Eagle River WI. Fishing Report

Once a year the first week of June I always get to head up north to Eagle Rver area to go fishing. I always plan a four night stay which is really determined by weather. This year with all four days in the 75 to 80 degrees and low winds made it the best years ever. Check out the rest of my report to find out how I caught nice small mouth bass like this one.

My plans for this four night stay was to target Butternut Lake, Kentuck Lake, Anvil Lake and the Eagle River Chain. I got to Eagle River last Tuesday about 1:30 P.M. and decided to start at Butternut Lake. Lots of the fish were on beds which were small males which were in 2 to 4 fow and the bigger males were in 6 to 10 fow and very spooky from fishing pressure. I saw lots of five to six pound small mouth which I bet were females just cruising and impossible to catch and I would say waiting to move in to spawn when they fine the best male. I did catch some nice fish in the four pound range after 7:00 P.M. in two to four fow with live bait. Leeches was the best but large fatheads worked also. I don’t like to use live bait but if that’s all that will work I will adjust. You could tell these fish have been fished hard all ready this year so on Wednesday I made my move to go to Kentuck Lake and this was the kind of fish I caught on the left. These fish were on beds and would take plastic like the powerbait 3" bungeeleech in the black color or the Fin-Claw in the pumpkin/chart color on a 1/8 oz Day-Brite jig by Fin-Tech Tackle Co.

This move to start at Kentuck Lake Wednesday morning was a great move and like a game of chess you could say check mate. I was on the lake by 6:15 A.M. and my plan was to hit the rock piles and fish for walleyes to 9 or 10 then hunt for the big small mouth. My game plan came together like clock work. The walleyes, small mouth and large mouth were all on this rock pile which you could see all the fish. After I spotted the fish I backed off and anchored. Slip floats and live bait worked best to catch walleye like this one on the right. Most walleyes were from 14" to 18 inches which on every lake the limit is different. You have to really watch the rules or you could get in some trouble. I don’t have to worry about this because all my fish on this vacation is CPR unless I decide to have a shore lunch which is not to offen. But if you want to keep walleyes like this one on the right make sure you check the regs because most all lakes are different. But most are one over 18" and two under 14". 14" to 18" are throw backs and on Kentuck only one over 28" as of right now you can keep which will change by next year I was told by the locals. But all and all here are some of the nice walleyes I caught which all were CPR on the right.

Kentuck Lake this year was on fire, I saw big muskies, walleyes, small mouth and even large mouth which this one on the left was the largest this year but I have caught large mouth up to five pounds here. The fishing is outstanding this year on most Eagle River area lakes and out of the last five years I would say this has been the best year ever. I even got my best tan ever this year fishing which is a plus

PS. Click on photos for a larger view.

Kids will have a blast up here so make sure you take them along which I will next year and you can take that to the bank