leech MEA weekend

We were up to leech Lake 2 weekends ago. We have been doing a fall trip for the last 15-20 Years now. We mainly target the Perch but also get a few Walleyes mixed in as well. I think we were a little early on our trip there this year as the water temps were still rather warm. Usually the bigger ( Jumbo Perch ) start to show up in Bigger #’s as the water temps drop more than they were. I think you will want live Minnows for sure. Yes you can catch both perch and walleyes on Plastic baits but nothing beats real meat. On a average day of perch fishing we would go through 3-4 Scoops of fatheads a day. Those pesky smaller perch are real good about getting a fathead off a Jig without getting hooked. If it were me heading to leech lake this weekend, I’d mainly target the perch and take what walleyes come along the way. To me the Perch are far better eating than a walleye any day and the fast action makes it a ton of fun. We do most our fishing in the sand point area of the start of steamboat bay. as well as in the channel in steamboat bay as well. I’m not sure where Chase on the lake is located. There is a really nice public landing right near sand point. Hope this Info. helps. If you have additional questions, feel free to PM me. Hope you have a great trip and be sure to post a report when you return.

After looking at a map, It looks like Chase on the lake it not real far from sand Point. We stay at the shores of Leech lake just a little more North of Chase.

Haven’t made it up this year, but for big fish this time of year it’s hard to beat dragging chubs in shallow sand. Last fall our eaters came on jig and minnow and bigs came on creek chubs

We did good 2 weeks ago on walleyes with a jig and minnow. They often spook if you drive over them in less than 10 – 12 feet. We spot lock and cast. Unfortunately, when boats around us aren’t catching and and we are, they crowd us a LOT. As soon as they do, the fish leave. We avoid groups like the plague. We have success with light jigs and small minnows.

Tilt the main motor up, trim up the TM and troll stickbaits on shoreline rocks w ambient light. Hard to get unders this way, but effective for bigguns.

We always fish the main lake tho, walker bay ymmv

I was just up on leech this past weekend. Brutal cold and wind. Mainly a hunting trip, but we did fish with very little success. But we only trolled crank baits. I’d go with live minnows and pitch away from the boat as others have mentioned. Water temps were low to mid 40s.

Thank you for the help guys, it gives me somewhere to start. I’ll report back our findings.

Well no walleyes for us, but we sure did find the perch. Fished for 4hrs on friday with the 3 boys and they were catching perch left and right the entire time so we didn’t venture off to try and find ol marble eyes. They had an absolute blast so that was more what it was about for me than trying for the eyes. It had to be close to 100 perch they caught.
6-10ft of water around sand point with the shallower being better for the bigger perch. Saturday just me and the buddy made it out, but with a limited amount of time to fish we hit a few shallow points that did not produce, so we went and started popping the perch again.
Water temp was 48-52
1/8oz jig and a fathead was the ticket, just needed some kind of meat, didnt matter if it was a head, tail, whole minnow or just a blob of the midsection.