Pro angler Scott Fairbairn believes crankbaits will trigger walleyes to bite at any time of the season. Photo by Tim Lesmeister

Scott Fairbairn is a well-known professional angler on the walleye tournament trail. He not only competes in the top levels of tournament angling, but he performs seminars, sharing his expertise with anglers who want to improve their skills on the water.

His credentials are impressive. He won the Professional Walleye Trail (PWT) Angler of the Year honors in 1998 by staging a tremendous come-from-behind victory and followed that with another PWT win in 2000. Fairbairn credits his consistently solid performance on the competitive angling circuit to a scientific approach to fishing that is fostered by his credentials as a fisheries biologist. His understanding of the walleye's seasonal behavior on a given body of water dramatically increases his odds of finding fish and knowing how they'll react to his presentation. Fortunately, Fairbairn is confident of his abilities, which makes him willing to share his knowledge with others.

As we creep closer to the "walleye opener" in many states, anglers have already started scratching their heads as they consider what their game plan will be when they can finally take to the water to chase their favorite fish. In locations where the walleyes are already fair game, many anglers are discovering that it's tough to pattern those early-season fish. According to Fairbairn, there are a few things to consider that can make a day on the water chasing walleyes during this early-season period a success.

"The most common mistake that anglers make on opener or during the early season," said Fairbairn, "is they pick the wrong lake. The lakes you want to target are the ones that have had some time to warm up. These are the shallower darker-water lakes where the walleyes are well over the spawn and have started actively feeding."

Anglers who take a scientific approach to fishing break up the early-season period into three periods. There is the spawning period, post-spawn and post-transition. Could there possibly be lakes in the Midwest where the walleyes are still spawning by mid-May?

"Oh sure," replied Fairbairn. "In the northern parts, there can be walleyes spawning that late. Those fish are tough to catch compared to the walleyes that are well out of that period. It's not that walleyes can't be caught during the spawn and early post-spawn. It's just that walleyes in transition are spread out and tougher to find and catch. For a better experience, choose your lake wisely, which means as far removed from the spawn as possible."

The problem is that some anglers have cabins on less-than-perfect early-season lakes. Some anglers just favor certain bodies of water because of their close proximity to their home base. Are these anglers just out of luck or is there a way for them to target these walleyes that are recuperating from the spawning ritual?

"People talk about recuperation," he said. "Post-spawn isn't as much about recuperation as it is about transitioning. Immediate post-spawn, which is right after the females have completed their spawning, these bigger fish almost immediately head to the locations where they will spend much of the summer. So that first week or so following spawn, those fish are in transition and moving. They're not feeding much, just moving and resting as they migrate to a particular location."