The "eyes" have it....

As it turns out, the evening bite continues on the bay. I caught a nice 26" walleye last night while Joe and I caught several other respectible slot and over the slot eyes. It just goes to show you that you just have to continue trying new spots, new techniques, and new times. The day bite was not working well, but there is definitely an evening pattern that is very good right now.

We are not going to make it out tonight as we had a great portage trip over to Clear Water lake today. I wouldn't recommend the river route as the water levels are low and the beavers have been prolific. In one of the previous posts we showed you the deep lake trout bite results from the West arm. On Clear Water the lake trout were shallow....18' - 40". We caught well over a dozen nice lake trout on Clear Water lake and some very nice pike. Of course, VBL is the only lodge with boats on Clear Water.

Deep water Lake Trout on Eagle Lake

Don't let these guy's fool you they know how to catch deep water lake trout on Eagle lake. I hope they will post a report when they get back to Wisconsin on how they do it so other VBL guest can try this out.
Hey notice something in these 2 pictures?
If you guessed the glove less one you got it a rare picture of the professor minus his famous glove.
You guy's know the secrets on this so will let you tell the how to on it, but take my word for it VBL guest they know how to do it for deep water lake trout on Eagle lake.

Let's portage to Highrock...

Nice eater wallye from Highrock..

Slot walleye

Another slot walleye

More walleye

And another slot

1 slot after another

Mark with a nice 36" we won't talk about my net job on 1 a little larger than this one

Check out the eyes on this one!!!!

Well the trek to Highrock was a little more work than normal due to low water levels the trip up the creek was slow but possible.

Things started out slow for us as we fished are normal spots but after several passes through the usual areas we moved and then found some great action on both walleye and Northerns.

Couple of good story's from this trip as Mark was bringing in a 16" or so walleye and as it was brought to the boat a LARGE I mean LARGE walleye in the neighborhood of 33-36" by far the largest walleye I have seen in the water in my lifetime of fishing decides to take a swipe at it's younger family member, what a site to see in the water that close to the boat.

Then only 15 minutes or so later I am bringing in a walleye in the 16-18" range and out of from under the boat is a flash and a 45" or so Northern grabs hold of my walleye and the fight is on, after maybe just less than 5 minutes as it is coming to the boat and we are going to try a double net job the large pike decides to let go of the walleye. You just never know what might happen on waters that don't get much pressure.

If you have never made this trip it is well worth the work, in other years 2 trips would have been made to this great body of water but with the low water levels and hard work to get there not to mention the nice little walk through the wood 1 trip was enough, not to mention the GREAT fishing going on in Eagle lake we wanted to get back on to.

Hope you enjoyed the pics....

VBL Perch massacre 2010

Not sure but think Gord is going to have perch nightmares

A tub full of perch

Gord is like where the hell do I start

And we're off ...1 down and 95 to go

This is not bad but is giving me a sore back

The man has is down

Looks tasty don't they

And now for the packaging

This has gotten so bad I now drink American beer

Well as some of you VBL bloggers know there was some question if we were going to be able to get to those perch this year due to the low water levels from the dryer than normal winter/spring but GOOD news the trip was no problem at all and no beaver huts to go over.

The perch were scattered this spring compared to others. Due to the warm spring the perch were spawned out already and starting to scatter.

The walleye were even snapping this year during the perch fishing as they were sitting in 3 and 4' of water feeding on 1/32nd oz jigs tipped with chena bait.

I'm sure Sir Gord is still having perch nightmares and is probably glad we are gone and hopes not to see another perch for 12 months.

Will post other reports in the coming days of Eagle lake fishing and portage lake fishing.

Some good story's to add to the other reports so be sure to check back

And like Andy said if you did not book your trip to VBL yet "WHAT THE HELL YA WAITING FOR" the fish are snapping believe me.

Perchmaster

The evening bite is on....wish you were here!

