11:50 a.m. RIVERDALE - When it comes to boating spring walleyes, Greg Schoneck hopes for good communications with his quarry.

The host of "N.D. Live, Wet and Wild," a summer-long run of live radio fishing reports every Thursday from Lake Sakakawea, was doing his radio thing last week on the lake's east end.

He was chasing the spring walleye spawn that starts farther west around White Earth Bay, moves down to the Van Hook and Parshall areas and finishes up between the north shore of Mallard Island and the north shore of the lake. The lake's walleyes typically start to spawn once the water temperature reaches 45 to 50 degrees, usually between late April and into May.

"They can stay several weeks after the spawn. How long depends on how much forage is in the area," Schoneck explained as he and his passenger left the boat ramp at Government Bay Recreation Area for the dash across the lake.

The lake stood at 1,813.1 feet above sea level Thursday - 7 feet higher than a year ago - and North Dakota's largest water playground was looking good.

Spring walleye tagging efforts by the North Dakota Game and Fish Department have shown that the popular game fish return home, to the area where they were spawned, to spawn.

"We'll use that as a guideline and work shallow water, 1 foot to 12 feet deep to see if we can find fish," he explained.

Schoneck was tying jigs on one rod and spinning reel loaded with monofilament line and another rod and reel spooled with FireLine.

"If the fish tell me something, I will switch to one or the other. If the fish don't talk to us, how are we going to learn anything?" he said.

Schoneck's choice that morning was a round-headed, 1/8-ounce jig.

"I try to use as light of a jig as I can. An eighth-ounce is probably my No. 1 tool," he explained.

With a handful of minnows transferred from the basket to a handier container sitting on the deck, he threaded the jig through the minnow's mouth and out the top of its skull.

"It's a solid hookup, and I don't need the minnow to impart action. The jig imparts the action," he explained.

With the trolling motor purring, he guided the boat along a hump, alternating presentations between holding a rod in each hand while jigging vertically and putting one rod in a holder and casting the other jig, then raising the rod tip and allowing the jig to fall as he turned a few cranks on the reel handle.

"They normally whack it when it falls and drops right in their mouths," he said.

When his raise-and-fall technique retrieves the jig close to the boat, he jigs vertically again, holding the lure right off the bottom, lifting the rod tip and allowing the jig drop.

"A high percentage of walleyes are caught right at the boat," he said.

Schoneck prefers colored line when jigging, "a darker green for visibility. Sometimes you can see the strike before you detect it." And he had 4-pound test on each reel.

Even so, he missed his first bump.

"I was a little too energetic. The walleye held (the jig and minnow) in his mouth," he said.

Although his electronics were showing fish along that 100-yard-long hump, his bump and a second on his passenger's rod were all of the evidence that walleyes were present. Both minnows showed the tell-tale scarring on their sides that indicated a walleye strike.

The tough thing about spring walleye fishing is the dearth of anglers on the water who are pursuing walleyes. With information so scarce, "you have to find fish every time," Schoneck said.

With walleyes so reluctant to swallow minnows, Schoneck decided it was time to "go look around for a better bite.

"We can always come back," the operator of No Bonz Guide Service said as he pointed the boat closer to Highway 83, slowed alongside a rocky hump, hooked minnows on his jigs and started jigging.

His confidence was rewarded quickly when he reeled in a walleye that would measure 21¼ inches.

"I could feel him biting and biting. I just left it alone," he said. "I usually don't do that when I'm jigging."

The next fish to hit his falling jig and minnow, was an unexpected surprise.

"A golden walleye," Schoneck exclaimed as he hauled the large, sucker-mouthed carp to the surface.

"What hits a dropping jig? Apparently anything that wants to," he said as he shook his head.

Schoneck continued to ply the waters off the hump as he waited for his 12:55 p.m. phone call from KFYR-AM for his second live broadcast. Although the signals were good on his cell phone and satellite phone, there was no call. Schoneck is scheduled to give his radio reports at 8:15 a.m., 12:55, 4:45 and 5:45 p.m.

"Let's go back to the first hump. We know there are fish there, but they are in a pretty negative mood," he said, adding that the warming water might make them less finicky. On our first cruise around the hump, the water temperature was 53.6 degrees. It would be above 54 degrees for this return trip.

The call came as were were zipping across the lake. By this time, bright sun had overpowered the gray, overcast morning, and the wind had dropped to nothing, turning the lake's surface into what looked like a sheet of glass. With the boat stopped, he filed his report, motored back to the hump.

And the walleyes were more aggressive in the somewhat warmer water. Schoneck's next walleye was smaller but still a keeper. Even he was surprised that he caught it under a hockey-rink-smooth lake surface.

"We shattered the myth about dead, calm water," he noted.

That a third walleye went into the livewell shortly afterward only confirmed that they weren't as lethargic in slightly warmer water.

But that was all of the talking these fish were going to do that afternoon.

Unpredictability is the one predictable thing about spring walleye fishing.

"The last week of May and the first week of June, fishing will be more predictable," Schoneck predicted.

(Reach outdoor writer Richard Hinton at 701-250-8256 or richard.hinton@bismarcktribune.com.)