Fishing Reports

Come on Guys. I’m spending 6 days on Leech in a couple of weeks. Any reports? Can use all the help I can get.

One walleye in 12 fow just along a weed edge, lindy rig, and a leech (who uses leeches on leech lake??? ) 6 ft snell red hook. He went 22 inches, and I heard of one other fish caught the same way, and one more that they used a crawler. The fish were there, bit they were tight lipped. Bass action was great, even though we were not fishing for them, they kept finding us with crappie fishing, couldn’t buy a crappie, in 10-14 feet of water, again ther were there, but would not bite. Thinking back I would’ve liked to have used a drift sock to slow down our drift, might have helped. This was my first time on this body of water.

ive heard reports of good success trolling 6-8 ft with floating raps when the fishins tough with jig and rig ??? anyone tried this ?

Thanks guys. The lack of enthusiastic responses tells me that fishing will be work when I get there. Floating Raps after dark and long snells with red or florescent green hooks have worked for me also but nothing works if they are tight mouthed. Last year long snells with a floating hook and a leech drifted slow put a few in the boat on a tough bite.

This past weekend was tough. Tough to even stay out there. 30 mph winds and continuous rain. Only 2 walleyes. The general consensus of area baitshops were to fish Cass or Winnie. Winnie seems to be pretty hot…check the reports.

Thanks tgif. Maybe this weather change will improve things by the time I get there.

I just read a report / fishing forecast in MWO from a MN DNR Large Lake specialist on the walleye fishing on Leech Lake. Apparently the overall numbers look good as does the average size of fish present. Maybe fishing on Leech will actually be solid throughout the season after a couple tough years?

Lets hope so James. I think folks are pretty tight lipped with the tournament this weekend. No one wants to share any spots or tactics. I too will be on Leech this weekend, not in the tourney, but fishing none the less. We will be rigging and jigging while staying away from the big tourney boats .

to the tourney fisherman and my group of 16.

Hope you’re right James. But for now I’m going to be studying my notes from the last 10 years to try at a game plan for next week. Maybe Vikes will have a good report.

The weather was nice and we saw a lot of boats on the water. Being a short trip I was pleased with our overall numbers. Saturday we had 7 walleyes smallest being 19″ and largest being 25″. Sunday we only fished for 3-4 hours and got 2. All the fish were caught lindy rigging leeches with 6-7 ft snells, red hooks and red beed, and trolling firetiger/perch #5 shad raps. Most fish came from Ottertail and Two Points while we picked up a few others around Pelican Island. We opted to stay away from the big crowds if possible. We did pick up more action when we were alone or when there was less pressure. Here is to my next trip .

ALL RIGHT!!!!! Thanks Vikes. Those are my haunts and I use those methods also. Can’t wait till next week

I’ll report back.

Hey putz, how was your trip?

Just got back today and it was an interesting trip. The bite was on last weekend. Friends of mine caught walleyes Friday and Saturday before I got there and Sunday my wife and I had good luck. The bite slowed a bit for us on Monday-Wednesday but I went to the wrong areas. High waves limited my travel in my POC (piece o’ crap) boat. Thursday was slow in the dead calm. Thursday night, Friday, and this morning I was out of commission because of an alien attacking my intestines. All in all, if you were at 5 Mile, Submarine, Sugar Point, or Pelican at the right time there were fish to be had. Just need a boat to be able to check them all out during prime time of early morning or late evening. We caught most of our fish on spinners and nightcrawlers or leeches with a 6 ft snell and flourescent green hooks with a red bead and floater in line. Things should keep improving as the waters warm up (63 degrees this week). The problem is that all of our fish were 19″-24″. Nice, but where are the 10″-15″ fish to replace these? I suggest an open cormorant season to begin with. Can you imagine the fun of roaring up to a flock of those devils with a shotgun and a pail of shells and letting them have it when they’re 2 feet above the water? Maybe save some walleye fry that are trying to grow in that area. I’ve heard a few other theories like muskies at Submarine, ruined spawning grounds at 5 Mile, Mother Nature’s cycles, etc, so I’m not sure what’s going on in that end of the lake, but for now, if you catch one it is usually a pretty good one.

