By Ted Peck

Wisconsin has a wealth of walleye waters - from rivers and flowages to inland lakes and Great Lakes - where old marble-eyes hasn't seen an intentional hook for several months.

Here's a look at some of our top waters when the time comes to break out the long rods again for opening day of the regular inland fishing season in May.

The south end of Green Bay is shallow and often turbid, making fluorescent lures a good option. Many successful anglers troll big-bladed spinner rigs and night crawlers, using a split shot or Rubbercor sinker up the line about three feet to keep the bait lower in the water column and deflect most weeds.

Those spinnerblades that give off erratic vibrations like the Lindy Hatchet Spinner seem to attract more fish, with these walleyes feeding as much by vibration as by sight. As a rule of thumb, the warmer water gets, the bigger blade you want to use. Typically this means No. 3 blades in June and No. 4 or No. 5 later in the summer. For this bait to track well, the night crawler must be hooked through the very tip of the head, with another hook from a No. 6 treble impaling the worm behind the breeding ring. Spinner rigs need to be trolled slowly to be effective. Most local anglers go about 1.3 to 1.8 mph with the wind, with the spinners about 25 to 40 feet behind planer boards.

Geano's Reef and similar structures attract fish all summer long, with wind direction and velocity a major factor in fish location, especially on the south end of the bay.

Photo by Ron Sinfelt

Fishing is a little different an hour up the Door County coast out of Fish Creek. A small cadre of savvy anglers believe the state's long-standing 18-pound record will fall here, with a "fish story" to this effect causing quite a buzz here last summer.

A good base of operations is Peninsula State Park, concentrating on sharp structural changes around Chambers Island and the Strawberry Islands, and other subtle reefs that lie far offshore.

Locating offshore structure is tough to the point of being nearly impossible without a good Global Positioning System. The ideal tool is a GPS with the global mapping chip that makes it easier to find hidden structure and probe contours where these big basin fish are liable to be cruising.

With alewives, smelt and shiners as a primary summer forage base, it makes sense that chrome/blue, gold/black and clown-pattern deep-diving crankbaits are very effective. Using a trolling chart to figure how deep your lures are running is a key to success, trolling similar baits at staggered distances behind planer boards until you find exactly what these fish want on a given day. Time of day doesn't seem to be important. Put the bait in front of these walleyes and they're liable to eat any time. But the devil is in the details: that bait must be right in front of fish. Big walleyes don't have the inclination to go chasing down dinner.

A long, heavy-duty extendable net like the StowMaster may spell the difference between a trip to the taxidermist and tale about the one that got away. When a big walleye drags the planer board behind the boat, she will headshake and not be in a big hurry to come up out of the depths. A steady retrieve with rod held high is the best method to bring a whopper to the surface. Once a big fish is on the surface, physics give the advantage to the fish. A long-handled net can be a proactive cure for heartbreak.

Contacts: Bob's Bait & Tackle, 1-800-447-2312 or www.bobsbaitandtackle.net; Fish Creek Information Center, 1-800-577-1880 or www.fishcreek.info.

Come May, these fish will be patrolling Winnebago's windblown reefs looking for gizzard shad and trout-perch, and settling for just about anything from jigs to crankbaits.

There are two perpetual truths about this premier walleye factory that 'eye chasers should keep in mind before heading out. One is that wind is good thing. The harder it blows, the more fish tend to stack up in exceptionally shallow water looking for food. Secondly, the best fishing comes before mid-July when there are so many baitfish in the water that all a walleye has to do to eat is open its mouth.

"Summer success on Winnebago is driven primarily by how large forage year-classes are," DNR biologist Ron Bruch said. "Once the shad, grounders and other species like young white bass and sheepshead show up, you're better off fishing elsewhere."

The size of walleye year-classes also affects angler success. A huge hatch from 1996 will be yielding 'eyes approaching trophy status this year, with the 2001 year-class providing a pile of eating-sized walleyes to the mix.

As is the case on Green Bay, Winnebago's walleyes are fools for a trolling presentation with 'crawlers or crankbaits out on the main-lake basin, especially if winds are generally calm. Hot-N-Tots and Wiggle Warts are popular baits, as are RipSticks and ThunderStick Juniors. Crankbaits are generally more effective when trolled at a faster clip than you would drag spinner rigs. About 2.2 mph is in the ballpark. A serpentine trolling pattern will slow cranks on one side of the boat while speeding lures up on the other side. Once you figure out how fast walleyes want the bait, filling a limit is just a matter of time.

If there is a good "walleye chop" on Winnebago you might want to tie on 1/16-ounce jigs tipped with minnows and head for the windward side of the lake. You know the "walleye chop" is just about right when guys on surfboards start racing you to the beach. Boat control is critical to success. Your boat will get bashed if you get too close. But you won't hook up if you stay out too far. A 7- to 8-foot spinning rod capable of long casts is the best weapon, with high-visibility low-stretch line like the green Berkley FireLine being the best way to go. In a 20 mph wind it's tough to feel a bite on a 1/16-ounce jig even with the most sensitive rod. An angler with low-stretch line who can see the fish hit will catch more fish.

Anglers coming from any distance to fish Winnebago would be wise to pack everything from crappie rods to catfish gear. Something is always biting on Winnebago - which is certainly in the running for sheepshead capital of the universe. If walleyes aren't active out on the big water, you could consider moving up into the rivers or feeder lakes like Winneconne, Butte des Morts or Poygan.

Don't forget the most recent Fishing HotSpots map (1-800-500-MAPS). GPS coordinates make it easy to find offshore reefs and other structure. No GPS? Just look for the boats.

Winnebago is ringed with boat ramps, lodging and other services, with "walleye" spoken just about everywhere you stop.

Contacts: Dutch's Trading Post in Fond du Lac, (920) 922-0311; Fox River Bait and Tackle in Oshkosh, (920) 233-7409; Oshkosh Convention and Visitor's Center, (920) 424-0282.