Lure Size on Eagle....why upsize?

[stevestlouis]

I’d first like to say, ‘awesome job on the forum to moderator, Steve, and all those that have posted’. It is very active with a litany of information. I’ve fished NW Ontario, Vermillion Bay area for 20 years now since I was a pretty young. Damn how the years fly. Like many, I’ve moved from multi-species fishing to just muskie fishing. My question is concerning bait size compared to other lakes in angling for Muskie. I fished Canyon Lake back when Johnny Bratland had his camp (RIP Johnny,) Corner Lake, Long Legged, and predominately the Indian Chain. Fishing time has been consistent with the end of August. I’ll be up in mid-August this year. We downsized many times and used Super Spooks, 7’’ Jakes….etc….instead of Jackpots and 9’’ and 11’’ Jakes. This downsizing provided more muskies in the boat without reducing the average size catch.

I’ll be on Eagle Lake for the first time ever in 10 days. Needless to say I’m stoked. Many guides in the area have told me to go larger with bait presentation on this lake. Why is that? Also, I’ve have had mixed results with suspended glide baits like ‘Magic Maker’…..many lookers but few takers….what is your opinion on these lures for Eagle. Finally, with the cooler water temps have you noticed fish suspended more? The last few years we predominately cast deep divers and trolled them as they fish were down. Any advice would be greatly appreciated as I’ve got three newbies to NW Ontario and I’d love to see them meet with success and their first muskie.

Once again, great job with the forum and to all those that have posted.

Steve S.

[Steve Herbeck]

thanks much,
smaller baits will and do catch fish for sure and when it's sunny and flat or post cold front sometimes downsizing can be a key. however we do tend to use larger baits because of the forage of big suckers,whitefish,tullibees,and pike as well as generally bigger avg sized fish. downsizing is more towards flashers,show girls,blue fox or mepps #5-6,buchertail 600,harrassers,dancing raiders,7" gramas,straight raiders,etc.
everyday we go out we are looking for,trying/hoping for 50"+ fish and are generally always around fish of that calibur and bigger daily.
also the bigger silouette,more flash and vibs allow us to cover ground faster looking for aggressive fish as we got a lot of acreage and spots .some guide days we may cover 35 miles of lake 1 way hitting 12-20 prime spots quickly coming and going.
for the most part the lakes you listed other than long legged a 50" fish is more of a rarety than the norm with 34-42" the avg and 44-48" a good fish.a couple 50's a season,maybe.not that there aren't or haven't been 50's caught but would i go there specifically to target them,no. great action and nice fish but not the top end.so generally no you wouldn't be reducing avg size of the fish you boat,most likely increase the number of bites.
bigger avg size fish,bigger baits,bigger fish to a certain degree.
more numbers per acre,more competion,leads towards smaller baits a good choice also.and just plain and simple some lakes it is a idiocrycrasy that the fish prefer smaller baits.
done well on predators and squirkos at times but ya they love to chase glide baits,good locators.
when ever you have alot of cold fronts,cooler than avg water temps,less than normal weed cover,and most importantly most of the forage moving out over open water you will get more suspension going on and thats undoubtably what you encountered last season.
tough to fish suspended fish here,lots of water,the breaks ya and at times we have been noticing alot of fish at 18-24' off structure holding to move up at optimum times and those are the off structure fish we tend to target.
good luck!!

[stevestlouis]

Steve,

Thanks for the reply to my post. I’ll pack some larger lures this year and roll the dice. Eagle is one of 3-4 NW Ontario lakes that I believe have the ability to produce a true monster muskie. I’m hoping the larger lures mitigate the amount of 20-25 inch pike on as they are a pain with three trebles moving around. Great work with the forum and best fishing to everyone this season.

Steve S

[Brian Malack]

Steve, before I started fishing Eagle I too spent weeks fishing Indian and Canyon. I also found what you did to be true regarding downsizing of baits. After switching to Eagle, obviously the first thing I did was bring my bag of tricks with me and try it out there. Unfortunately, most smaller presentations I have used have been fairly unproductive for Muskies on Eagle. But fortunately, I can honestly say I have seen more big fish in ONE SPOT on Eagle then I have seen combined on Indian/Canyon ever...so while those lakes can be fun to fish and do have their time and place, I think you are making the right choice.