Great report Putz. Just got back from Leech last night and would have to ditto what you said. I would also add that we found a few fish on the rock humps off Rogers Point and did quite well on Submarine.

I have never seen so many Cormorants in my life. I am pretty sure that after they eat all the walleyes they could potentially start attacking fisherman. Why are those birds protected anyways? Can you imagine the money they are costing Walker and the resorts on Leech if they continue to hurt the walleye population. I personally did not hear of one fish caught that was under 17 inches at our tournament up there.

There has to be something the local government can do to thin those birds out. I know if I were running for the Mayor of Walker that issue would be at the center of my platform.

Agreed, Fru. Maybe a small detonation at the right time on Pelican Island would help?

A dozen raccoons on pelican during the spring will do some damage to their nesting grounds.

I just emailed the DNR to see what they thought of the situation or if they think there is situation. It will be interesting to see what they respond with. I will report back when I hear from them.

Or a redneck south dakotan with a 22.250 from a few hundred yards out, with several hundred rounds of shells….

Here is the reponse I got from the DNR in regards to the populations of smaller walleyes and Cormorants. Sounds like they are on it, let’s hope that they will be able to take action:

Mr. Fruland:

Your message was forwarded to me. My name is Pat Rivers and I am the
Large Lake Specialist for Leech Lake.

Fish populations in any lake cycle. Right now, the abundance of
walleye on Leech Lake is relatively low. We started annually sampling
Leech Lake in 1983. Since that time, catch rates have ranged from 4.7
to 13.8 walleye per set. Last year, our catch rate was 5.2 per set. We
have seen similar patterns of abundance in the past, with low abundance
being associated with large fish. As you noted, the proportion of large
fish is actually quite high. This is due to 1) the exceptional strength
of the 1994, 1995, and 1997 year classes and 2) the poor year class of
2000. Walleye from the 2000 year class are not abundant and are just
reaching “keeper” sizes. We did sample walleye smaller than 17 inches.
In fact, 37 percent of our gillnet catch was smaller than 15 inches.
Last year and again this year, anglers note that few small walleye were
caught. I cannot explain why these fish are not biting. However, I do
know there are smaller walleye in Leech Lake. As an aside, Agency Bay
and Sand Point anglers seem to be able to catch these smaller yet still
keepable walleye.

We estimate the abundance of mature female walleye as their numbers are
important for sustaining natural reproduction. Right now, their
abundance is quite high and not a cause for concern. We will continue
to measure their abundace as the older age classes leave the fishery and
younger ones enter.

The double-crested cormorant population on Leech Lake has risen
dramatically in recent years. In 1997, only 5 nesting pair were
counted. Last year, 1,144 nesting pair were counted. Walleye are one
of 33 documented fish species in Leech Lake. Certainly, cormorants eat
most– if not all– of these species to varying degrees. We (MNDNR,
Leech Lake Band of Ojibwa) are investigating what our options are for 1)
investigating what impacts cormorants are having on Leech Lake and 2)
what control measures can be taken if indeed there are negative impacts.
Cormorants are protected under the Federal Migratory Bird Treaty Act
and their control is not so simple as to just go shoot a given number of
birds. In addition to nesting birds, we need to investigate what
impacts migrating birds have on fish populations, as their numbers are
significant in the spring and fall.

I hope this helps. If you have any further questions, feel free to
give me a call or email.

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Thanks, Ben. Sounds like they are aware of the situation but can only study it at this time. There may be some 2000-2003 year classes in the northeast end of the lake but I haven’t heard of them although the last couple of year classes wouldn’t be biting yet. Hopefully they will do more than just study and get something done. I will volunteer to help with the cormorant issue.

In talking to Steve and Bunny at Sugar Point resort, I find that they have weekends open throughout the summer and they are saying it is the economy. I believe the fishing has something to do with it but they don’t want to say. If that resort doesn’t fill, they will join the others and sell the gold mine they are sitting on for residential property and we will have lost another resort. Not a good situation.

Just a quick update. Joe Fellergy had an article in Outdoor News this week with a picture of a dead cormorant that choked on a 16″ or 18″ walleye. Maybe we will get our open season on those dang birds yet.