Eagle River Fishing Advise

[rdknuts]

Hello,

I will be taking a vacation to the Eagle River Chain this weekend for an entire week (June 12-19). Normally, we love the Muskie fishing that we are able to do each year, however we generally run into a large Muskie tournament to start the week out. After the Tourney is over, the Muskies are simply not as active of course. So this year, I'm looking for a different approach.

I've never truly attempted to do much other fishing on the Chain, and I'm looking for some quality advise. From what I have reviewed, Walleye and Crappie seem to be a popular fish in the Chain as well. I also understand that jigging with bright colors and live bait has been fairly consistant all year. It's the other details that I hope I can get some advise from.

We are staying on Eagle Lake, and the majority of the fishing will be done on Eagle, Scattering Rice, and Catfish. I have some topographic maps of the 3 lakes to help with depth, but I'm not entirly sure on what I should looking for. What depths and/or structures should I be looking for? Is there any particular weed line that I should know about? I'm open to any information, and any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance,
Randy

[Ranger Rick]

Hello Randy,

We must remember that the Eagle River Chain is an OLD flowage. Typically the fish in any flowage are found relatively shallow. On the Chain all the lakes are the same except for Duck Lake. The "hard" weedline is found 8 to 12 feet depending on your location. Duck Lake doesn't have a hard weedline as the weeds grow all the way across the lake as it is a shallow bowl. As the season progresses this makes it very difficult to pinpoint potential fish holding areas as they can be anywhere in that lake.

Learn to concentrate on throwing your "marker bouy" on the thickest, deepest weeds located near the deep water adjacent to the spot. The short
"apron" weeds in front of the deep hard weedline is where the majority of the fish will be located. This can be 8 to 14 feet on this chain. The marker bouy gives you a 'visual' as to where you have fished, or areas you have not fished. It will also give you an idea where the fish are holding after you catch the first one. It is a very effective tool if used properly.

In some instances some of the fish will go into "cribs" scattered around the chain. These are in 12 to 18 feet. They don't live there, they are just there when they are there. Sometime during the day the fish will return to the weeds. They will be where the food is, minnows.

Jigs 1/16th to 1/8th will be the most productive tool. I prefer extra large fatheads as my No 1 choice of bait. However I will use jumbo leeches in June during the dreaded mayfly hatch, which by the way, is starting right now.
Minnows will catch everything that swims, leeches have their limitations in the way of crappies and northern pike, though both may grab one occasionally, they really don't prefer them as a food source.

Never use line heavier than 6 pound test for this type of fishing. I prefer BLACK WIDOW and have been using it over 10 years. It has no memory.
Line that is too heavy will do 2 things, limit the distance you can cast a 1/16 ounce jig and make feeling when the jig is in contact with the bottom.

I hope this will help you figure it out.


Ranger Rick

[rdknuts]

Wonderful information!

Thank you for the advise. After my week is over, I'll be sure to post the results. The advise is truly appreciated.