Females produce about 55,000 eggs per kilogram of body weight or 20,000 to 25,000 eggs per pound. A 10 pound female walleye can produce as many as a quarter million eggs. Eggs hatch in two to three weeks and the fry will swim immediately toward light. The fry will live in open water and will absorb their egg sacs in about two weeks. In the warmer waters of southern Ontario, the egg sacs can be absorbed in as little as four to five days.
Growth is very rapid after absorption of the egg sacs.
Male walleyes mature in two to four years and females mature in three to five years. Adult walleyes are extremely sensitive to light. They feed most actively at dusk and dawn. Fry and fingerlings feed on zooplankton and insect larvae. Adult walleyes feed primarily on fish, including the young of their own species.