We have had another great week of fishing on the Albany River.
We had the Overbeck group of 22 from Michigan and Illinois and they had a wonderful time here at Makok. The temperatures were in the 30’s (high 80’s f) most of the week, and the fishing had been great – another 15 master anglers this week. Most of these big walleye were caught trolling with Rapalas or walleye minnows, and all were released alive. That big frontal wind storm came across our big lake this week, and for about an hour white caps were in the three foot range (See Graham’s article for more weather info). However, our big Lund boats with 25 horsepower motors returned anglers safe and sound, but quite wet from the adventure.

With the big numbers of trophy fish we stopped to ask the questions:
Is it the moving water?
Is it Eli Baxter the senior guide?
Is it the lack of fishing pressure?
Is it the health of the fishery in general?
…
And our guests seem to think – yes to all of the above. Just ask Dan Bilthouse with his 28 ¾ trophy pictured here.

The first challenge anglers face is the size of big Makokibatan Lake. This is where our guides come in, and there is none better that Eli. Now in his 80+ years of life, he knows this land and fishery like no other. So he can point you in the right direction and he does. For example, the Lovells from Ontario were led down river by Eli and reported numerous amounts of fish caught up to 5 lb. They were caught on little Cleo’s and Rapala minnows.
…Meryl and Bernard Carroll