Here are seven sites where you can catch walleyes from shore this spring.

MENOMINEE RIVER
There are some inland fishing opportunities on this boundary river with Michigan, but the big show is in the short stretch of water between the Highway 41 bridge and the Hattie Street dam.

The eye of the walleye storm is on Stevenson Island at mid-river. There is some wadable water on the Michigan side here, making purchase of a non-resident license a good idea.

Your weapon of choice is simple: a fire-tiger Storm ThunderStick. No. 9 jointed Rapalas will work, too. The Rapala tracks just a little shallower in what is truly a game of inches. The ThunderStick has just the right profile to stay in the fish zone on this water. However, there are many rocks in the fish zone, too. Removing the leading hook of the front treble prolongs lure life. But you’ll want to stuff at least a half-dozen extra baits in your waders.

Limit is one fish over 14 inches. When fish are moving, you can limit out in a single cast. Fish are so thick that foul-hooking is inevitable. A lot of the foul-hooked fish will be suckers, but all foul-hooked fish must be immediately released. Tangling with salmon, sturgeon and giant flathead catfish is not unheard of here, especially between the top of the island and the dam.

Contact: Michigan DNR’s Web site, www.fishline.com; MBK Sports, (715) 735-5393.

FOX RIVER
There is limited shore-fishing opportunity around the seven bridges between the De Pere dam and mouth of Green Bay seven miles downstream. Voyageur Park in De Pere is the best access for both boat- and shore-anglers.

A small lock-and-dam system that bypasses the lowhead dam on the park side of the river prevents wading up to the prime fishing area below the fish refuge that lies essentially above the power lines that span the river. If you’ve been looking for a reason to buy a belly boat, this is it. Belly boats or float tubes can get you across the deep ditch to the promised land upstream. Stake your claim to a spot where your cast can work a back eddy where ‘eyes tend to stage before continuing upstream.

Stick baits like the Rapala, Rogue and ThunderStick catch most of the fish. A pocketful of 4-inch K-Grubs and 1/4-ounce jigheads is much less expensive and still quite effective. Although the action is almost entirely at night, chartreuse plastic tails and fire-tiger stick baits seem to have an edge over other colors. My second choice would be something in a silver/blue pattern.

Keep your line in the water when fish are moving, and odds are extremely high you’ll tangle with a walleye in excess of the 28-inch minimum length.

OCONTO RIVER
Located about halfway between the Menominee River and the Fox River in northeast Wisconsin, this small river is virtually overlooked. But timing is everything.

You can catch walleyes right in the downtown park just west of Highway 41 if you’re on the water when the migration window opens and the fish push upstream. There is some fishing from shore in Copper Culture State Park due west of the town of Oconto. Probably the best place to ambush walleyes is when they start to mass between Peshtigo Point and the Oconto River mouth, east of County Highway Y. Access isn’t easy, but if you can get down to the water in waders and pitch a stick bait near dusk, you may find a new honeyhole.