Sturgeon Bay guide Dale Stroschein and a young client show off a first-rate walleye caught through the ice off Door Peninsula. Staff photo.

You might want to add a taxidermist's contact information to your speed dial if you're planning on a walleye trip to Door County this winter. Waters west of Sturgeon Bay hold the shortest odds of tangling with a trophy in the entire state.

Unlike most other Wisconsin ice-fishing destinations, where anglers face short windows of fish activity at dawn and dusk this time of year, those who are serious about the sport find fast action virtually all day, all winter long off Door County's 70-mile-long peninsula, bordered by Green Bay on the west and greater Lake Michigan on the east.

"Like most other winter fisheries in Wisconsin, the walleyes are most active on Green Bay during low-light periods," said Capt. Bret Alexander, whose Alexander Sport Fishing Guide and Charter Service is based in Sturgeon Bay in Door County. "But we also have a whitefish bite that comes on strong all day long and is as close to a sure thing as you'll ever see out on the ice. The only way to waste time here is not having your hook in the water."

DOOR COUNTY'S WINTER SECRET
In a fishing-crazy state like Wisconsin, you would think local entities would promote Door County as an angling destination, but fishing is mentioned only briefly -- if at all -- in many of the tourism brochures and guidebooks on Door County.

You might also think that a county with more water per surface acre than anyplace else in the state would have a wealth of bait shops and tackle stores. Other than a couple of businesses that happen to sell minnows and one entity in Sturgeon Bay who markets trout flies, Door County is devoid of outlets where the itinerant angler can find out about the bite.

But fishing is an option in Door County, and an excellent one at that!

The best source of current fishing information for Door County is found on the Internet at www.lake-link.com. Door County guides Bret Alexander, Dale Stroschein and Scott Gutschow post regularly on this Web site. They are on the Door County ice virtually every day, all winter long.

"We do a number of corporate ice- fishing trips together," Stroschein, who runs Wacky Wally Guide Service in Sturgeon Bay, said of his interaction with Alexander and Gutschow. "We've had groups of over 30 anglers and can provide an all-inclusive package."

EARLY START
The typical day for these ice guides starts about 4 a.m., when they begin drilling 50-100 holes in the ice with gas drills, setting up portable shanties and firing up propane heaters. They then return to shore and rendezvous with clients at Sand Bay Beach Resort to caravan out to rocky reefs and humps that hold walleyes of humongous proportions all winter long.

"If the ice is a minimum of 15 inches thick, we give folks the option of following us in their personal 4-by-4 vehicles," Stroschein said. "We can transport up to 12 anglers and gear in our Polaris crew-cab UTVs. This can be a better way to get to locations where travel by bigger vehicles is not a good idea."

The trek out to places like Henderson's Point or Monument Shoals is not a straight-line vector from shore. Drastic changes in the bottom contours of Green Bay result in massive ice heaves, which must be negotiated with considerable caution.

A GPS unit and a compass are standard equipment on any trip out on the Door County ice, even if the destination is just a couple hundred yards from shore.