I spent October 3-6 on a fall fishing trip to Leech Lake. This is the second time I have fished Leech and I was eager to experience the “hot” fall bite….it was hot but not so much the walleye fishing and more the weather….although we did well considering the weather conditions.
I had been checking various forums for the last few weeks with poor reports for Leech Lake which is mostly being blamed on the unseasonably warm weather.
After working break lines and deeper structure in Walker bay with only perch and northern to show for it we decided to move to a different bay with loads of structure to fish. Thankfully, we found what we came to Leech for….walleye.
The action was on and off in 12 FOW just outside the weed lines which are still quite thick. We also found consistent action in the evening fishing 20-28 FOW on sunken islands located close to good shoreline breaks.
I also noted the islands with less weed growth were more productive than those that had very heavy piles of weeds on them. These islands topped off deeper but still had thin weeds and were holding perch as well to bring in the walleye!
During the mid-day we enjoyed excellent perch fishing while escaping the hard southern winds this week.
If the weather would’ve allowed us to fish on Friday AM I believe my threesome would’ve went home with our walleye limit but we were a couple fish short. We also only caught one walleye over 20”….uncommon for leech. I think if we’d have tried the shallow evening crankbait bite we would’ve caught some larger fish. We basically fished a jig and minnow all week.
I look forward to fishing Leech again and hopefully this spring….
The photos below are of my dad holding a nice 24″ walleye and myself with a 12″ perch and one of the eaters we’d caught that day.
Leech is one awesome lake! You could spend day after day refining your techniques and exploring this body of water! It was great fishing here with my father and father in-law!
