TLDR: Caught some fish, should of caught more, remember to bring an extension cord.
Well my 2nd trip up to leech came and went. Overall it was more productive than my last trip (See https://www.in-depthoutdoors.com/community/forums/topic/my-trip-review-928-10-2/ ) But also left me feeling very frustrated at times and having one single moment which for me was probably one of the most fun walleyes I have ever caught.
Got on the water Friday around 615. Did some night trolling to start. I was meeting a group of guys I know but not really well. We had 3 boats out trolling and had some ok success. One boat fared better than the other 2. I manged to pick up 2 fish with 1 being in the slot. Got back to the dock around 11ish and realized I had forgotten my extension cord to charge my batteries. I troll using my terrova (I know I need a kicker) and I was unable to find a cord until morning. This would come back to bite me.
On saturday I was alone like friday night. We stayed at shores of leech lake which is near Sand Point. Wind was blowing pretty decent out of the west. Tried goose flats to no avail. Went to Ottertail point and also did not find any fish. Decided to move to the east side to try and take advantage of the wind. Tried Sugar and battle point and Bear island. Saw large groups of boats but only 2 fish caught. Again was unable to locate anything myself so I moved to the east side of bear to try the sheep pasture and see if I could pick up some perch or northern (I did not). Some rain moved in and I decided to move back west. The wind started to pick up and I made it through the narrows and picked up 1 nice 18.75 fish. I actually picked it up right where Jason Mitchell was fishing in this episode. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5rdaMlYkmRc
Decided at this point to head in and give my trolling motor a few hours to charge for the night trolling. Moon was 1 day shy of being full and no clouds in the forecast so I had high hopes. As evening rolled around I went out and began to troll around the narrows. Got a nice 19.5″ fish on a firetiger thunderstick around 615. Trolled another few hours and did not find anything else. I later learned that the 2 other boats in my group had better luck with one boat getting 16. Sadly my batteries gave out before I could make adjustments. This is where my ultimate frustration kind of set in.
I moved to pine point and tossed a rippin rap around and no bites. Moved to cedar point and pitched a jig and minnow shallow. Got a hit on the first cast. Great fight, get the fish to the side of the boat and I did not leave enough line out so as I went to net the fish the jig came out of the water and the fish got off. Wasn’t a huge fish, probably 16 inches or so but it was pretty defeating at that point. Threw the jig out some more and had what felt like a large fish on but it got off before I even saw it. Would up catching 3 fish that were less than 12 inches. Small consolation prize I guess.
Decided to move back in and my route took me over the deeper water in walker bay. I have been going to leech 12 years and I never fish deep. Looking at my map and I see what looks to be a sunken island about 20′ deep surrounded by depths of 40+. I slow down to mark a waypoint on the structure and I see a fish mark hugging the bottom. Decide what the heck and drop a jig/minnow down see if I can find anything. After my 3rd jig I felt the line get heavy. Worried about the last 2 fish I had lost I waited a second and gave a hook set any FLW bass pro would be proud of. Had a wonderful fight with this fish that peeled some drag and got my heart racing. Got her in the net and she was a nice fat 23″ fish. Not my biggest at all but probably the funnest fish I have caught all year. Snapped a few pics and put her back. She swam away. That fish totally restored my spirits. I was frustrated and angry for the most part up to that point and after that I went in happy.
Sunday was my last day fishing. Finally had a partner. We found a few fish but had to work for them. We both missed several fish and that was frustrating. Went out for the night troll and made it about 30 minutes before the lightning was moving in. Came off the water and that ended my trip as I left in the morning.
