Bald Eagle Lake Fishing Reports

[Tom7227]

Great night out there tonight but action was slow. Fished from about 6 until 930. Lots of folks out - anyone have any luck? What and sort of where? My nieces kid was out and he wanted some action and so we tried for sunnies. He wasn't having any luck at all cause he was too slow. Managed a bass that got a smile out of him while trolling NW of the island. Lots of weeds on the west side up to the surface already. Anyone know what that stuff is?

[MN-2197-DF]

Going out to Medicine this AM, anyone got any tips for a first timer? Will be shooting for NP, Wallies, and Bass

[50inchpig]

tom - that's curly leaf pondweed. imo the worst thing about fishing in June is that stuff - never caught a fish out of it, but it goes away after a few weeks and the foil will come up. the stuff on BE is especially slimy and clingy. finding deeper weeds/deeper humps where the stuff doesn't grow is my strategy right now.

[FishinVeteran]

Fished bald eagle for the first time today with a buddy. That nasty snot looking weedage was drifting all over the place making for difficult fishing. We were looking for bass and found a lot of little ones.

So that slime does dissipate later in the summer? Would be a gorgeous lake without it!

[Tom7227]

The south and west sides have a particularly bad batch this year. Someone wrote that it was curly leaf pondweed, which the lakeshore owners have battled for over 10 years. It should be dying off very soon. Problem with that is when it dies it releases a lot of phos and then the lake gets skunky with algae blooms. I thought they were going to use a chemical on the lake and it has worked very well in the past, but this year it doesn't seem to have done it - that is if it is curly leaf. I'm not sure if that is what it is.

The lake is way down and so having a good map is essential. Just north west of the island I nearly grounded the boat when I hit a foot of water and I don't ever remember having a problem there in the past. it's down well over a foot and so I would advise folks to keep the speed down and watch the map to see where you are.

[shizzy]

watch out for the rock pile, they seem to have shorted it by one marker this year.......

[hunterjoe]

watch out for the rock pile, they seem to have shorted it by one marker this year.......

Yeah, I think they could add about 6 more markers at the distance they have them.

[Mr. Twister]

Anybody know what the waterlevel looks like out at Baldeagle lake this year? I have heard many reports and seen pictures of white bear and know that it is way down. Does Bald eagle fluctuate as well. If not I wonder how come?

Any info would be great.

Thanks.

[BoxMN]

My brothers inlaws live on BE and it is very, very low. He can barely get his fishing boat off the lift, and where he is he would need 100 more feet of dock to even make it deeper. I am pretty sure there are unmarked spots out there that would ding your lower unit, that normally would be 3 feet or so under water.

[Tom7227]

I live on the lake and Box is correct. There are two rocks just west of the spot that has the bouys out and they seem to jump out at you when you least expect. Many shore folks are having trouble with their boats. It's down at least 18 inches if not more. I think the launch is OK though cause I see a lot of boats coming out of there. past week or so I've also seen 3 guys catching muskies on the south end of the lake.

[shizzy]

I live on the lake and Box is correct. There are two rocks just west of the spot that has the bouys out and they seem to jump out at you when you least expect. Many shore folks are having trouble with their boats. It's down at least 18 inches if not more. I think the launch is OK though cause I see a lot of boats coming out of there. past week or so I've also seen 3 guys catching muskies on the south end of the lake.

my friend found those two rocks with his prop over the summer. We were WAY wide of the markers......

[Tom7227]

The local paper indicates that a lot of roadwork may limit if not totally close access to Bald Eagle from Aug. 24 to Sept 4.

[Tom7227]

I just checked today and the road to the ramp and the parking lot are going to be closed Monday August 31 through Wednesday Sept 2.

[NCLaker]

Thanks for the heads up!

[JRedig]

Let's hope they put a fricken light up already!

[Tom7227]

Don't know about lights - I think it's all road repair by the lift station and sealcoating the parking area.

[Tom7227]

According to the White Bear Press the City of Hugo has passed an ordinance that will ban hunting on Bald Eagle. According to the story Lino Lakes ordinances have a 750 foot from dwelling rule and so Bald Eagle is closed to duck hunters.

[BoxMN]

Great... sigh... well, one less spot for us to hunt. We only hunted there a few times a year, but still was nice and close.

This is just "awesome" news that those who want to live out in their own little piece of the "country" are turning it into urban/suburban territory. Congratulations to them...

