Tournament News Powered By Lake Drive Marine
Tuesday, April 28, 2026
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MDNR Report
Be on the lookout for Michigan DNR personnel conducting nighttime walleye recruitment surveys from late September to mid-October.
These surveys are an important tool for fisheries managers to determine whether walleye that hatched in the spring (known as young-of-year) hatched in the wild or were stocked, as well as how many of those fish are present in an area. This information about the status of young walleye in lakes helps the DNR make informed management decisions.
Using electrofishing boats, crews will survey shallow areas near the shoreline of lakes at night with the goal of capturing young-of-year walleye. Walleye prefer cooler, deeper areas of lakes during the day but move into shallow, nearshore areas at night, making nighttime surveys more efficient. On larger lakes, two or more electrofishing crews using separate boats may operate at the same time to cover more area. The crews will work both on lakes that have been stocked with walleye and lakes that have not.
Biologists also will collect and keep a sample of young-of-year walleye from stocked lakes to determine whether the fish are primarily reproducing naturally or if young-of-year are from stocking. Many walleye that are stocked are marked with oxytetracycline, a chemical marker that can be observed within captured fish by using a microscope with an ultraviolet light source in a laboratory setting. In addition, modern genetic techniques that allow more accurate assessment of stocking success will be completed at Michigan State University on walleye tissue samples collected during some of these fall surveys.
Some surveys will be conducted collaboratively with tribal agencies, and tribal natural resource departments also will be conducting surveys independently of the DNR. In the Upper Peninsula, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Forest Service also will be collaborating on surveys and conducting independent surveys in the Hiawatha National Forest as part of an effort to create long-term datasets for a number of inland lakes managed for walleye.
Everyone is urged to use caution when fishing or on the water near electrofishing boats, and those wading will be asked to exit the water when a survey boat approaches and during electrofishing work. Crews will be using bright lights to illuminate the water around the boats and running generators on board, which may make it difficult to hear and speak with anyone on shore.
Learn more about how the DNR manages Michigan’s walleye fisheries at
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By Louie Stout
The walleye bite is on big time on Lake Erie.
Just look at the kind of weekend Pat Kleppert, Zack Guerin (Marcellus, Mich.) and Dion Deans, a boat salesman at D&R Sports Center, had last weekend.
Shown here is an 8 pounder Dion boated while the group trolled Rapala Husky Jerks (fire tiger) on planer boards.
They were fishing out of Port Clinton, Ohio from Kleppert’s 20-foot Ranger 620. They targeted about 28 feet of water east of South Bass Island.
“The weather was challenging,” said Kleppert, a Rapala sales rep who lives in Jones, Mich. “There were a lot of boats out there.”
Kleppert said they had 13 walleyes Sunday that weighed 65 pounds and 5 Monday that weighed 29 pounds.
“I fished there before the guys showed up and had four fish over 8 pounds,” said Kleppert. “The fish were pre-spawn walleyes and the water temperature was 48 degrees. It was a lot of fun!”
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IDNR Report
The Midwest Walleye Challenge is back! If you’re interested in a little friendly competition with other Midwest anglers; enjoy fishing for walleye, sauger and saugeye; and want to help DNR’s fisheries biologists; this tournament is for you.
The challenge runs from April 1 through June 29 and offers a great opportunity for anglers to win prizes in a variety of categories. These include Most Waterbodies Fished, Most Fish Caught, Longest Fish, and even a Tough Luck category for those who log a trip but get skunked.
There is a $25 entry fee to participate in the 2025 tournament. Once you’ve entered, use the free mobile app, MyCatch, to upload photos, fishing trips, and fish measurements. All data collected from participating anglers help DNR fish biologists better understand the walleye, sauger, and saugeye populations in Indiana’s waters, which leads to more informed management practices, which leads to better fisheries for Hoosier anglers statewide.
For more information, and to register for the contest, visit www.anglersatlas.com/event/840/2025-midwest-walleye-challenge-indiana.
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Whitewater Report
Among bucket-list spring walleye fishing destinations, the Detroit River is legendary. With both trophy potential and numbers, the river draws scores of anglers each year, many partaking in the run as an annual rite.
One of those anglers is Judson Rodriguez, who escorted Whitewater Fishing staff on the metro moving waters, all in search of big, photo-worthy fish. Below, Judson offers his advice for anglers thinking about fishing the Detroit—including the when, where, and how of it.
“In early April, the water temp was between 43.3- and 43.8 degrees. As we got into a little more stained water, the water temp came up a bit. We fished a lot of those water areas where clear water met dirty and found fish there, which is typical,” says Rodriguez.
“There was a good mix of spawning females with lots of smaller males in the mix. We started fishing at 6:30 a.m. each day so we could see what we were doing. The best bite is typically around daybreak, so we had about an hour to pluck big females. Then, the rest of the day, it’s sorting males until about 6 p.m., and then you’ve got a shot at another big one.”
Rodriguez says time of day and water clarity are consistently two big factors on the Detroit River and other major river systems—as well as water temperatures between 40 and 50 degrees. “For us, it was a mix of big fish still hanging around and others filtering back out.”