Walleye Fishing at
Eagle Lake Island Lodge Ontario

Eagle Lake is a top-producing trophy Walleye Lake and is rated as one of the top ten Walleye fisheries in Ontario. The species averages from 15 inches to 27 inches in length, and many in the 27-inch to 30+-inch range. Walleye’s have a dark green back and a gold to white colored belly. On their back dorsal fin, which has 12 to 16 spines, are very sharp, almost needle like. Some of their key characteristics are its large silvery eye, a black blotch at the base of its dorsal fin, and a white blotch at the tip of its tail.

They can be found in relatively shallow waters during the months of May and June. They migrate to the deeper water as the season progresses where they settle into their summer holes for some of the most consistent fishing we see. As the summer starts to turn to fall, these large schools of fish start to move back to their spawning areas where they find an abundance of baitfish. You can expect to find these fish in depths of water ranging from 6 feet to 35 feet.

The most common method used to catch walleye is to jig for them using various size lead head jigs tipped with a minnow. The most important key to jigging is to be able to feel the lake bottom. A favorite technique at Eagle Lake Island Lodge is the use of crawler harnesses. These are used throughout the season at the lodge and are a favorite of our fishing guides. Other techniques commonly used in this area include casting or trolling crank baits (this is best suited for spring and fall fishing when they are shallow), and trolling weighted spinners, also tipped with a minnow.

Check out our guide's tackle recommendations below.

For walleye, a 6'6" to 7' long spinning rod with a medium to medium light action and a 2500-3000 series spinning reel equipped with 8-10 pound test mono-filament or fluorocarbon line. Pink and white combo, chartreuse, yellow and orange combo lead jig heads are my favorite but ALL other colors work as well and should have a range of jigheads from 1/4oz to 3/8oz weights. Depending on time of year we use jig'n worm, jig'n minnow or crawler harnesses with 1oz egg weights. The harnesses we will have available at the lodge but you are welcomed to pick up some of your own with variation in color patterns and size if you'd like. We use chartreuse and orange harnesses here at the lodge.

Walleye fishing opens the 3rd Saturday in May and remains open until the end of the year.