By Ted Peck

It may still look like winter here in Wisconsin, but a bunch of serious walleye chasers are already out there probing the open water on rivers. In a few short weeks the boat ramps will be choked with legions of anglers trying to shake off cabin fever. Rivers may be on the rise, and walleyes will definitely be on the move.

Now is the time for walleye gypsies to plot their travels to be there for the spring run on a mission that won't end until the marble eyes move out of frigid Lake Superior into the St. Louis River in mid-May.

There is a definite timetable for keeping a perpetual stretch in your string for walleye anglers in Wisconsin, with warming waters calling fish upstream in small to medium-sized rivers first. Some of these rivers feed massive lake systems. The Wolf and Fox rivers eventually reach Green Bay, as do the Peshtigo, Suamico, Pensaukee and Menominee, which is perhaps the best spring walleye river in Wisconsin. Other rivers like the Wisconsin, Kickapoo, Pecatonica and Rock feed into the mighty Mississippi River.

Lesser tributaries like the Pecatonica and Kickapoo offer limited fishing opportunities, resulting in reputations that are merely whispered around the coffee shops not far from where these waters run. Serious walleye chasers listen carefully between bites of pancakes. All I'm going tell you about the Kickapoo is that if you happen to see a red GMC pickup parked outside of Readstown with birdshot dings in the passenger side door and a retired professional firefighter decal on the back window, the owner is probably looking for wild asparagus.

The same truck might be parked near the Martintown bridge near the Pecatonica River in southwestern Wisconsin, too, or at Pine Island on the Lower Wisconsin River near Portage, not far from where the Baraboo River enters our namesake stream. Asparagus comes up a little later below the Grandfather Dam way above Wausau on our heartland river.

Little spots like these couldn't stand the fishing pressure like a community spot below De Pere Dam on the Fox River from ice-out to mid-April receives. If you're looking for a new boat, don't bother with the sport shows. Odds are every "walleye" boat you've ever considered will be anchored just below the power lines that mark the fish refuge on the Fox all this month and beyond.

Riverine walleyes in the spring are sort of like apples on a tree. You have the option of hanging around the trunk with everybody else waiting for the fruit to fall, or you can move up into the gnarly branches that feed into the trunk, contend with aggressive wasps and take home the sweetest apples of all.

Following is a look at some of our more popular walleye destinations that can handle heavy fishing pressure.

Brian Clairmont caught this walleye on the Menominee River in Marinette, not far from the railroad bridge. Photo by Ted Peck

Every pool between these points holds walleyes, but some areas are definitely better than others. Probably the two top spots to target along our western border are the tailwaters at Red Wing, Minn., and several hours drive farther south in the tailwaters of Pool 8 at Genoa south of La Crosse.

The dam at Genoa that separates Pool 8 and Pool 9 isn't much different than others up and down the river-other than the fact that the federal hatchery facility just south of this sleepy little town dumps thousands of advanced fingerlings into the river system each fall. A steep but serviceable launch about a mile below the dam has its parking lot packed with cars from ice-out in early March to about April 20 when walleyes are close to the rocks in shallow water and serious about spawning.

Some people launching at Genoa who seek the shortest course to the dam are rudely awakened by a rocky wing dam just a couple hundred yards upstream. There is always a crowd of anglers on the Clement's fishing barge below the dam on the Minnesota side every weekend, and a flotilla of folks playing "bumper boats" in the tailwaters in a scenario played out below every dam up and down the river.

Local anglers on Pool 9 avoid the tailwaters on the weekend, targeting places like the wing dams farther downstream at the mouth of Minnesota Slough, and keeping a low profile by casting from shore as the spawn approaches.

Notations from my fishing calendar from the weekend of April 20 last spring indicate three boats whacking the wing dam, and four fat walleyes between 24 and 26 inches were taken on chartreuse twistertails and a jighead at Genoa while fishing from shore where massive concrete pylons used to moor barges break the Mississippi's powerful current.

None of the anglers in dozens of boats making the mad dash to the tailwaters saw me catch any fish. With all the boats foregathered below the dams, somebody is bound to stumble into a walleye often enough to keep the rest of the flotilla interested. If you want to consistently catch quality walleyes on most river pools, pick just one pool and learn the waters a mile below the dam.

Tailwaters at Red Wing stay open all winter thanks to a power plant in close proximity to a boat ramp. Walleyes tend to run larger here, and saugers of mind-boggling proportions inhabit these waters.

In the spring, most successful anglers at Red Wing pull variations of the Wolf River rig upstream, or vertical jig their way downstream with flat "river jigs" with hair tails. After a big cold front, adding a minnow to this jig sometimes helps, but truly wise river rats usually fish just the hair-tailed jig. As we get into April, crankbaits are another weapon to consider.

To be consistently successful on the Mississippi River, the most important factor is time on the water. A new Web site, www.indepthangling.com, is invaluable to anglers coming from any great distance, noting river levels and fluctuations - a major key - and other important information.

Contacts: Bob's Bait, La Crosse, (608) 782-5552; Mississippi Sports and Recreation, De Soto, (608) 648-3630; Captain Hook's Bait & Tackle, Genoa, (608) 689-2800.

On the upper river you won't see crowds of bumper boats at the tailwaters, simply because the water is too "skinny" to allow safe passage. Slack water pools below riffles downstream are good places to find active fish from about April 10 through the end of the month above Wausau.

The upper ends of this river's large flowages like Petenwell, Castle Rock and Lake Wisconsin are worth probing shortly after ice-out as fish move upstream into the river. Tailwaters of all these flowages are also good places to look. But just like on the Mississippi, don't think you need to be within sight of the dam to catch fish.

The Dells tailwaters are a case in point. Sure, there are plenty of walleyes caught on the hump directly below the dam every spring. But more fish are caught fishing sandbar flats downstream in less than 10 feet of water. Most folks fishing the Dells area simply fish too deep. And many successful anglers here find their best results at night by casting shad-bodied grubs on the flats and at creek entry points.

I like to concentrate on the water between Pine Island and the cable that crosses the river about a mile below River's Edge Resort. Navigation can be tricky here, but there are few places where my jet-drive tunnel boat can't go. One of the best spots is about midway between Pine Island and the cable where there are a few rocks along the river just downstream from a tiny slough that is a major walleye spawning area on this neck of river. Walleyes prefer slack water near faster water in riverine ecosystems, especially when seeking out areas to lay their eggs.

Contacts: guide Todd Koehn, Wausau, 1-800-710-8020, www.rivercatch.com.; Ken's Marine, Castle Rock and Petenwell, (608) 565-2426; River's Edge Resort, Wisconsin Dells, (608) 254-6494, www.riversedgeresort.com; Ray's Riverside Resort, Sauk City, (608) 643-3243.