We're already in June! Perfect time to talk walleye versus zander. The comparison between these two awesome fish is always a fun discussion. Both are members of the perch family (genus Sander), but zander are the "European cousin" while walleye dominate North American waters.

At a glance they look like the same fish but spend a little time with each and the differences start to show. The way they're built, bait choices, the water they call home. One of the biggest differences is spawning.

When spring water warms into the 50s Fahrenheit (around 12–18°C), zander begin spawning, usually from April into June. Unlike walleye, which scatter their eggs over gravel and offer no parental care, zander are nest builders.

The male does the work. He clears a nest in shallow water, fanning away silt to expose roots, rocks, or hard bottom. The female then lays her eggs over the patch, often tens of thousands, which cling to the exposed surface. The male stays behind to guard them, fanning the eggs to keep them oxygenated and driving off any intruders until they hatch about a week later. Just like bass. This is one of the biggest differences between zander and their walleye cousins, who abandon their eggs the moment spawning ends.

Caught this small one on a swimbait years back. Amsterdam’s main train station (AMS Centraal) is in the background. Amsterdam has roughly 60 miles (about 100 kilometers) of canals, spread across its famous canal ring and the wider network. The city is laced with around 165 canals in total, crossed by well over a thousand bridges. I would really love someday to be on a boat in Amsterdam with side imaging to see what the bottom structure and cover looks like. And how many fish show up on the screen. When fishing in city rivers, it’s tough to beat slow rolling along the bottom to get bit.

Presentation. The choice of bait in Europe for zander is primarily a swimbait on an unpainted lead jig head with a snap. For contrast, here in the USA, you’d rarely see unpainted jig heads for walleye, and almost never do anglers use a snap for jigs (exception would be for crankbaits). Drop shot rigs are also very popular among shore anglers, especially when fishing city canals. And again, you’d rarely see walleye anglers using a drop shot. Canal zander behave more like bass than walleye. Hiding under boats and right next the pilings and walls.

Retrieve. As opposed to walleye, snap jigging is NOT the preferred retrieve. Watch YouTube videos from Europe and you’ll see a lot of slow reeling, small motions with the bait, not aggressive snaps. And from my experience, I overworked my baits too much when targeting zander. Needed to approach them like I would for cold front bass fishing.

Location. Walleye are typically found in deeper, cooler waters, such as lakes and rivers, while zander are more common in shallow, warm waters, such as canals and reservoirs. In Europe, you may notice on social media that many giants are caught from shore. Zander thrive in big, slow rivers, canals, and reservoirs. Waters like the Danube, the Rhine, the Ebro in Spain, and countless lowland canals. These systems often have miles of accessible bank fishing. Many of them sit in dense urban and rural areas where shore access is easy and boat traffic is limited or restricted, so shore fishing is simply the norm.

It also suits them. Zander hug structure and feed heavily after dark in shallower margins, edges, drop-offs, harbor walls, bridge pilings, and current seams that a bank angler can reach without a boat.

Timing. Here's one area where the two are exactly the same. Both zander and walleye are low-light predators, and the reason is in their eyes. Each has a reflective layer behind the retina — the same structure that makes a cat's eyes glow in headlights — that gathers what little light is available and gives them a big edge in dim or murky water. So both fish do most of their hunting at dawn, dusk, and after dark, when their prey can barely see and they can see just fine. Great for the fishing. Tough on my sleep schedule.

Back in 2018, I spent some time on Volkerak in the Netherlands. This is one of the premier destinations for giant zander and monster perch. The zander pictured here was caught on a Rapala Rippin’ Rap (size 7 in Yellow Perch). Actually vertical jigged this one while fishing with Christian Drost, and have the whole thing on video, cast to catch. I even caught European perch on that bait.

In future newsletters and videos, I will dive more into the “walleye vs zander” topic. And yes… they taste similar. Hope you have a great week!