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