Presented by Yamaha Motor Corp USA and Warrior Boats Inc.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:  April 25, 2025

Contact: Denny Fox, 920-505-0122

Anglers Insight Marketing LLC (AIM™)   

We’ve got a weekend of walleye for you coming up, Fan Nation, starting in North Dakota Saturday, then Wisconsin, where Round Two of the AIM Weekend Walleye Series, double-header runs Sunday (April 27)  on Wisconsin’s Wolf River system at Winneconne, a fishery that’s changing big time and that some are saying could push the winning bag into the 30-pound range.

“Fan Nation, anyone used to hearing the Garmin Open on the Wolf River system being won with teener fish might want to up that expectation,” said Denny Fox, national tournament director. “New keeper regulations in effect with a three-fish limit on the Wolf system and Lake Winnebago are changing things here, meaning we very well could be looking at a bump in weights Sunday compared with years past.”

AIM’s second Wisconsin qualifier of 2025 will come a day after the North Dakota crowd opens its qualifers by tackling the Missouri River’s hawgs on and around the sand bars near Bismarck. See that story for predictions there.

Meanwhile about 700 miles east at Winneconne, the entire system from Winnebago to the upper lakes will be in play, say teams ready to try breaking the “pound barrier.”

Jeremy Hurst will be with Jim Erdman, both from Oshkosh, aboard a Mercury 400 Verado-powered boat with all Garmin aboard, meaning they’re aiming not only to win, but taking home Garmin Rewards incentive cash as well.

Hurst wasn’t out last weekend, but he was there the one before, and he and Erdman will be scoping out the water starting Friday. With a southeast wind predicted Sunday that might make Lake Winnebago off limits, they’ve got their eyes and hopes on the river and those upper lakes.

“The weekend previous there were good fish caught on the Wolf, but what I’ve been told is most of the females have come down and vacated. We all know there’s going to be stragglers there until June,” Hurst said. Last April, the winner found fish near the Fox River’s mouth in Oshkosh, but the previous year, it was scored in Lake Poygan, just above Winneconne. That means he feels the lakes are all in play, except maybe ‘Bago.

“The wind predicted on Sunday is 10 to 20 out of the southeast, and that’s not fun fishing on Winnebago. I’ll probably be pulling bucktails somewhere,” he said, referring to the flies that are the favorite of many a walleye spawning run angler here who hang out in everything from boats and pontoons to houseboat-style rafts.

“Jim and I are old river rats. We like to stay there as much as possible, so if I had to guess it could be right in Winneconne, or the U.S. 41 Bridge (spanning the east end of Lake Butte des Morts) and possibly in the Fox River in Oshkosh (the Wolf River changes names there).

“I’m going to also check the mouth,” Hurst said. “I would say 90 percent we’ll be somewhere on the river. That’s the beauty of this. For the most part everyone’s got their own program they’re going to use.” But one thing he’s pretty sure of. They probably won’t be making the long no-wake run up the Wolf towards Fremont.

“To be able to make the run on weekends is so difficult because once you hit Chico’s (Chico’s Landing, a bait shop and dock between Winneconne and Fremont), you have slow, no wake all the way to Fremont. If it was me, I wouldn’t go any farther than Chico’s,” he said. Hurst is also reporting good water levels this year, which can be a factor.

Dan Hobbs of Wisconsin Rapids will be on the water Sunday with Steve Frederick of Kenosha under a Mercury 300 Pro XS, with Garmin in the electronics. He planned to start pre-fishing Wednesday.

“I heard the bite has been on until this weekend. I guess there’s lots of mid-20-inch fish. I think that three-fish limit is working. There are so many fishing it year-round, a lot are taken, and I think it’s helping to keep people from overharvesting,” Hobbs said. “There’s an absolute ton of 20 to 24-inch fish now and another year class of 24-plus still in the system. The winner is going to be way higher than 20 pounds.

“The last tournament I fished on it I think 30 pounds won it. I think you’re going to see it’s going to get up there,” Hobbs felt. “Honestly, they will be catching fish any way, flies, rigging, jigging, LiveScoping, we might even see some pulling crawler harnesses. From Poygan down to Winnebago is going to be in play. The 41 bridge of course if you can get in there. Every year, someone does some damage there.

“Every year it’s the same spots but it kind of rotates. You’ve got to check all and hope you can recreate it on tournament day. I’ve done super on pre-fishing and come tournament day they aren’t there anymore or won’t bite, so you’d better have four or five plans. Three years ago, we got fifth and pulled the biggest fish of the tournament, and we’ll try that spot again,” he said, and the weather looks a lot better than the pouring rain they endured three years ago.

Scott Bleck of Weyauwega got on the water last weekend. He’s teamed with Jason Kircherer of Fremont. They’ll be using 250 Yamaha power Sunday. Bleck reports that fish are definitely still in the river, but things are changing.

“It’s transition time right now. The fish are making their way back to the lakes,” Bleck said. Notice that he said “lakes.” Not just Lake Winnebago.

“There are lots of smaller, 14- to 16-inch fish. We’re not hooking the females, but I’m sure they’re still there,” he added. He’ll be trying from the mouth of the Wolf at Lake Poygan, plus Butte des Morts to Winnebago.

“Toward the end of the week we’ll get back out. They’re constantly on the move using the current to ride back to the upper lakes. People will find a current seam, pool or eddy where there’s bait and where they (the fish) can rest and do their thing before going back out to get back to the lakes,” Bleck explained.

“There are some big fish spots where you can get on them with a little luck but there’s a lot of really good fishermen in this and there are no secrets about where, with forward-facing sonar and the ability to check spots to know if the fish are or aren’t there. Find where the fish are set up and get’em to go,” he said. And he agrees that the three-fish limit is improving things, but he isn’t predicting 30 pounds to win.

“I’ve seen an uptick in 19- to 21-inch fish, really solid walleyes that anyone would be proud to catch. So good sportsmen will honor that limit and the system really seems to be producing this year,” he said.

“I think it will be in the upper teens to low 20s. If someone will be catching that, they’ll be doing really well Sunday. There was a 75-boat tournament this last weekend and nine pounds won it. If someone does the mid- to upper teens, you’ll find yourself in a pretty good spot,” he predicted.