[stevestlouis]

Brian,

It seems you were in same situation at one time. I kind of fell into Eagle this year as my regular fishing buddy that I go up with to Indian/Canyon just closed on a house and couldn’t make it. Another group I knew had three and were looking for a fourth for a NW Ontario trip. They told me they had booked for Eagle Lake already so I figured, hell yeah – been wanting to try my hand at that lake for many years. I’ve had some magical weeks in Indian/Canyon that have produced 50+ follows a day (granted this is optimal conditions) but, I rarely saw fish over 45 inches. The best we boated was 48 inches two years back trolling. I’ve seen around a dozen fish at the legitimate 50 inch mark (several I hooked and lost) with one gargantuan probably 54-55ish that had my dad soiling himself.

I’ve got some larger baits to toss out on Eagle this year (Jackpots, Grandmas, Suicks, giant Woodchopper etc) I can feel the tendonitis already. I’m expecting this to be similar to Long Legged in that you see fewer muskie follows but the quality being higher on average as both these lakes share many commonalities. Its hard to tell much about a lake fishing for one week. After all we have not control over it being as on week or off one with the bite. I’ll probably wing it without one day of guiding as the economy affects us all. We’ll put our time in casting in trolling and place the odds in our favor the best we can.

A question on Taxidermy – the person I’ll be fishing with up there is hell-bent on stuffing a muskie if he get a 45+. I’m attempting to steer him towards a replicated mount as I’d rather not take a 15 year old fish out of the lake. Do you have any recommendations on good taxidermist in the area, cost? (they go per inch if I recall) – also, outside of quality pictures, you would want the exact length, girth, yes?

Thanks for you time and info as I’m stoked I found this forum.

Steve S

[jhillman17]

well let your buddy know that it's not an option, the length limit on eagle is 54 inches, so unless he catches one over 54, he isn't going to stuff it.

For replicas, yes, you need to get measurements of length, girth, and a photo of the markings, so they can make it as exact of a duplicate as possible. I'm not sure what replica's cost these days, but two names I hear all the time are Fittante and Lax reproductions.

http://www.fittantereplicas.com/

http://www.laxreproductions.com/

and to educate your buddy....

http://www.esoxhunter.com/Mounts.php

[stevestlouis]

It seems the post I had became wayward. As mentioned I’d give you all the word on how my first Eagle lake adventure went. It turns out we were only up there for 3.5 days as one of the guy’s grandpas died. Needless to say we cut the trip short so he could attend the funeral. I’ll share a few side notes of the trip as it was funny in retrospect now even though it was eerie when it happened. My buddy, which I inquired for the (replicated) mount got tired each day casting for muskies. Not sure why as I gave him smaller lures to keep that from happening. He refused to troll after tiring and insisted on jigging for muskie with walleye gear. Ironically he had a 45’’ on the end at the ‘Musky Point’ the first morning (casting). Two of the guys weren’t speaking to each other after news of the trip being truncated from the passing. I tossed one of them in my boat to avoid tension since ‘hell’ we are on vacation. That night he lost a low 40s’’ on a figure eight.

All in all, Eagle Lake had tons of water and many quality muskie areas. A few spot I hit I was amassed one didn’t come out for a look. Its hard to tell much about a lake from 3.5 days of fishing. As you guys mentioned before, the weed growth was sparse in many areas. For never fishing the lake and without a guide we were successful. Two on/lost in the low to mid 40s and a several in the mid 40s follow. I caught the only muskie of the trip on a 5# mepps wasting time for the wind to drop to hit an evening spot. That little guy was 25’’ or so. A guide is a must for a huge lake like that if never fished before. Money was tight so I had make do. I hoping my regular muskie fishing buddy comes up next year as this year felt like the comedy of errors.