WISCONSIN RIVER
Our namesake river has been called “the hardest working river in America” because of all the dams between the Grandfather Dam and Grandmother Dam in the north and the Prairie du Sac dam at the lower end of Lake Wisconsin. Almost every one of these barriers offers some kind of shore access, with countless more shore-fishing opportunities just a short hop off roadways along the river.

My favorite stretch is from Pine Island clear up to the dam at Wisconsin Dells. You can walk to prime ambush points off a levee road in the Pine Island State Wildlife Area southwest of Portage.

It’s a little tougher to get to the river upstream off Hillside Drive, but one particular back eddy on the south side of the Wisconsin here gives up multiple whoppers every spring.

The Dells Creek entry point just above River’s Edge Resort is another popular shore-fishing spot, especially at night, and there are always walleyes cruising the rocks within sight of all the tourist traps below The Dells dam.

Folks who live downstream like to target the Highway 33 bridge in downtown Portage, or park and fish along the road by the bridge at Whalen’s Grade on Lake Wisconsin.

The river below both the Petenwell Flowage dam and Castle Rock Flowage dam get plenty of attention every spring, with mostly local anglers hitting the water around Nekoosa around the Highway 73 bridge.

Get upstream from here and the Wisconsin River splays across the landscape above the Biron Flowage. The tailwaters of the Biron dam are worth a look, as are similar fisheries below the Eau Pleine, Mosinee and DuBay dams, but especially the Lake DuBay dam.

Above Wausau, the character of this old river changes considerably, morphing into more rapid water with boulders instead of an ever-changing sea of sand guiding the upstream push of walleyes. When everything is right, you can take a limit of walleyes in an hour below the dam in Merrill -- if you can keep the muskies off your line.

Lake Alexander is just upstream from Merrill. Between Lake Alexander and Grandfather Dam is a narrows called Posey Rapids. The epicenter of Posey Rapids is a big, flat rock. If you see an old firefighter standing on the rock pitching a No. 4 Mepps Black Fury with a yellow Lab at his side, you had better stay away. The Lab has been known to turn into a raging ball of canine fury when anything approaches her “walleye rock.”

Walleye activity is at a peak somewhere along the Wisconsin River for a good three weeks between mid-March and mid-April, with plenty of water to keep even the most serious fishin’ bum grinning until turkey season opens.

The slot limit that protects breeding-sized walleyes -- which went into effect several years ago -- is the best thing the Department of Natural Resources has done in years, because the fishing is as good or better than it was in the “good old days.”

Contacts: Ken’s Marine (Petenwell), (608) 565-2426; Castle Rock Hideaway (Castle Rock), (608) 847-4475; Hooksetter’s Guide Service (DuBay), (715) 693-5843, www. hooksetters.biz; Rivers Edge Resort (Dells), (608) 254-6494, www. riversedgeresort.com; Mi Place (Portage), (608) 635-4020; Rays Riverside Resort (Sauk City), (608) 643-3243.