Leech lake fishing report

Well been a tough day on the water for me. First them fishing leech this weekend. So far today only managed one perch and one burbot. The day started our cloudy with some wind so I fished windswept points using jig and minnow and casting a jiggin rap. Nothing doing. Moved out to annex and managed to catch the burbot in 18 ft of water on a jig/minnow. Since then nothing. I’ve fished as shallow as 5 ft and as deep as 30. Fished as far north as thr dam and as far south as huddles reef. Tried casting jigs, vertical jigging, casting. Tried leeches, minnows and plastics. As the day as moved on its become sunnier and no wind. Not great conditions so I switched to trolling cranks for pike. Nothing doing there either. I did manage to find a few dogs though. Nice day to be out of the office and in the boat

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Leech can be a tough nut to crack.
This time of year and cold weather, the eyes should still be shallow.
Perch will be a little tough to find this time of year, in numbers anyhow.

Wind is your friend. If it blows, they fish will stack on the shores where the waves are rolling in pushing bait fish ahead of them. The eyes will be there and close to shore, like pitch that jig/minnow almost on shore and hop it back. Boat control can be tough in the rollers when you’re literally feet from a rocky shore line. Yep, you’ll lose a few jigs too.
Stony Pt and Otter Tail are good but they’re a distance from you, especially if it’s rough.
I’m jealous. Sure wish I was there and not here! Good luck!

Lol some good looking dogs you got there. You came prepared.

Go shallow. North end of Walker bay. Focus 6-10 feet of water. Jig and a rainbow or shiner. Sidescan until you see fish and cast to them! Check the windy side of goose island, or go to Pine or Stoney point. There’s lots of fish out there!

Heading out after my 2pm meeting finishes.

Leech can be a real tough lake when the bite is Off. Like other said the wind side of most points is where the action is normally happening this time of the year. You often can not fish to shallow on these spots. I’ve caught fish out of less than 1 Ft of water on leech. I would have keep that burbot and boiled that up. Much tastier than those hotdogs. Although I love me a good hotdog some times .

Thanks for the tips. Would you still be fishing shallow with sunny bluebird skies? I did fish shallow some but my gut told me to move deeper considering the conditions

On opener we long lined small shallow running cranks trolling 2 mph in 5 FOW on areas that were windblown right around dusk and the first few hours after sunset and that was our best bite window.

It’s been a evening nite bite for me. 830-930 pm. I haven’t bothered going mornings or daytime.

Ya I came in for the afternoon with the idea of resting up for some night fishing.

crappie55369 wrote:

Thanks for the tips. Would you still be fishing shallow with sunny bluebird skies? I did fish shallow some but my gut told me to move deeper considering the conditions

Stay shallow. You’ll find some in 12-14, but most of the fish are shallow! If you don’t mark fish, don’t fish. Keep looking. You’ll see schools on sidescan out there.

rjthehunter wrote:

Stay shallow. You’ll find some in 12-14, but most of the fish are shallow! If you don’t mark fish, don’t fish. Keep looking. You’ll see schools on sidescan out there

When you’re searching for walleyes in shallow water using side imaging do you run your big motor or does that spook the fish?

crappie55369 wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>rjthehunter wrote:</div>
Stay shallow. You’ll find some in 12-14, but most of the fish are shallow! If you don’t mark fish, don’t fish. Keep looking. You’ll see schools on sidescan out there

When you’re searching for walleyes in shallow water using side imaging do you run your big motor or does that spook the fish?

You can usually see a few running the big motor, but once I have them somewhat located, I use my trolling motor to scan. They do spook from the big motors usually!

Well today I decided to pull the boat out of leech and check out winnie. I’d never fished winnie until this trip either. The action was a little slow but I certainly did better there then I had on leech. Caught 5 and probably lost another 10. All in all had a fun time and got enough for dinner.

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Great work. Sometimes all it takes is a roll of the dice to move. Leech is a fickle one for me as well.

Crappie, Shefland who is a member here has fished leech forever, may want to send him a PM or invite him out in your boat.

Hi Iowa boy. all sugestions good, but shallow is the best! I spend most of my time chasing panfish this time of year. So you still come up to that secret lake north of here?

shefland wrote:

Hi Iowa boy. all sugestions good, but shallow is the best! I spend most of my time chasing panfish this time of year. So you still come up to that secret lake north of here?

Hello Mr. Shefland !! yes I do!
Will be there there June 18-25 and I cant wait!! I have never forgotten what Mr. Fellegy taught me !!
If you happen to be in the neighborhood swing by for a day in our boat.

Get in touch with Crappie, I am sure he wont throw you out of the boat, shoot, you might even be able to talk him into something cold to drink.
Good to see you are still around Shefland !!

I like my leech lake eyes same as my 90’s BET music videos……late night.

Crankin 12-14′ 2mph