Fall pattern

Hey Guys, long time reader first time writer.

Fished leech this past fall the week of Oct 11th for the first time in about 10 years. We were on the East side of the lake. Read a lot about shallow rocks and wind which is something we fish a lot and are comfortable with. Man…. struggle city for us. Tried all sort of different areas with wind and rocks and would pick a fish or 2 up and nothing else. Water temps were high still I want to say 60-62. Maybe the fish hadnt moved shallow yet. Wondering if anyone else had a similar experience? I will say we caught some really nice fish, just not near the numbers I had hoped.

Second portion, anyone actively target smallies on Leech? We chased them one day fairly hard, ned rigs/swimbaits. Caught a few fish but nothing to write home about. Rock bass bite was legendary however if you are into that.

Thanks,

I didn’t get up there this fall, but have in past falls and struggled as well. Leech, regardless of season, is pretty much a rollercoaster for me, either dialed in and have good 20-30 fish days, or ride the struggle bus and are lucky to pick up a few. I don’t target smallies there, but Phil Bauerly does and posts fairly regularly about it on his FB page Outright Angling.

We were up two weeks after and it was mid turnover for us. Everything we caught was in less than 10’ on sand. Eaters were jig and minnow, few bigs on creek chubs. Was tough

Had 3 of the guys go out with Phil on a guided muskie trip for a day, didnt end up with any fish but the weather was brutal that day. Should have had them pick his brain on smallies!

Well we are headed back first week of October again next fall, will see if we cant come up with something more productive. Most all our walleyes came off jig and minnow and ripping raps/shiver minnows. I should have included we did catch some really nice fish 24-29in, just limited numbers overall.

For the last 2 years, I’ve fished Leech religiously 5-6 days a week from September to almost freeze up. 2021 was different than 2020 in terms of fish were not on the normal spots and tended to be deeper. I will attribute this to the incredibly low water levels on the lake this year with extended weed flats/edges. The typical wind seams on the major points on a good day didn’t produce much. Tons of Walker/Longville area lake fall bites were just non-existent too.

Also, fishing never seems to pick up until it hits the high 50’s on the main lake which was early October in 2020 and late in the month in 2021.

Start eating the overs. Don’t protect the big fish unless you want another mille lacs several years ago with too many big fish. Pretty darn close to it rn imo

Deuces wrote:

Start eating the overs. Don’t protect the big fish unless you want another mille lacs several years ago with too many big fish. Pretty darn close to it rn imo

Disagree, if you’re worried about a lack of forage in the system keep all the pike you can. I agree the walleye biomass is skewed toward big fish, but that’s a good thing imo! It takes a long time to get to 24″+, and there should be a ton of 28″+ trophy class fish in a few more years. Too many big fish is not a problem, it’s an awesome opportunity!

Catch alot of pike in the main lake? We don’t. Boy bay sure but not the main.

Not too often on the main lake, but plenty in the bays including Walker Bay.

I would guess water levels wont be back to normal level anytime soon marbleeyes? Maybe you guys have a lot more snow up N, but down here in N Central Iowa we’re sitting on about 6-7 inches total. Never really considered that when we were up there. Probably something to keep in mind for this coming fall though.

Had to do some driving this last fall on the lake around Halloween but once I found a pod it was game on. It was as close to lights out as it could get. Big sand flats was where I found them

Attachments:

1. 

   20211029_092123-scaled.jpg
   

Mike wrote:

I would guess water levels wont be back to normal level anytime soon marbleeyes? Maybe you guys have a lot more snow up N, but down here in N Central Iowa we’re sitting on about 6-7 inches total. Never really considered that when we were up there. Probably something to keep in mind for this coming fall though.

There is quite a bit of snow in the general area. Park Rapids to Longville area has insane amounts of snow. From what I heard (hearsay from DNR) is that even with a heavy snow pack, the area needs 7-10″ of additional rain to normalize the lake levels.