report may 26

[Steve Herbeck]

fishing report 5/26 eagle lake and surrounding
water temps up to 67 down to 58,again a cool front came in later in the week and projected high 30's nite time 50-70 daytime through the next week. winds variable 5-15 mph e to n to w by later in the coming week.
walleyes are using a variety of structure including typical late spring areas like flats with emerging weeds,timber,shallower bars and points etc. but also we are also finding them on structures usually associated with later in june into july including rock bars and humps topping off from 12-22' particularly on the darker or frontal periods.using with success alot jigs 1/16-1/8 oz ,slip sinker or shot and hook rigs both with minnows but also got reports of good catches on leeches especially on bigger fish,no one tried crawlers yet, maybe could be worth a try. plastics like ring worms,gulp,etc have also been putting alot of fish in the boat also reports of good catches slow trolling shallow crankbaits like flicker shads,shad raps,and rapalas and spinner rigs over 5-12" flats and bays.
collin boated the biggest walleye last week at 32",dan 30",and the johnander group had fish to 28".
on eagle alot of 16-17.75" eaters available and everyone was catching slot and over fish 19-27" consistantly through the week. depending upon the weather and day guide trips were avg. 30-100 fish per day.the shallower,darker, and smaller 4wd lakes were very good last week for those who tried them mostly 4-8' of water jigging and avg 60-90 17-26" fish and the bass also a bit ahead of the deeper lakes,even on topwaters.
some nice pike caught 34-39" while fishing walleyes and also casting reed edges and bays but bigger fish not in huge numbers so alot must be suspended and or deeper,try trolling some cranks from 16-24' and or running 5-7" suckers/dace on a jig or 20# floro leader lindy rig around areas alot of walleyes are being caught for the bigger pike . the deeper portge off of eagle trout type lakes produced a bunch of nicer pike 32-39" for the couple groups that tried along with alot of 4-8# trout. slow back trolling tube jigs and # 5-6 spinner rigs and minnows produced the trout and pike came on spinner rigs trolling shorelines/points and casting/trolling crankbaits around mouths of bays,timber,and shallow bars.
bass are definatly moving up and starting to bed even on the colder sections of the lake and hitting plastics like flukes,ring worms,twisters,gulp,wacky worms,etc., some fish boated on topwaters and twitched baits like x-raps on warming water trends.
bob boated some nice trout to 16# on eagle trolling spoons avg depth of 40' whether on bottom or suspended over deeper water.
was a bit concerned when the front came in on a thurs/fri and lows hit mid 30's fri nite/sat am obviously dropping water temps a bit as the bays were steaming a bit at daybreak,but reports of the few who were out today were very positive actually a real good agressive bite on the walleyes though avg a bit deeper around 16-19' and the bass not moving off the beding areas and biting esecially those still cruising.
muskys have been fairly active with 2 48" and 51" brought to boatside for water release pics fishing walleyes and more biting off jigs and following hooked walleyes and small pike.
should be a good opener come june 16 on as they appear to be spawned out already.got a couple openings thru june 16-july 14 weeks,come and get first crack at em'.
getting some calls from those who have put off trips so far and now getting the itch,if you're in the same boat and kick'n around heading north give us a call or e-mail,we got some availablity yet here and there and it would be great to have you a part of camp!!
tight lines!!