Photo courtesy Canoe Canada
A predator of the murky depths, the Walleye has extremely keen hearing capabilities, sharp vision, and a great sense of smell. All these attributes enable the walleye to detect its hapless prey, the minnow, up to 20 feet away. It can tell if the minnow is sick, crippled or healthy.
A member of the Perch family, its growth period is rapid as it forages voraciously for food in its early years. In younger stages they eat mostly insects and by adulthood, graduating to yellow perch and cyprinids, which comprise their favourite food.
As adults, they also eat mayflies and larval, crayfish, snails, frogs, and mudpuppies when minnows and small fish are scarce. Walleye even occasionally eat small mammals, but primarily they favour minnows
about 6 to 10 inches in length.
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