Walleye and sauger are beloved by most anglers in the upper part of the United States and throughout Canada. These fish taste excellent and they are fairly easy to catch once you know what you are doing. Fishermen plan fishing vacations every year to target these fish. The northern part of North America has the best walleye waters, but there are some lakes and rivers that offer some good walleye fishing south of Michigan and Minnesota.
Habitat
Walleye can be found in many different types of waters. They are found in lakes with clear and murky water, reservoirs, rivers and large streams. Sauger are much more common in rivers and large streams. Walleye and sauger relate to many different types of cover and structure. Some good spots to fish are dams and tailwaters, weed lines, steep drop-offs, near points, flooded timber, submerged trees, rocky shorelines, mud flats and reefs. Find more information on the different types of water where you can find walleye & sauger.
How to Catch Walleye & Sauger
You can catch walleye and sauger with a variety of artificial lures and live bait. Anglers will usually target these fish with crankbaits, spinner rigs, jigs and jigging spoons. Trolling, casting and jigging can all be very effective. Jigging with live bait is probably the most popular way to fish for walleye and sauger. You may find fish as shallow as 2 feet or as deep as 50 feet.
Walleye & Sauger Fishing Tips & Techniques
- Walleye & Sauger Fishing Basics
- Fishing Lures for Walleye & Sauger
- Live Baits for Walleye & Sauger
- Fishing Rigs for Walleye & Sauger
- View all Walleye & Sauger Fishing Tips & Techniques
Eating Walleye & Sauger
Walleye and sauger taste excellent, especially the smaller fish in the 14 to 18 inch range. Most people fillet them, batter them with a fish breading and fry them in oil. Bigger fillets taste great when baked or grilled with a marinade or seasoning. Walleye are one of the most popular fish to eat.
Plan a Walleye Fishing Vacation
Fishermen plan tons of fishing trips to the northern part of the U.S. and in Canada for walleye. Since walleye taste great and are fairly easy to catch during the peak fishing times, anglers usually target them as their preferred fish to eat on their fishing vacation. Up north, smallmouth bass, muskie and northern pike are also popular fish to catch, but most anglers prefer to eat walleye over these other fish. There are so many different places to fish throughout Minnesota, Wisconsin, Canada and Michigan that offer good to excellent walleye fishing combined with nice fishing resorts, lodges, boat rentals and fishing guides. The difficult part of planning a fishing vacation for walleye is that there are so many options. Some of the best places to fish for walleye are Rainy Lake, Lake of the Woods, Mille Lacs Lake, Lake Erie and many different drive-in, boat-in and fly-in lakes in Ontario, Canada. These destinations are just a few that we cover. For more destinations, take a look at the best walleye fishing vacation destinations.