Fort Peck Walleye Spawn Begins

The walleye trap netting and egg-taking operation has commenced on Fort Peck Reservoir once again. It’s been an interesting start to the season with the weather. One day, it’s unseasonably warm and, the next day, it’s cold with snow. And, of course, wind has held us back from moving some of our equipment.

Compared to last year, lower reservoir elevations have caused us to relocate the operation further down the reservoir between the Nelson and McGuire Creek areas. The good news is we’ve observed a gradual warming trend in water surface temperatures over the last several days from 43 degrees to around 50 degrees while checking our trap nets today.

These temperatures have signaled a few walleye to start cruising the shorelines. As with the beginning of every walleye spawn, male walleye are typically more abundant. That pattern is holding true with some really good numbers of male walleye being captured. We have captured a few green (not releasing eggs) females and only a few ripe (releasing eggs) females. We have yet to collect any walleye eggs since it’s early, but hopefully we’ll collect a few in the upcoming days as temperatures are forecast to remain warm.