De Pere Walleye Run
What I personally learned fishing the Fox River for walleyes….
When you hear people talking about fishing the walleye run there are a few places that are always brought up, one of them being Green Bay. Now living in Wisconsin the last 10 years, I had always heard about how phenomenal the fishing is. It wasn’t until this 2021 that we FINALLY decided to make the trek to give it a try. Let me just say it was 100% worth it in my opinion and now I realize why so many people drive ungodly hours to come fish the Fox for their chance at a world class walleye. We made it to De Pere a total of 3 times, and each time we went fishing at Voyager Park. Here are a few tips and tricks I personally learned that I would recommend if you are fishing the walleye run.
10/10 recommend Insulated Waders- I was wearing waders that are not insulated and the first time out I lost all feeling in my toes. Let’s just saying trying to walk back over the rocks with no feeling in your toes makes for a sketchy trip.
If you only have uninsulated waders, make sure to layer up ( I had 3 pair of warm leggings on) wear wool socks, and toe warmers. The second two trips out I was a lot more comfortable and able to stay fishing longer.
You will be fishing elbow to elbow in some instances with people around you, be kind…we made some great friends there and had a wonderful time with the people around us, the guy a few people down from me was the MVP of the night when he netted my first large walleye for me. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case.. we had a couple next to us that were not very friendly which kind of made for a long night.
Adding to number 3- you will inevitably cross or get tangled with other people, it will happen..trust me. That’s why being friendly and kind is important, everyone there is just trying to have a good time and catch big fish. There is plenty in the Fox to go around.
You will lose a stupid amount of lures in some spots, the guy next to me told me he once lost 12 in a night. Again, its bound to happen..but good news you catch a lot of lure too.
Northland Ripping Shad were my go-to, they are cheaper than Rippin Rapalas but seemed to work just as well. Don’t get me wrong Rippin Rapalas work great, but when you're bound to lose some lures…lose cheaper ones.
A headlamp is a MUST, since you fish after dark you really have to see what you're doing. Flashlights are fine but personally the handsfree option of a headlamp was the way to go.
After the gentleman netted my fish for me, we realized we needed to have a net with us at all times, find a way to stash a net on body if you can, Trevor looped the net in his wader belt so we would always have it ready to go when necessary.
