Walleye

(click on the picture above for a close-up view)

The walleye is the largest perch family member in North America. This long, streamlined fish has glassy, marble-like eyes and a mouth full of sharp teeth. Unlike its cousin, the sauger, the spiny dorsal fin has a large black blotch near the bases of the last few spines. Adults commonly weigh 4 to 10 pounds and several fish over 20 pounds, near world-record size, have been caught in Arkansas, usually during the peak spawning months of February, March and April. The state's best-known walleye fishing is in Greers Ferry Lake and its headwaters where the annual World Walleye Classic is held. This lake and its tributaries may produce more big walleyes ---fish weighing 15 to 20 pounds --- than any body of water in the United States. Other walleye lakes include Bull Shoals, Greeson, Nimrod, Norfork, Ouachita, Catherine, Hamilton and Table Rock. Stream-running walleyes are found in the Black, Caddo, Current, Eleven Point, Kings, Little Missouri, middle and upper White, North Fork, Spring, upper Ouachita, upper Saline and War Eagle rivers. Good baits include live minnows and bream, minnow-imitation crankbaits and jig/minnow combinations.