Eagle Lake forage species

[Bill Hedden]

I'm whiling away the winter making baits and I wonder if people would be willing to try naming the five most important species of musky food in Eagle Lake? It would be a help in deciding which patterns to put on the lures.

Thanks,
Bill Hedden

[rgh]

The most plausibly and likely the most valid assumption is that large predictor fish, like the musky, will focus their feeding efforts on the largest accumulation of pray fish they can find in the respective lake they are in.

I would offer for your consideration, Cisco, White Fish, Suckers, Perch, and Walleye, as the main forage base for the Musky in Eagle lake, followed by lake Trout, Small mouth bass, and Northern when these fish are concentrated, due to reproductive activities, or seasonal movements..

But before we make this discussion much more complicated than it needs to be, the history of Eagle tells us to perch patterns, walleye patterns, Tennessee shad/Cisco patterns, and black,with smoke blades, are really all you need to know... after that, the rest is right place at the right time, good technique , and a net man who knows what he is doing...and of course a little luck...

[Steve Herbeck]

rgh's assumptions are pretty right on.
primary forge bases for musky especially bigger models would most likely be and dependant upon what section of the lake,time of the season,whether they are relating to weeds,rock,suspended etc.
whitefish
suckers
tullibees/larger year classes of ciscos
snot rockets (15-24" pike) they love em", go down like liguini
to a lessor extent walleyes,bass unless they are in distress or on the end of a line and trout which is entirely area of the lake dependant
while perch of varied sizes are a prime,staple forage for all species where ever they are present in good numbers i don't know how much BIG muskies actually target and feed on them on eagle except early in the season and again just after the first big weed die off that exposes them easily as we don't have a huge pop.. of them over 9-10" (but that has been slowely increasing in recent years)rather i think the green/yellow/brown barred perch walleye patterns cover the whole perch,walleye,bass deal but most importantly is also very visable especially in the greener and brown sections of the lake or times of the season.
for these reasons perch is still an excellent pattern choice especially during the time periods mentioned.
oh ya,and anything else that swims or crawls.

while matching the hatch so to speak is and can be a good pattern starting point the main thing is that they can visually see it in dingier waters or perhaps conversly not being able to see it as good in clearer water,if you put it in the right place and they can and the fish is aggressive either feeding or pissed she will more than likely make an aggressive move for it or bite it.
can't tell you how many big fish fall to color patterns that are bright gaudy and nowhere at all resemble forage colors and vis versa less subdued colors/flashy/patterns such as the black smoke vs org or chart or bright silver.
the guessing,working it out and patterning game is what makes it the game it is

[Bill Hedden]

Are there enough burbot (eel pout) in the deep parts of the lake to make up a real part of the musky diet, or do muskies just gobble them on the rare occasions when they run into them?

Bill Hedden

[Steve Herbeck]

well you'd have to ask em".
all kidd'n aside the few of significant size (because they are mostly tail it takes one 20-26"+ to look appealing) i have gotten my hands on and ran as a livebait didn't last long,they was gobbled.
back in the wi days 16-20 yrs ago when alot of big fish went to the taxidermist al smith in boulder jct told me that in the fall he would see a good number of them as stomach contents.
my take is that most of the time they are deep,if you catch one during the summer you are typically well below the walleyes so i don't know about in the summer but in the fall perhaps (and maybe at night during both times they come shallower ) and during mid-late winter when they come on the bars to spawn.to be honest i don't know enough about thier habits.
one thing i can tell you though is if you take an eelpout and throw in the water over a sandy beach where you can watch it swim away,then take a walleye bull dawg and just swim it back to you i think you will see what many muskies may think it is.
another thing i can tell you is regardless of what the muskies think they are and they may be ugly but they are the most awesome eating fish in freshwater bar none,broiled,boiled and dipped in butter,fried it don't matter as long as they are fresh.

[Bill Hedden]

I knew about the bulldawg-eel pout likeness, so, for fun, I carved a completely realistic eel pout out of wood and will make a form from it that I can use to pour some plastic baits. I'll weight them so I can fish them deep and see if they do any good.
Bill Hedden

[EagleNewbie]

Bill,
I hope you noted the "net man who knows what he's doing" line in rgh's post. From my limited experience, it's a crucial thing to keep in mind! (Just kidding)

The Xmas baits look great! I'm also very interested to read that you're pouring plastic, now. Maybe I should have held off on Dad's present...

Can't wait to be up at 4:30 and fishing 'til dark again! Hey, see you next week in North Jersey.
Tom