Old Lake CottageWalleye fishing near Southampton, ON
3,213 documented waters within 300 km, 2,357 of them with walleye as the primary species.
Where they are biting today
- Vermilion River (rivière Vermillion)80
- Mowat Creek80
- Wanapitei Lake (lac Wanapitei)79
- Kynoch Creek79
- Lake Wanapitei (Sudbury)79
- Wanapitei Lake (lac Wanapitei)79
- West Little White River79
- Big Caribou Lake (Britt)79
- Lake Nipissing (North Bay)78
- Trout Lake (lac à la Truite)78
Fishing walleye around Southampton
The waters around Southampton give walleye anglers real options: 3213 documented waters in range are on record for walleye in our Ontario catalogue, and their daily scores - built from weather, water temperature at depth and species-fit modelling - decide the order shown above rather than reputation or hearsay.
Start with Vermilion River (rivière Vermillion), today's top scorer at 80 (about 266 km from Southampton). If it is busy or the wind is wrong, Mowat Creek scores 80 (about 267 km from Southampton). Wanapitei Lake (lac Wanapitei) at 79 is the third card worth keeping in hand. All of these numbers come from the same daily model, so they are directly comparable water to water.
Walleye have large, light-sensitive eyes that give them sharp low-light vision - the same trait behind their name (that eerie eye-shine) also explains why they feed most actively at dawn, dusk, and after dark, retreating to deeper, darker water on bright days. Early-season Ontario walleye hold near their spawning rivers and on windswept boulder or coarse-gravel shoals, sliding out to deeper weed lines, drop-offs and channel edges as summer builds. The jig-and-minnow worked near bottom is the default Ontario presentation - vertical jigging in clear water by day, with crankbaits and spinners over shallow structure once the light drops. Across much of Ontario the walleye season closes for the spawn in mid-March and reopens on the third Saturday of May - the traditional May opener - though dates differ by zone.
Treat this page as a living shortlist: the ranking refreshes daily (currently showing September 15, 2026), and a shift in wind, cloud cover or water temperature is often enough to reorder it.