Well its been a week and we have been focusing on the early morning fishing. Tonight we went out after dinner and trolled tail dancers, minnow raps, and junior deep diving thundersticks. The bite was very good! A fair number of slot and over the slot walleyes and some perfect pike for the frying pan. Kurt and Mark also had some great evening fshing for walleyes with jigs and will likely be posting some photos soon. One of the nice things about VBL, is that there are always some great guests - all with different experiences and tips for fishing. Don't be afraid to ask! I should also note that Gord and Susanne slayed the walleyes and pike this morning just off of gull island. The storm had blown a lot of warm water into the bay and the fish were snapping.

We have had a number of thunderstorms, but between storms we found a few very nice smallies in the cabbage in Sportsman's bay that liked the swim bait.

If you haven't booked your trip to VBL...what are you waiting for?

Is it Spring, Summer, or Fall at VBL?

The professor and I are wrapping up our first week here at VBL and I have to say, its been an odd spring. Some days have felt like August, while others have been typical of an early spring...cold and rainy. I'm wearing the blogger t-shirt designed by Charles right now but there is another storm moving in. The fishing has been excellent some days and not so good on other days. Mark and Kurt left camp yesterday and we can attest to the fact that they fished hard. They put a hurt on the walleyes and Kurt earned his nickname of the "perch master" as they caught approximately 100 perch on one day.

The Professor and I went down to the west arm two days for lake trout. Our best day included: 33", 32", 27", 26" and some small ones. We will post some video's of that trip some time soon, but the professor is going to need some cinematography training. Most of his shots showed my knee caps or the floor of the boat. Perhaps he didn't want the viewers to know who caught the big one? Here are a few pics. Hey, who is that wearing the glove?

Wild Bill

On Sunday morning Susanne and I took a cup of coffee out to the Walleye Highway and did a bit of trolling. Susanne hooked into "Wild Bill" who fought like a mad man but we finally managed to get him into the plastic tub.

That afternoon the MNR biologists came out to tag the fish and implant a transponder.

They had a good audience with the folk that were out for the first VBL Sunday night fish fry.

All went well and "Wild Bill" was successfully released after a short nap.

Thanks to the ladies from the MNR (Jill, Dorothy & Irene) in Dryden for spending part of their Sunday with Wild Bill. A future Conservation Officer shown in front.

Lake Trout Travel Trivia.....

Here's more interesting research from the MNR bio's in Dryden. You may recall that they had captured a few lake trout last year and implanted transponders for tracking purposes. At select spots on the lake are receivers which record each fish's movements past that location. Information from these receivers is downloaded twice a year.

I will be particularly interested in the new fish, "Susanne", captured this spring.

As you can see (click on the maps to enlarge) these fish are nomadic during the cold water times of the year, basically using much of Eagle Lake during the winter. Since typical lake trout lakes are mostly "sterile", clear water lakes, the Eagle Lake population must benefit greatly from being able to access the more fertile sections for at least 6 months of the year. I look forward to seeing this research continue. Remember if you catch a tagged lake trout please release it for the future information it will provide us.

You're only as young as you feel........

Is there a connection between Holly's recent birthday...............

and this lake trout from Clearwater Lake caught by the Professor last Fall? If you guessed the smile, then you are wrong. Let me back up a bit and say that this unusual fish, caught in September was 32 1/2 inches long, was a male, and weighed 14 1/2 pounds. It was unable to be successfully released due, in a large part, to the 2 or 3 pound whitefish it had in it's stomach. I had saved the frozen head of this fish until this Spring when I was able to give it to the MNR biologist for study. Well, in answer to the original question of what both this fish and Holly have in common......they are both 25 years old!

In further discussion with the MNR, the recent trout tagging operation on Eagle Lake has resulted in the oldest fish so far being a 22 year old female that weighed 22 pounds. The probable difference in growth rates for Eagle and Clearwater Lakes are likely a big factor in the size and age variation. Also too, a male fish would normally not get to be as large as a female. Bottom line is, these fish are slow growing and have a long life span. It is important to consider releasing these big lake trout.

On a different note, the fillets from this fish reportedly caused the Professor to have flashbacks to the mid 80's.