Wisconsin puts nearly everything on one opener — the first Saturday in May — and walleye is the species that opener is really about.
The dates
Open today by the rules below, worked out for 2026 rather than copied from a chart.
General inland waters
The general inland season — walleye, northern pike, largemouth bass and most else — opens the first Saturday in May and closes the first Sunday in March. That gave May 3, 2025 to March 1, 2026, and May 2, 2026 to March 7, 2027.
- Limit
- 5 a day.
Read on 2026-09-14 from Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. Legal dates were read on the agency’s own page on the date shown beside each entry. Seasons change: the agency link is always the last word.
Why Wisconsin is different
The general inland season runs from the first Saturday in May to the first Sunday in March, which gave May 3, 2025 to March 1, 2026 and May 2, 2026 to March 7, 2027. Both ends are weekday rules, so both move, and a chart that hardcodes either is wrong most years. Five walleye a day statewide under the general regulation.
What to actually do
The opener covers walleye, northern pike and largemouth bass at once, which is why the first Saturday in May is the busiest day of the Wisconsin fishing year. Northern-zone smallmouth is the exception that catches people out: catch-and-release only until the third Saturday in June. And the pike limit halves from five to two when you cross south of U.S. Highway 10.
The activity row in the calendar above is our own monthly curve for this species, and it is there to answer the question the dates cannot: whether the fish will be feeding when the season lets you fish. How walleye behave through the year is a separate page, about the fish rather than the paperwork.
Where to fish it
We publish a daily report for 29 Wisconsin waters, each with live flow or tide.
- Lake Geneva — Walworth County
- Lake Winnebago — Winnebago County
- Wolf River — Eau Claire County
- Shawano Lake — Shawano County
- Delavan Lake — Walworth County
- Pewaukee Lake — Waukesha County
- Lake Mendota — Dane County
- Castle Rock Lake — Juneau County
An open season is not permission to fish: Wisconsin requires a licence from age 16, from $20.00 for residents. What it costs and where to buy it →
Questions
When does walleye season open in Wisconsin?
The first Saturday in May — May 2 in 2026 — running to the first Sunday in March. Northern pike and largemouth bass open the same day.
Are Wisconsin season dates the same every year?
No. Both the opening and closing are written as weekdays rather than dates, so they shift by a day or two each year. We calculate them here from the rule.
Checked by Pablo Ruiz Quintero. Dates move: tell us if this one has and the correction goes in the verification log with the date.