July Leech Report

I’ve heard the bite is tough and I’m expecting it to be tough. But any current reports on anything?

I’ll be up July 11-18 and will report back…….

I reported last week but it was during a dreadful mayfly hatch.

We marked a lot of fish in the 16-20’ range. Caught some between 12-16’. 5 mile was where the action was but it was slow. Leech on a lindy, slip bobbers or raps in the rocks at evening. Pan fish in boy bay was slow. Pike was to be had while trolling for walleye.

We usually go the week after your stay (and we will this year as well-usually participate in the chase the police triathlon) and found the flats in Walker bay in the evening and night do very well still…slip Bobber over a leech. There are a few good points towards Shingobee bay that are hot during July during the day. Think 20+ feet.

lindyrig79 wrote:

I’ll be up July 11-18 and will report back…….

Well jimminy crickets, that’s the same week some of my “relations” (family) will be along with me at Fisher’s.

Was hoping you might be around to offer me a “good” beer or a refreshing cocktail of sorts.

Oh well, pretty sure all that’ll be covered anyway.

Maybe find you there another time?

Good luck on Leech, walleye dinner at Mille Lacs will be at Castaway’s.

I got back from leech late last week and tried to post a nice, long report but for whatever reason it didn’t want to go through.

Like clowncolor, marked a lot of fish during the day in 16-20 ft range but very few biters. Slid out to 20-22 ft and marked a lot less fish but they were much more willing to hit. Seemed more fish were present on steep breaks vs gradual. The four of us caught about a dozen 23-27″ in a few afternoons of fishing. Silver spinner and leech was the best set up. Saw guides with a nice pile of fish a few days and it looked like they were on lindy’s. Was strictly a big fish bite during the day for us. Trolled cranks shallow at sundown a variety of places and it seemed there are more eater walleyes on the shore than on mid lake humps, which surprised us. Once the sun was fully set them damn rock bass took over those mid lake reefs.

All fish over 26″ were happily released by my party but the same could not be said the few times we saw a guide and his clients strolling through camp. Oh well. We stayed at big rock resort and didn’t have to travel too far to find the fish we did get into.

Happy fishing and goodluck!

Andy – I know. That is ironic. We have been at Fishers for 8 straight weekends. I’ll send you a PM.

TBro and Clowncolor- thanks for reports. We usually do spinners and crawlers this time of year but sounds like we’ll have to try leeches also. Have also heard getting away from the boat is helpful, probably will try some planer boards

I was up over the 4th and ran the same program I posted on the last thread. Side imaging weed lines for pods of 2-4 fish on the edge and throwing a bobber fishing a leech still worked. 10-14 FOW for eaters. Night trolling in 5-7 fow with original raps was on fire under the full moon and fireworks. Good Luck.

Thanks Matt. I think I remember reading your report. Keys to stay away from the boat. Long lining Lindy rigs, planer boards, and slip bobbers away from the boat

Pretty tough out there so far! Several boats we know are getting blanked. Very windy today…. south wind gusting to 35 mph at times..

Slip bobbers 10 ft off sand point in walker bay is still producing numbers on the late evening. Lots of smalls

In the evening I’ve been picking up larger models in 18-30’ on break lines bottom bouncing half a crawler behind a spinner. Night time fishing slip bobbering leeches on humps or trolling raps in 8-10 fow works. The night bite is best.

Attachments:

1. 

   673401EF-FD45-43B7-BC97-563D9B78985A.jpeg
   

2. 

   F02BDF26-C23A-48C2-9387-7155946422A8.jpeg
   

Nice work guys and thanks for info! We have little kids with and not that easy to fish after dark. I did stay until 9:30pm the other night and only got pike. Will keep trying

Fished Saturday July 11. 7am-2pm west of Brevick out to Pelican Island. Marked lots of fish from 15-24′. Marked lots of bug hatch clouds also. Caught a bunch of small perch and 2 walleye, 17 and 23. Pulled crawlers and leeches.

Keep the reports coming… I will be there Sunday for the week… never been on the lake and looking forward to it!

jbg1219 wrote:

7am-2pm west of Brevick out to Pelican Island. Marked lots of fish from 15-24′. Marked lots of bug hatch clouds also. Caught a bunch of small perch and 2 walleye, 17 and 23. Pulled crawlers and le

Check out the aim weekend walleye series fb page. They will have interviews tonight around 7 with the 1st and 2nd place winners from sat and sunday’s events. Two one day tourneys. 100 boats a day. And the weights and numbers of fish were down overall. Lots of 1 and 2 fish per boat. Fishing was slow!!!!

Spinners with leeches seemed to work better than crawlers due to the perch population and rebaiting. There was a shallow weed bite going as well. Water temps are in the upper 70s which should mean speed and leadcore. The issue right now is the massive bug hatch and there is a very large population of small perch, 3 to 5 inchers. Walleyes are definitely not starving in this lake. Need to slow it way down and keep the bait in front of them to bite.

Match the hatch with the bugs. Spinners or butterfly/smiley blades are working. Rigging chubs is working and some bobber fishing is working. Couldn’t get the crankbaits to go.

Tourney hours are typically 7 to 3 so low light conditions are out for their reports. I would think the evening would be best. Fish are abundant but seems like slow and steady wins the race up there right now.

ryan hunt wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>jbg1219 wrote:</div>
7am-2pm west of Brevick out to Pelican Island. Marked lots of fish from 15-24′. Marked lots of bug hatch clouds also. Caught a bunch of small <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>perch and 2 walleye, 17 and 23. Pulled crawlers and le

Check out the aim weekend <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>walleye series fb page. They will have interviews tonight around 7 with the 1st and 2nd place winners from sat and sunday’s events. Two one day tourneys. 100 boats a day. And the weights and numbers of fish were down overall. Lots of 1 and 2 fish per boat. Fishing was slow!!!!

Spinners with leeches seemed to work better than crawlers due to the <em class=”ido-tag-em”>perch population and rebaiting. There was a shallow weed bite going as well. Water temps are in the upper 70s which should mean speed and leadcore. The issue right now is the massive bug hatch and there is a very large population of small perch, 3 to 5 inchers. <strong class=”ido-tag-strong”>Walleyes are definitely not starving in this lake. Need to slow it way down and keep the bait in front of them to bite.

Match the hatch with the bugs. Spinners or butterfly/smiley blades are working. Rigging chubs is working and some bobber fishing is working. Couldn’t get the crankbaits to go.

Tourney hours are typically 7 to 3 so low light conditions are out for their reports. I would think the evening would be best. Fish are abundant but seems like slow and steady wins the race up there right now.

Great post

I agree with everything, but doesn’t make it any easier. I finally got a 16” walleye last night around 9:30 trolling a shad rap in 10 ft of water. Had tried spinners and crawlers prior.

Definitely some very difficult fishing conditions right now.

Well, final report. We spent way more time on the beach and water sports than fishing but still did fish 3-4 mornings and 3 evenings. As mentioned before, fishing was very slow. Our dock hand said there were several “dry bags” during that tournament mentioned above.

Lots and lots of small perch which got annoying after awhile.

My Step Dad and I ended up with 4 walleye and 8 pike for the week. I think most walleyes were deeper but couldn’t get them to bite. Probably spent too much time in a lot of our old spots which are mainly 15 ft or less. We used to catch walleyes all year regardless of conditions never going deeper than 15 ft. That has sure changed the last couple years.

Still had a nice trip… at least the mayflies were done and beaches and water in good shape. Bear Island has an awesome beach if you’ve never been…