Opening day of walleye fishing is in May and you will want to get your boat in the water before that day because if you do not, you will have a long line at the boat ramps. This is true of any lake or river that has seasonal walleye fishing restrictions. What you want to do is fine a lake or area where the walleye are present but know one takes the time to fish. There are places in Wisconsin that you can go and have a fulfilled day of walleye fishing. Wisconsin is big enough for everyone, but small enough to travel short distance to find some great places to fish.

Waukesha has some great areas for walleye fishing. Oconomowoc Lake and Lac La Bella are two popular places to fish for walleye. If you are looking for that one fish to hang on your wall, you will catch it at one of these lakes. Bella has a one walleye a day limit, which makes it an odd place to fish, but Oconomowoc, has a three walleye a day limit. Bella has to be twenty inches to keep and eighteen inches at Oconomowoc. Still, these are lakes to try because nobody utilizes them. Big Yellow Lake is another great walleye fishing lake. The best time to fish this lake is around the end of May during the post-spawning season. You can fishing around the island during the summer months and find the walleye in the area if the water as a low light during certain times of the day. You can use a jig with a minnow or a shiner and a split shot works just as well. This is a good lake to fish, but you do have to know some of the top places to fish. The area anglers can tell you were to find the hot spots for the particular day.

One of the best locations to visit is the Menominee River, especially around Marinette, Wisconsin. Here, the walleye begin to bite about four days after the slack off at the lower Fox River, about mid spring. It’s about an hour’s drive north of the popular Fox River location, but it’s worth taking advantage of, especially since there are seasons where the good catch only lasts a couple of days. After that, Wisconsin walleye fishing may be dead for another year. During the run at the Menominee River, you’ll find that the walleye move quickly from the mouth of Green Bay to the Hattie Street dam, and you’ll need a boat to find any kind of consistency; this is because they first stay near the edges of the ice in the waters of Green Bay. However, as they move inland, you may want to cast your boat aside and wade in knee-deep or simply cast out from shore.

The Wisconsin River provides more excellent fishing. This river has tons of dams between the Grandfather and Grandmother Dams in the north and the Prairie du Sac Dam at the lower end of Lake Wisconsin. Walleye fishing is extremely productive at and around these dams, most of which offer shore access to the river for excellent fishing opportunities. One of the best stretches of good walleye fishing here is between the dam at Wisconsin Dells in the north and Pine Island, especially just southwest of Portage, where you’ll find points to fish off a levee road in the Pine Island State Wildlife area. There is also a great little black eddy on the south side of the river near Hillside Drive that gives up a great catch of walleye.