Fish Tales - The "Reel" Stories of Willie the Walleye

How these stories came to be...

We couldn’t think of a better way to honor Willie Walleye than to invite people to share their stories about him!

We promoted the Willie Walleye Tall Tales StoryCompetition and anticipated selecting one story in each of the age categories (adult, family & students). What we found was that there were SO many great stories that needed to be shared -- so we complied the best of them in this book.
We thank the authors for the creativity they used in writing these great stories and hope that this is just the beginning of more stories to come.

We hope you enjoy reading about the tall tales of our local icon, Willie Walleye, who resides in Baudette, Minnesota. We invite you to share these tales with others, tell a fish story (or two) of your own, and even consider purchasing a copy of the booklet to have in your home or cabin! They make great gifts.

Fish Tales Books are available for $7.00 at our online Bookstore

Click on any of the links below to read a story.

Section One

• The Origins of Willie Walleye & How He Got His Name
• The Origins of Willie Walleye - by John Rioux
• The Great Fish - by Pastor Dave Gens
• Willie’s Tale - by Betty (Lombard) Michael
• Willie Runs Amuck - by Tom & Joan Heinrich
• Willie, the Fish - by Ashley Feldman
• How Willie Walleye Was Caught - by Ann Patten

Section Two

• Willie Walleye a Local Icon
• A Local Legend - by Bryce Palm
• Willie Walleye’s Homecoming - by Jenessa Laine
• Our Local Icon - by Andrew Kraft
• Remembering Willie Walleye - by Rachel Krohn
• Willie the Great - by Kyden Krause
• Willie’s Last Night - by Ian Hanson

Section Three

• Fish tories & Sightings of Willie Walleye
• My Willie Walleye Tale - by Roscille Boomgaarden
• The Ballad of Willie - by John Johnson
• A Fish Story - by Jourdan Aery
• Tricky Willie Walleye - by Wyatt Erickson
• The Walleye Beast - by Jarred Sipe
• The Tale of Willie Walleye - As told by Mrs. Erickson’s Second Graders

Section Four

• The Adventures of Willie Walleye:
• Willie’s Norwegian Tail - by Mike Hirst
• A Tall Tale of Willie Walleye - by Bonnie Schuh
• The Story of Willie Walleye - by Marie Erickson
• No Ordinary Fish - by Tammy Kovarik
• Origins of the Northern Lights - by Mike Hirst

Section Five

• Willie Walleye Our Hero:
• Hero of the Lake - by Kevin Hilbrand
• Hero of Minnesota - by Tarena Ubel
• He Saved Us! - by Amanda Achen
• Willie Drenches the Drought - by Sara Achen
• Willie the Great - by Katie Spina
• Willie - by Dan Hoskins