This 11-pound walleye was caught near where the U.S. Highway 41 bridge crosses the Menominee River in downtown Marinette. Photo By Ted Peck

My Lund sits poised in the barn waiting for the next walleye alarm like the Beloit Fire Department’s ever-ready Engine 3 stands by for the next fire alarm.

In my boat’s compartments are at least 15 rods, bottom-bouncers, planer boards, driftsocks, crankbaits, spinners, jigs, rigs and three Beckman nets. There is even a “quick disconnect” for the on-board battery charger. When the walleye run is on, you can’t let little details stand in the way. But sometimes you are on the road when a fishing situation screams your name. That’s why there are at least four two-piece rods, reels and a backpack full of gear -- including a short-handled net -- stashed in my truck next to a pair of waders, a Polarfleece vest and a rainsuit.

A long career as a Wisconsin professional firefighter has given me a Semper paratus mindset. Fishing success is often a situation where preparedness meets opportunity. Imagine driving down the road and seeing a happy angler battling a 24-inch walleye in the riffles below some country dam -- and you don’t have the gear readily available to join in the fun. Trust me, this is a gut-wrenching vision you don’t want to experience twice.

There are instances when the crazy action at the peak of a walleye run only lasts a couple of days, or maybe just a few hours. If you can’t take advantage of the situation, it can be an entire year before the opportunity arises again.

Last year, I had an average spring up on the Menominee River at Marinette. The walleye run here usually comes on about four days after the bite starts to slow down on the lower Fox River at De Pere. The Menominee is only about an hour’s drive north of the Fox. For me, the spring bite on the Fox wasn’t that good last year, but it offers you the best chance to land a wallhanger walleye of any water in Wisconsin when the run is on and you hit it right. It’s no secret here that the De Pere dam tailwaters are the bumper-boat capital of Wisconsin in March.

Up on the Menominee, things are a little different than on the Fox. When the run is on, it doesn’t take fish long to move from the lighthouse at the mouth of Green Bay up to the Hattie Street dam. You need a boat to catch fish consistently when they are staging out at the edge of ice in the waters of Green Bay, but when they move inland, the best odds for ruining old Wanda’s day are from shore or by wading knee-deep in the river.

Two years ago, I made the 250-mile trip up to Marinette three times and came away with essentially bupkis. If it weren’t for a pile of suckers stretching the string on the Oconto River, a visit to rehab may have been part of the plan.

Spring 2002 on the Menominee was at the other end of the spectrum. The walleyes moved upstream in a marble-eyed green wave, sensing the river would rise to flood stage overnight. There were only three of us standing in the sleet storm by the U.S. Highway 41 bridge when the stampede began at 2 a.m. I caught and released 22 walleyes ranging from 5 to 11 pounds. Walleyes were literally banging into my waders as they tried to find their way upstream. Heaven must be something like that.