Mid-september fishing report

MID-SEPTEMBER FISHING REPORT

Water temps are now mid to high 50’s in most sections of the lake. After a major front came through a week and a half ago and lingered thru last week across the Midwest and Canada we are now looking at an extended 6 + day forecast of 60 and 70 degree daytime temps for some beautiful Fall weather coming up. Many of the guests in camp have made remarks this is why they plan their yearly trips in September. Fall colors, no bugs, and a less hectic, more relaxed atmosphere than the summer vacation tourist season, and when considering accessibility to all species consistently it can be the best fishing of the season.

It seems that with the cooler water temps throughout the season, turnover so far and from here on out has and should have little if any effect on fishing as many fear during this time of the season. Reasons being, 1. Last few weeks all sections except the clear sections of Portage Bay and the Western Arm were murky, off colored and as of yesterday were much cleaner, clearest they have been since earlier in the season 2. In doing a temp profile in the central section yesterday surface temp at 1 ft was 58.9, 40 ft it was 57.8, 50 ft it was 54.5 (as long as my rope was) so turnover is most likely not totally complete however with the clearing of the water, relatively stable temps to deep depths, and the best indicator of all, the steady activity levels of the fish recently it appears as though the recent weather itself has more influence with daily success than anything.

I would characterize musky fishing the past week as steady but not particularly spectacular. Most fish the last week boated have been 46-49”though as usual there have been much bigger fish seen and on/off. Main reasons is most guests the past week have been taking advantage of multi specie action only concentrating on musky a couple days and when it comes to musky the pattern has been there is none. The weather and wind direction has been up to this point constantly changing almost daily so the fish are more scattered, moving, and don’t get much time to set up in windward predictable locations. That being said there has been windows open every day, if you get out and stay on good stuff mixing it up between rock structures and weeds you’ll hit one or two of those windows and get your shots. Most fish have been coming from rock structures and the most aggressive from shallow because that’s where most have been fishing but the weeds in some areas still look surprisingly good and especially with upcoming sunny weather those should not be overlooked even the thicker junk weeds up shallow. This is spinner bait, suick and big daddy, even buzz bait country. On the rocks cranks, rubber, blades, and recently same as the locational pattern, seemingly no rhyme or reason except the fish telling you that’s what they want most that day or 5 different fish on 5 different baits or colors. This will come together more predictably as the weather does. If you are a bit more open minded try where ever guys are catching lots of smaller walleyes in less than 25’ of water or trolling rock structures and shorelines at 8-16’ covering lots of ground with jakes, raiders, perch baits, and headlocks. Overall so far it has been a good musky season and everyone is looking forward to the upcoming ultimate trophy musky hunt first 3 weeks of Oct. when traditionally we boat some really good fish.

Walleyes are in very similar patterns from the match line north and west as the previous early sept report except dropping a bit deeper to most consistent avg. daytime action being at the 32-45’ depths. Look for deep hard bottom flats off structure, transition areas from rock to soft bottom, and deeper narrow areas that generate wind driven current and resulting baitfish migrations. Rigging and jigging are dominating presentations right now at these deeper depths and big dace minnows are key to fast action and big catches. Big avg size pike are now showing up regularity with the walleyes and the big bait being used. The Keith’s yesterday boated 7 pike from 38-42” in addition to 50+ walleyes with most being slot size and over 19-26”. Today the Wasson’s had a similar day with walleyes to 29” and numbers of pike 32-39”. With the regular occurrence of big pike and the occasional surprise musky in the mix use 14-17# floro leaders on lindy rigs or uni knot a 3’ section onto your mainline when jigging to help prevent bite offs, at these depths and a generally lighter bite fused or braided lines like Berkley Nanofil or Fireline combined with a floro leader will give you an advantage with a better feel and hook sets. In the p.m. after supper guests have been making good catches close to camp at 12-18’ off gradually tapering weed flats in areas of deep sand grass. Jigging and trolling cranks like shad raps, flicker shads, and flicker minnows have been producing good numbers of fish 15-22”.

While in last report the Bass fishing was good but scattered in areas of shallow rocks, timber, and combos of both with sparse weeds. Since then with the drop in water temps they have made a fast move to the humps at 10-18’ and are bunching up. It is fast approaching a peak that will hold thru mid/late October, and is undoubtedly some of the best trophy smallmouth fishing Eagle Lake has to offer. Mid lake humps that top off at 10-18’ are where it’s at. While jigs and big 4-5” suckers are a never fail presentation this time of the season especially for the biggest fish drop shot plastics, tubes, and jigs will take fish too. It has been more the norm especially on guided trips more than not to boat 40+ big fat fish daily avg 16-18” with 20”+ common enough. The Dodge group has reported good catches daily. If big Smallmouth are a target specie of your trip give next fall a try, you’ll be surprised.

There’s a few days left of the lake trout season which closes end of Sept for the fall spawn and they put on a feed bag in preparation for it. On Eagle’s Western Arm and Portage Bay find baitfish in 60-100’ of water and troll spoons, minnow baits, cowbells in combination with either or with a cisco/sucker. Last few groups/reports have been jigging spoons like Kastmasters with a couple drop shot hooks spaced 18” apart laced with a filleted minnow strip on nearby portage lakes Clearwater and Buzzard. Action has been very good with 3-6# avg. fish especially on the sunny windy days at 70-85’. There’s usually some whitefish around and you’ll probably catch a few but by downsizing both the spoon and size of cut bait strips some days you can get into the numbers .They are fighters and eat great especially when fresh.

There’s not a lot of the season left but although the number of guests is limited for the trophy musky hunt to ensure a high quality guided experience we could possibly find a spot or two and make it work. If you are considering 2015 the near future is the time to consider your dates, receive 2014 rates, specials, and lock in the specific cabin, boats, and guides you prefer. In the meantime check out recent catches and comments at www.facebook.com/AndyMyersLodge and www.andymyerslodge.com. You may also email us at info@andymyerslodge.com or for a more personal contact and conversation give us a call at 1-888-727-5865 anytime.


Julian Kalka