As backdrop to our quest to put walleyes on the ice it helps to know what walleyes can see. In-Fisherman has long been about blending the best science with extensive field experience to bring you honest answers about fishing questions. A short-hand version of what we know about walleye vision goes like this.
Walleyes have eyes that easily gather light so they have an advantage over most prey in dim light. This advantage is most obvious during twilight periods, but also after dark, although even walleyes have limited vision in the complete blackness brought on by nightfall under ice covered by snow.
Walleyes can’t see details well, although anglers often assume the opposite because they have such large and impressive eyes. But it’s the cone cells in the back of the eye, in the retina, not eye size, that determines color vision and the ability to see details like the subtle patterns on lures.
Walleyes are unique in having some of the largest cone cells of any predatory animal on land or seas. Cone cells are like pixels on a large-screen TV in a sports bar—the bigger the pixels the fuzzier the picture. Another indication that walleyes don’t have detailed vision relates to their eyes being so good at gathering scattered light, which is what helps them see so well in dim light. That also helps make details fuzzy.
Walleyes do have color vision that peaks in the orange-red-green portions of the spectrum. They see colors on both sides of each peak, but sensitivity declines. So they see wavelengths shorter than green and longer than orange-red, but not well. Overall, they see orange and red well, followed green and yellow. They’re least sensitive to blue and violet, so much so that in most situations they probably can’t distinguish them. That includes purple.
They also don’t see ultraviolet (UV) light, although the addition of UV brighteners to lures may at times help those lures fluoresce, which means the brightness of the lures increases when fluorescent paint is used. In order for this to happen, though, there needs to be enough light present to allow UV to penetrate the water column. Such light generally isn’t available under ice cover with snow, the more so in twilight conditions that often result I the most active feeding.
UV light and fluorescence shouldn’t be confused with phosphorescence, where a chemical compound in paint emits visible light (glow) after being charged by a light source. In dim light this light is more visible to walleyes and it is a proven producer in some situations.
Putting what we know together we can say that like most predator fish, walleyes in clear water can sense movements well at a distance—in the best light perhaps out to 50 feet or so. In dim light that distance is reduces to perhaps 5 to 10 feet at early twilight. As the walleyes closes the distance, the moving lure is flashing and flickering as it falls. There may e a hint of color. We are predisposing the walleye to thinking “food.” It’s a grand game of sleight of hand and illusion.
Further closing the distance, the best vision discrimination occurs for a short distance from perhaps a foot or so out to five feet, where the fish has binocular vision. Even then, though we know that walleyes don’t see details well. And when the fish closes the distance to within about foot, binocular vision disappears, making it even more difficult the fish to discriminate.
This is why it’s possible for a spoon, which looks like nothing a walleye ever eats, to be mistaken as food. See why it’s so important to hint at this and that to get the fish to bite? See why a slight rod tip movement that causes the lure to “nod” can help the fish find what it’s looking for after being attracted from a distance? Too, as we’ve said, raising the lure even a touch at this range brings the lure into better view above the walleye’s snout.
It’s walleye with the flick of a wrist. It’s walleyes by sleight of hand. It’s all about the “big tease.” And it’s a calculated process that can be learned. Those are the rules of the road for walleyes.
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Walleyes do have color vision that peaks in the orange-red-green portions of the spectrum. They see colors on both sides of each peak, but sensitivity declines. So they see wavelengths shorter than green and longer than orange-red, but not well. Overall, they see orange and red well, followed green and yellow.
In simplest terms, this means that walleye have the ability to see in green (if conditions are right for it) and a variation of yellow/orange (605 nm). They cannot see variations of blue. This doesn't mean they can't see the object, it just means they likely see blue in grayscale – rather than the blue we do.
June is often a great time to catch walleyes! These fish are fully recovered from the spawn, are on the feed, and are often not that tough to catch. Here are some tips for finding and catching aggressive June walleyes. The main lake structure starts to hold walleyes during early June.
Jig-and-minnow: Many anglers like to fish with jigs early in the fishing season, tipping their jig with a shiner minnow or fathead chub. Basically, you'll want to fish with a jig that is heavy enough so that you can feel the bottom but not overly heavy. Typically, this means a 1/8-ounce, 3/8-ounce or 1/4 –ounce jig.
A walleye lacks the blue and yellow cells, so it's color vision is similar to that of the rare human beings with blue and yellow color blindness. What this means is a walleye most likely can see all colors as some shade of red or green.
In clear water, the study found, walleye will strike white lures or almost any color. When the water is clouded by sediment, they are more likely to go for yellow or gold, and in green algae-laden waters, walleye eyes are best at seeing black.
Walleye will travel in schools, so the larger the cover, the better. For example, a large section of weeds across rock piles or a flat. Look for areas where cover transitions: like an edge of a weed line or a drop-off. Walleye like to hide within the cover and ambush baitfish.
Anglers know that their time is best spent on hard water during low light conditions, particularly the hours that surround dawn and dusk. It's during these narrow windows that walleyes feed aggressively. Their eyes are built for low-light foraging.
The ideal depth for the walleye throughout the summer is between 8-20 feet, larger fish gain greater depth. Plumb baits and multi-bait lines are very effective methods for walleye fishing.
Glide baits fish either by being vertically jigged or cast and retrieved back to the boat. Regardless whether jigged or cast, anglers fish them by snapping the baits up and letting them plummet back to bottom. These baits are designed to have erratic, unpredictable falls that trigger bites from nearby walleyes.
Northland Fireball Jigs are the number one, all-time money winner on the PWT and FLW walleye tours. These jigs, paired with plastics, are great in the spring for vertical jigging in river systems. Drop them down fast and bang them on hard bottom rather than gently hopping them.
The big females tend to back off into deeper swirling holes below the main current during the day. If you want to try after bigger Walleyes during the day put on a jig or a deeper running lure and fish the deeper darker water. As the sun starts to go down the big females come right up in the shallow current.
ones with a lot of flash, like hammered gold, hammered silver or maybe even hammered copper. Remember, in clear water, fish use their eye sight much more, looking for things like the glint coming off the scales of a baitfish. So stick with shiny blades in clear water.
They possess dichromatic vision, meaning they primarily rely on two types of cones to perceive color – one sensitive to green and the other to a range of orange and red. This translates to walleyes seeing best in these spectrums, with some ability to detect yellows and blues, but with significantly less sensitivity.
Water completely absorbs (or attenuates) different colors of light at different depths, affecting which colors are visible to a fish. Water attenuates red light from the spectrum first, oranges and yellows next, and blues and greens last (see the chart below).
Walleyes do have color vision that peaks in the orange-red-green portions of the spectrum. They see colors on both sides of each peak, but sensitivity declines. So they see wavelengths shorter than green and longer than orange-red, but not well. Overall, they see orange and red well, followed green and yellow.
Walleye will travel in schools, so the larger the cover, the better. For example, a large section of weeds across rock piles or a flat. Look for areas where cover transitions: like an edge of a weed line or a drop-off. Walleye like to hide within the cover and ambush baitfish.
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