature.
Keep this in mind. There are two pores. The first one (towards head) is for waste on both sexes. The second is the sex organs. The female's second pore (towards tail) gets larger from pushing out eggs.
Joe