The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) will continue a walleye reward tag study in Green Bay and its major tributaries in 2025, supported by funding from Walleyes for Tomorrow.
Wisconsin DNR began the Green Bay walleye reward tag study in spring 2024.
Along northwestern Lake Michigan, Green Bay and its tributaries support a world-class walleye fishery, allowing anglers to catch walleye of all sizes, including trophy-sized fish.
The Green Bay walleye recreational fishery is a major draw for anglers locally, statewide, and throughout the Midwest.
The tagging study aims to better understand the walleye fishery and gain estimates of walleye exploitation rates (i.e., the percentage of the walleye population that anglers harvest each year).
This spring, DNR staff will tag up to 5,000 walleyes with yellow floy tags throughout five major spawning areas around Green Bay; Sturgeon Bay and the Fox, Oconto, Peshtigo, and Menominee rivers. In addition to the yellow floy tags, 400 red reward tags will be distributed throughout these areas.
Tagged Walleye Harvests – Catch and Release
The fish can be harvested if it is legal to do so (within bag limits, season restrictions, etc.) or released. Any tagged fish not meeting minimum length requirements should be immediately released after collecting the necessary tagging information described below.
Wisconsin DNR urges anglers to keep tags intact when releasing any walleyes and follow responsible catch and release practices.
Anglers are encouraged to report all walleyes that are caught with any color floy tag.
Wisconsin DNR asks anglers to report the following information regarding their tagged fish: tag number, tag color, species, length, location caught, date caught and whether the fish was harvested or released.
Reward tags will be red and say, “REWARD $100.” All red reward tags will have a date printed on them, which is the date the reward is valid until. While the tagged walleye does not need to be harvested to receive the $100 reward, anglers must provide proper verification that they caught a walleye with a reward tag.
Tag verification must be done in one of the following ways:
If harvested, present the physical tag to the DNR.
If released, take a close-up picture of the tag that includes the three-digit tag number and a picture of the angler holding the walleye with the attached tag visible.
To report your catch to the DNR, email DNRFHGBFISH@wisconsin.gov or call 920-662-5411.
To mail in a floy tag from a harvested fish, send it to:
ATTN Fish Biologist
2984 Shawano Avenue
Green Bay, WI 54313
Anglers that report a yellow or green (from previous tagging years) floy tag will receive information about the fish, including date, location, size, sex, and possibly age at the time of tagging.
Anglers do not need to provide picture verification or mail in the physical tag when reporting walleyes with a yellow or green floy tag.
Reports of captured or harvested tagged walleyes will help the DNR guide walleye management throughout Green Bay and its tributaries by tracking angler harvest, exploitation rate, spawning site fidelity, summer movement patterns and growth rates.
source: Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources
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