Fishing and Hunting Report: Fishing remains hot as hunting season gets into full swing
Water temps in the Eagle River area are hanging in the mid to upper 60s.
Northern in the Eagle River area are locating in 10 feet of water or less in and around weeds. Use a small bucktail, bass style spinner bait, Husky Jerk (minnow or walleye pattern), or a northern sucker under a slip bobber. All day action. Bite is excellent.
Walleye in the Eagle River area putting on a good to excellent bite. Fish 10-25 feet of water off of weed edges, break edges or adjacent mud flats. The walleye are tight to bottom. Use a jig and a minnow or jig and half of a crawler. All day action, with peaks in the evening. Bite is good to excellent.
Smallmouth bass in the Eagle River area are in 8-25 feet of water off of hardbottom break edges. Use a plastic crawfish, a tube, or a jig and a minnow. All day bite. Action is good to excellent.
Panfish (crappies, bluegills and perch) in the Eagle River area are outside of weed edges in 6-15 feet of water. Perch are tight to bottom. Crappies and gills suspending up and down the water column (day and lake dependent). Use a crappie minnow or a chunk of crawler under a slip bobber or on a small jig. Mini Mites are also working very well. All day bite. Action is good to excellent.
Musky are in 12 feet of water or less off of weed edges and adjacent hard bottom areas, in the Eagle River area. Use a bucktail, topwater, or jerk bait, with a standard retrieve (always do a “figure 8” when the lure nears your boat). All day action, with peaks in the evening. Bite is good.
Largemouth bass in the Eagle River area are in 10 feet of water or less in and around weeds or shoreline structure (docks, downed trees and brushpiles). Use a plastic rigged weedless, a topwater, or a bass style spinner bait. All day action. Bite is good.
Hunting report:
Hunting season is now in full swing in the Eagle River area. Duck season opened on Saturday morning, the 21st. Local ducks are the quarry right now. Hunters are seeing blue-winged teal, mallards, wood ducks, and some hooded mergansers. Two dozen mallard decoys are enough to bring some birds in. Local geese are still around, and we are seeing a small number of migrating Canada geese from the north.
Grouse are in coveys, so if you flush a bird, get ready because there may be more. Woodcock season also opened on the 21st. As with the ducks, there are numerous local birds, but no migrants yet. The leaves are still on the trees, so you will probably do more shooting than harvesting.
The turkey population around Eagle River has exploded. If you are driving around at dawn or dusk, keep an eye out for birds on the road and in the ditches.
Bow season is also open. The Vilas County Forest, Nicolet National Forest, and American Legion Northern Highland State Forest all hold good numbers of whitetails.
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