To a die-hard walleye fishing fanatic, few things rank higher than fishing for pre-spawn walleyes on the tributary rivers of Green Bay. So when an open boat seat and an invite to join a group of very good walleye fishermen on a fishing trip to do just that came my way, the decision to go was a foregone conclusion.
The really great part about fishing for walleyes on these tributary rivers is that you can generally do very, very well without the use of live bait. No question, a variety of techniques will catch fish up here. But the absolute best part is that our favorite technique, which is pitching plastics, works especially well on these fish.
Although lots of different plastics work fine, I personally still heavily favor two in particular. That would be the 4” ringworm and the 4” Moxi from B’Fish’N Tackle on the business end of a H20 Precision Jig.
Not all but many of the bites are a solid, unmistakable “thunk” which brings about the inevitable hook set and ensuing battle to get another fish in the boat. Maybe the best part though is how hard these fish fight in the current of these rivers. You would swear many of them are going to be over 6lbs. Of course net shrinkage brings you back to reality pretty quickly when your realize it just another average walleye in that 19-21″ range.
We really don’t catch many fish below the 18” mark and a good number of the fish are 23, 24, & 25” long. Our biggest fish on this trip ran 27” long but we caught a fair number of walleyes in that 25 to 27” range. Knowing that much bigger fish are present though is part of what keeps a guy firing cast after cast.
One other technique that has gotten a lot of ink here on IDO did get considerable time on the end of my rod this year. That would be what be what we call “Zipping” or “Blading”. It definitely caught fish and I believe it will continue to get more time in the water on future trips.
Although it was a short, quick and sweet 2-1/2 day fishing trip, it has left all of those in our group thinking about getting back up there for yet another crack and a real giant.
Great company, great fishing and dreams of bigger fish yet to be caught. (and great food Thanks to Dan)
For die hard walleye fisherman, it just doesn’t get any better than that.
Special Thanks to Greybeard for inviting me up to his cabin and to Dan Barynbruch for allowing me to occupy an open seat in his boat.
A few more pics from this past weekend….
Great Job on the eyes you guys !!!
Joel
You are a Big Fish Magnet !!! 
No I don’t think so. The really big ones continued to elude me on this trip.
Dan definitely caught his share of good ones though.
That looks and sounds like a great time. Nice job
Very cool the small river fishing looks very fun and appealling. – QB