Conventional wisdom says that the greatest concentration of 10-pound walleyes per surface acre in the state is found within a half mile of the DePere dam on the Fox River in April.

With proper vending permits, you could make a fair living jumping from boat to boat, selling hotdogs and crankbaits here when the run is on.

As noted earlier, after the night bite action tapers off at DePere, it is just beginning on the Menominee River about an hour to the north. The Oconto River is located between these two tributaries. Hardly anyone drags firetiger or chrome/blue stick baits from the County Park II ramp to Peshtigo Point in late April along the 8-foot contour . . . but until the arrival of baitfish in great numbers you can catch a mixed bag of walleyes, splakes and huge northern pike that requires two men and a small boy to lift the stringer.

From early May through June, the best place to find big walleyes in both size and numbers is on the south end of Green Bay, trolling big fluorescent spinner blades and crawler harnesses in the often turbid waters at places like Geano’s Reef.

A big key to success is slowing down the presentation to about 1.2 to 1.8 mph. Try trolling with the wind using a small kicker motor or even that MinnKota electric to simply keep your boat pointed straight in essentially a controlled drift with crawler harnesses back about 25 to 40 feet behind planer boards.

Eventually, Wisconsin’s 18-pound state-record walleye mark is bound to fall. Many wags predict this event will happen in the spring below the DePere dam. I predict it will occur in late summer on a sultry, flat August day farther up Green Bay near the upper reaches of the Door Peninsula out from Fish Creek.

Waldo, Wanda and her biggest, fattest sisters cruise the waters near Strawberries, Chambers Island and Horseshoe reefs in late July and August, before moving in September toward those legendary Michigan waters known as the Bays de Noc.