When walleye season opens Saturday, anglers should find the popular predator in a post-spawn mode.

Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission biologist Al Woomer said the extended cold temperatures of early spring probably didn't have a significant impact on walleyes' reproductive schedule, meaning they now should be shaking off their lethargy and beginning to leave waters near shore.

"Prolonged cold might have prolonged the spawn, but didn't make it late," Woomer said. "Walleyes begin spawning right after ice-out, when water is in the high 30s to low 40s. Some deeper lakes might have had a slightly later spawn, but it wouldn't have been enough to make much of a difference."

The spawn at Pymatuning Reservoir in Crawford County, one of the region's top walleye spots, was on time.

"It's a shallow lake, so it warms pretty early," Woomer said.

Biologists from Ohio and Pennsylvania were scheduled to begin planting 21 million walleye fry in Pymatuning last week. They are keeping their fingers crossed that this year will mark a turnaround in the high fry mortality rate that has plagued the lake since 2003.

Woomer's team also will stock 100,000 to 200,000 advanced fry in mid-May in the hope that putting in slightly older fish when plankton is more abundant will boost their endurance odds. Those fish will have been bathed in a bone-staining dye that will help biologists gauge their survival in surveys of young walleyes, to be conducted in the fall.

The Fish Commission stocked older fry last May, but with disappointing results: just one dye-marked walleye was netted in a fall sampling.

Because Pymatuning is jointly managed with Ohio, there are no seasonal creel restrictions on walleyes. The lake draws large numbers of anglers to the sandbars to jig minnows or throw Rapalas after ice-out.

"Guys will drift during the day if there's wind, or they'll wade at night," Dave Richter, of Richter's Bait and Tackle, said. "The night fishing tapers off once the weeds come up and fish move into vegetation to forage. That's when the daytime fishing turns on. Guys will jig or they'll drift over the humps and target the edge of the weed beds."

"I'd definitely be in the shallows this time of year, no matter where I'm fishing," said walleye pro Keith Eshbaugh of West Alexander, Pa. "I just fished a tournament on Deep Creek Lake and we were catching them in 5 to 8 feet throwing Oddball Jigs in ¹/₁₆th to ¹/₈th ounce with a minnow on the back. Jigs and Rapalas are the No. 1 fish-catchers."

Once weeds come up, Eshbaugh switches to a Slo-Poke Jig tipped with a minnow or a crawler -- its slow, horizontal fall is ideal for working through submerged plants with few hang-ups.

Eshbaugh also turns to trolling crawler harnesses, larger crankbaits and deep-diving stickbaits as the season progresses and water warms.

"You want to get them near the bottom and troll off the channel edges and current breaks," said. "A lot of people troll aimlessly, instead of locating the edges and breaks that will be productive."

Current is slower in summer and the goal is to troll the current speed. Eshbaugh said anglers who prefer jigging also should target current breaks, as well as bridge pilings and other structure.

"Just keep in mind, trolling increases your chances of catching fish, because you're covering a lot more water than when you're jigging," he said.

Eshbaugh's trolling rod is a 7-foot, medium heavy-action, and he uses a bait-casting reel with 20-pound Fireline.

Anglers should note, too, that as walleyes find more food sources, catching them on hook and line can be more of a challenge, said Charlie Brandt, of the Kinzua-Allegheny Walleye Association. The group sponsors tournaments, including one that benefits disabled American veterans May 19-20 on the Allegheny Reservoir.

"Right after the spawn, mayflies are coming off and walleyes are feeding off the larvae on the bottom of the mud flats," said Brandt, who lives in Warren, Pa. "Trying to compete with that is hard."

Brandt fishes minnows, crawlers and Rapalas and other suspending baits from this time of year until fall.

"Bouncing a Rattletrap off the rocks along the shoreline can also be effective," he said. "Early in the season, when water is often high, fish will be out of current, in holes off the sides of islands, in stream inlets and around bridge piers."

The Allegheny Reservoir, which produced the 17-pound, 9-ounce state record walleye in 1980 and a 16-pound, 6-ouncer in 2005, is considered one of Pennsylvania's best inland walleye fisheries. The Allegheny River also yields some of the largest reported walleyes in the state every year.

Other walleye waters that have made the Fish Commission's Top 5 list in recent years include Lake Erie, French Creek, the Ohio River, Glendale Lake and the Youghiogheny River, which in 2005 gave up a 14-pound, 4-ounce walleye. Other lakes worth noting include Wilhelm, Woodcock, Edinboro, Arthur, Keystone Power Dam and Youghiogheny Reservoir.