Fishing Eagle Lake in Crow Wing County, Minnesota

• Overview

  Look for Eagle Lake in the Crow Wing County part of Minnesota. The water sits 1,217 feet up. It measures about 239 acres, which is a comfortable size for bank fishing. Shoreline comes to about 2.7 miles, small enough to learn in a day. Few waters listed in Crow Wing County are bigger. Head to Crosby, 5.9 miles away, for anything you forgot. The big place round here is Minneapolis, 103 miles distant. It sits well inside the county, so one set of rules covers it.

• Where to Fish on Eagle Lake

  Depth is not on record here, which means reading the ground instead. A natural lake fishes on cover, and cover here means weed and timber. Look for the band where the shallows give up and the bottom falls away. Across Crow Wing County, recorded fish include largemouth bass, bluegill, yellow perch and northern pike. Take it as the county picture rather than a promise for this water. Read Eagle Lake before you fish it and the day goes better.

• Seasonal Patterns

  Average temperature peaks around 69°F in July and bottoms out near 8°F in January. Cold winters and warm summers give a wide working range. The freeze runs deep into the year, with break-up near mid April. Averages place the thaw at mid April and the freeze at late November. Fish feed hardest at the start and the close of the open season. Eagle Lake fishes to that pattern most years.

• Tackle & Baits

  The rules here are undocumented as far as public sources go. This is a natural basin, not a dammed one. We find no slipway, car park or made path within a short radius, so treat access as rough. For the bass here, soft plastics worked slow along cover and a spinnerbait for searching do most of the work. Read any posted signs at the access point rather than assuming. Where tickets apply, they are sold in the nearest town rather than on the bank. The nearest alternative is Loon Lake, 1.4 miles out. Check the current arrangement for Eagle Lake.