Oh well, not just for this reason, but time to consider the timing of my move north. This is just another sign of what is coming, IMHO.

[HugoBox]

The beauty is that there is still one point (its private) so at least they can still shoot out there - hopefully still annoying those who had the hunting shut down.

[Tom7227]

Just measured using Google Earth and the house is 673 from the edge of the point. If the paper is correct the Lino ordinance would prohibit it. And you can bet the the CO's will be called if there are shots fired. I'm going to miss the shots at dawn while in bed - made me pretend I wasn't living in the middle of the 'urban area'. Here's the link to the story:

http://presspubs.com/articles/2009/09/16/white_bear_press/news/doc4ab008bca958f031261594.txt

[BoxMN]

Yeah, but this did make me realize that ANY Hugo landowner can "currently" shoot in his own yard regardless of how close to other homes. So HugoBox, you can shoot deer and turkeys right in your backyard, according to the info in the story anyway, ha!

And I believe as long as you have permission from the house in question, you can shot, can't you? I know the folks on that point do hunt and it is their house, so I would assume (I know, assumptions are not good...) that at least they could still hunt it, since they are not within 750 feet of anybody else.

Anyway, my Bald Eagle time is over. I am glad I have a mount of a nice drake goldeneye taken from Bald Eagle over my fireplace, taken while hunting with my stepson and brother. It was a good hunt, and no, we didn't damage anybody's home or windows... heh.

[MN Greenheads]

Another piece of MN gone. The uptight urbies continue pushing outward.

[jigginjim]

I knew some boys back, the would just laugh at the urbies and tell them to buy a gun, we're hunting.

[bassmann77]

I was really disappointed after I read that story last night. That was the area where I shot my first duck and was hunting there regularly over the years. It was just a matter of time that it was going to be stopped. I am interested to see what the guy on the point does. He really get some good shooting at geese all throughout the season from that area. It is a sad day. It might be time to head to North Dakota or Canada. It is getting harder and harder to find open land that isn't over hunted. This exact scenario is why fishing is on top of my hobby list..one can fish anywhere there is open access

[RumRiverRat]

Yuppies trying to turn the country into a suburban utopia.

[JRedig]

Bummer, that was one of the first places I ever took a shot at a duck, thanks hugobox. Wasn't that spot we used last year 766 away from the nearest house though? The CO had his ranger finder, unless my memory is wrong, I thought that's what he came up with.

Anybody wanna go fire blanks at 5am just for fun? hmmmm haha, i hate yuppies.

[BoxMN]

Prob is, that spot is in Hugo, so distance doesn't matter any more... they closed it down...

We still got spots

[hunter322]

i kind of wonder if that is a spur off of the petetion that went around hugo a year or two ago? ive never hunted it but it does suck! i hate them frigin yupies!

[MN Greenheads]

What's so crazy about this whole deal is how afraid these people are of steel pellets or non-tox pellets. I have been hit at 110 yards by steel 2's and it's not going to hurt you. Although I can't say the same for Dead Coyote loads I can say the backyard of a house on a suburban golf course is a far more dangerous place than any house on Bald Eagle. There is a faction of people in Hugo that have plans to turn it into a Woodbury. I guess this is just one more step towards that goal. People have hunted on this LAke for years. What has changed? Nothing with the houses or safety. Just people being more afraid of nothing and more uptight.

[Tom7227]

Recent articles and an e-mail from a friend lead me to think that there may be a defense if someone were to go hunting on BE and got a ticket. The Council apparently passed the ordinance without a public hearing and possibly without the required public notice. I also suspect that ordianances are not effective until 30 days after passage, signing and publication, which most likely isn't until sometime after this weekend.

The City's come back will be a claim that it was an emergency ordinance required to protect the public safety. I don't know legally how strong that arguement is, and it would rely in large part on what was said during the meeting by council members as they discussed the public safety issue.

The City Attorney for Hugo is a real doof. IMO he gets them to do questional stuff in large part because he's on retainer for the meetings but gets hourly when he has to go to court. If he's the prosecutor as well as the civil lawyer he'll dig in on this and make lots of dough.

I wouldn't want to be the defendant but it could be fun defending the person who gets nailed. I also don't think the DNR is going to be making any strong effort to enforce it. Wonder if the Washington County Sheriff would bother?