Thin walleye

[gatorbaiter]

I caught a beautiful Devils Lake Walleye off the shore by Mauvi bridge the other day. 27.5 in but only weighed 5.4 lb. It seemed perfectly healthy in every other respect, just missing about 2 to 3 lbs. in weight. Seemed odd so i checked it on two scales and measured a couple of times. Anybody else run into skinny fish on Devils? I've seen some skinny pike in the feeder lakes but but usually the walleyes are as fat as pigs out there. Years ago I caught a 26 in. that weighed about 3.5 lb. but it looked really odd. This one looked fine.

 

[MSA]

Completely normal in any body of water to catch a skinny walleye. I got one a couple years ago that was 33" and maybe weighed 8lbs. Some are old, some sick, and some are just skinny...just like people.

 

[gatorbaiter]

Completely normal in any body of water to catch a skinny walleye. I got one a couple years ago that was 33" and maybe weighed 8lbs. Some are old, some sick, and some are just skinny...just like people.

Or maybe it got caught in the gum stretcher

 

[Rowdie]

Post spawn will take some time for older fish to put back on weight. Could be sick, real old, or just stressed from spawning. I too have caught skinny fish on oahe in the past.

 

[Captain Ahab]

Completely normal in any body of water to catch a skinny walleye. I got one a couple years ago that was 33" and maybe weighed 8lbs. Some are old, some sick, and some are just skinny...just like people.

This, pretty much. I have seen some long, skinny males as well.

 

[guywhofishes]

I caught a 16” walleye yesterday full of eggs. Seems late - even for egg absorption. Not?

 

[NDwalleyes]

I caught a 16” walleye yesterday full of eggs. Seems late - even for egg absorption. Not?

My neighbor caught walleyes on the Missouri 2 weeks ago that were still milking.

 

[guywhofishes]

well ya... they’re guys

 

[johnr]

If I was a walleye, i would have to be 36 inches long

 

[shorthairsrus]

they all eat shrimp --- you can bounce around DL and end up with chunkers where the shrimp is and thinners ones where it aint.

 

[sweeney]

Everything we caught up in that area earlier in the month was fat the 20" were over 3lbs and the 23 were close to 5, we didn't find any of the bigger ones in the 25-28" range however.

 

[Vollmers]

I fish DL pretty much every weekend & 99% of the fish we've caught this year have been fat & healthy.

 

[Rut2much]

Fish are WAYYYY fatter & far more agressive out west, I wouldn't even bother with DL's skinny ass fish.

 

[shorthairsrus]

I agree - -you sotas and scons -- the fishing is awesome at sak --- its only a few more miles.

 

[JayKay]

If I was a walleye, i would have to be 36 inches long

If I was a walleye, I'd still be milking. As much as I possibly could. Several times per day.