2-17 RFRG Fish Report w/Muskie Matt
Regular Fishin' for Regular Guys
Eagle River Area Fishing Report - February 18th 2009
Area lakes have been producing good fishing action for all species. Of note this late season is the terrific ice conditions, a mid-February warm spell took a lot of the snow pack down and on many lakes right down to the ice, making mobility on the ice very easy which is uncommon this late in the season. Take advantage of it, it doesn't happen too often. I was seeing a general ice thickness of 20-24 inches. This can vary greatly, I fished one lake with 10 inches of ice in one area and a good 30 inches in another area! As always, be wary of your ice conditions, current, spring areas, etc.
The daytime bite for Northern Pike and Panfish has been pretty good. For northern, simply hang a shiner under a tip-up in 6-10 feet of water, about half way down, and around weed clumps or edges. You'll get action of some sort.
For bluegills and crappies try jigging a small white or orange jig tipped with a wax worm out over some of the basins and larger flats. I usually have better luck on some of our smaller lakes as it cuts down on the search time needed for fishing a bigger lake. The 12 to 20 depths are a normal area for me to begin looking for these fish. Another tactic that will work well on crappies is a simple tiny minnow under a small bobber set about 3 feet off bottom. Remember to lift and lower either your jig or minnow rig to search the whole water column for these fish. Some days they're higher in the water, other days tighter to bottom.
This year has been one of the better years for perch that I've seen in a few years. We're still getting lots of smaller perch but I've seen more 10-12 inch, and some larger, this season than in previous years. They've been hitting and taking my small shiners on my tip-ups when I'm set for walleye. You can go after these perch with the above described methods. You may want to look on some of the deeper flats, 18-25 feet deep or perhaps deeper on some of our bigger lakes.
The walleyes have still been an evening/night bite with sucker minnows giving me the best action but small shiners have been working for me too. Depending on the lake you fish, try weed edges and clumps during low light periods and after dark. I've been setting my minnows 18 inches to 3 feet off bottom under tip-ups. I use #4 or #6 short shank single hooks on my walleye rigs, I've always just liked using them over small trebles.
As our gamefish season winds down, the first Saturday in March or March 7th this year, watch for fish to begin moving shallower. Especially the panfish, crappies will move in and begin to hang much higher in the water column, even right under the ice!
If you have any questions, feel free to contact us on our fish report board or listen in to our weekly internet radio show, all available at: www.MuskieMatt.com
Good fishin' to everyone, be safe.
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