Leech vs Winnie

Good Morning Guys,

With duck opener happening this weekend, I am looking to shoot my limit of woodies and move to fishing either leech or Winnie in the afternoon. I have fished these both these lakes in the spring and early summer but never in the fall. After reading and watching a few videos on areas and tactics, I have one decision left….Which Lake?

I have been seeing reports of quite a bit of fish being caught on Winnie right now but the size is just shy of keeping for me (13″). On the other hand I haven’t heard much from leech recently but I know its more of a mixed bag. I generally want to catch big fish but I have also been tasked to catch my limit for a walleye dinner.

If you guys/gals had the choice to fish one afternoon this weekend, which would you choose?

Thanks in advance people!

Spent 2 1/2 days on Leech lake last weekend chasing mostly perch but did get some eyes as well. The perch bite is OK but TONS of small fish ( Less than 9″ ) you really need to sort to get some nice eater size fish. Like said we didnt target the eyes but caught a fair amount ,mixed in with the perch. From what I saw at the cleaning building there are lots of nice eater size ( 14-15″ ) walleyes being caught. No help for you on Winnie – I did hear the perch bite has been slow there with lots of small fish as well. Good luck and hope you can get a few birds and some fish as well.

Thank you for the quick response! Were you fishing walker bay or the main lake on Leech? If I hit leech, I think my plan of attack would be to start in walker bay and move to the main lake from there if we have enough time. Just trying to cut down the search time and find a few.

We mostly fished the Sand Point area. Did go thru the Narrows to the main lake for a few Hours – Not much luck out there. If you are looking for walleyes in the Sandpoint area i would stick to 11-13 Feet of water and fish bigger Minnows. Most of the fathead minnows we purchased up there were more like crappie minnows. Fishing deeper and with bigger minnows will cut down on some of the smaller Perch. The Perch we caught in the slightly deeper water tended to be much better size. The key to sand point is a decent south wind. if you get a 8-10 mph wind out of the south I think you can get some nice eater walleyes along sand point. There is one brown cabin on sandpoint. I would stay mostly south of that.

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Wow i appreciate the “in-depth” report. I wasn’t going to target the perch but that looks like a blast!

We had a fish fry a few days ago and everyone preferred the perch over the Walleyes. I would say perch is the best eating fish by Far. In fact I would eat a Sunfish or even a Northern before a walleye any day !!! Speaking or Northern’s, We did catch a fair amount of decent eating size ones on sand point as well.

fishthumper wrote:

I would say perch is the best eating fish by Far.

I agree with this, jumbo perch are the gold standard. Can you remember when the daily bag limit was 100 of those things?! Then it went to 50 and then 20 because people realized how delicious they were.

I’d fish Winnie. I have one buddy who guides on leech and one on Winnie. I was on leech on Saturday and the walleye fishing was slow. We did get our perch limit which was nice. If you want to catch walleye, then go to Winnie. You sort through a few smaller eyes but you catch a bunch of them. If you want perch, go to leech. We fished the northwest side of walker bay for the most part. The only issue on leech right now is there seems to be an abnormal amount of people out there. It’s pretty busy right now. If you have time, get out on the main lake. I had my grandpa with so we took it easy but I’d like to get out there and search awhile as there’s lots of wind blown points that fish are on top of right now.

gim wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>fishthumper wrote:</div>
I would say perch is the best eating fish by Far.

I agree with this, jumbo perch are the gold standard. Can you remember when the daily bag limit was 100 of those things?! Then it went to 50 and then 20 because people realized how delicious they were.

Yep I’m glad that they reduced the Perch limit. I am happy that the possession limit is 2X the daily limit though. I believe that in Minnesota that perch is the only fish that the possession limit and the daily limit is different. I’m all in favor of a lower Sunfish limit as long as they make the possession limit at least 2X the daily limit. If the sunfish limit becomes 10 and the possession limit is only 10 then it hard to get enough fish to have a fish fry for some family or friends.

gim wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>fishthumper wrote:</div>
I would say perch is the best eating fish by Far.

I agree with this, jumbo perch are the gold standard. Can you remember when the daily bag limit was 100 of those things?! Then it went to 50 and then 20 because people realized how delicious they were.

I’d have a hard time arguing about this either. It can still matter how well each specie was treated and how well it was prepared and cooked, but all things being equal…perch can be the best.

It was a generation ago when there was the 100 bag limit. The sad part was back then many in MN treated them as a nuisance and almost a trash fish. Hence the 100 limit.

Perch were by far more treasured by WI anglers back then and stories of them coming over to Winni and leaving with pick up truckloads to take back home.

Times have changed no doubt. Here’s an interesting old post I found, evidently these guys were “old school” in their thinking and their actions…

http://www.in-depthoutdoors.com/community/forums/topic/ftlWinnie_1228596/

Walleyestudent Andy Cox wrote:

It was a generation ago when there was the 100 bag limit. The sad part was back then many in MN treated them as a nuisance and almost a trash fish. Hence the 100 limit.

I’m 38 and I can remember the 100 fish bag limit in my youth and thought “man, those things must be like rough fish.” Heck, not even 15 years ago there was a pretty good fall perch bite every October on Mille Lacs too. The boats were piled into those south bays by the dozens on a warm sunny October day. I can remember having to cull through about 20 fish to get a decent jumbo keeper and then all of the sudden there wasn’t any more perch.

What would you guys suggest for minnow selection. Obviously fatheads for the perch but for walleye i am thinking creek chubs. If you had your preference for around this time, would you take creek chubs, shiners, suckers, rainbows, redtails?

Even for the perch I’d use something other than fatheads unless you can find a place that has some bigger ones. For the eyes I’d say creek chubs or rainbows would be a good choice. Shiners would also work well but they are speedy.

I’m a little nervous with no wind today or tomorrow so we may start deeper. Thank for all the help guys. I will report when we come back

Walleye Hungry wrote:

I’m a little nervous with no wind today or tomorrow so we may start deeper. Thank for all the help guys. I will report when we come back

Yah a lack of wind will not help. Hopefully at least you will get the cloud cover – For both the hunting and fishing. You are spot on. Without much or any wind I would fish a little deeper. I think both the perch and eyes tend to get a little boat shy in the shallower water with a bright sky and no wind.
Good luck – Hope you have a Great weekend of hunting and fishing !!!

Thank you for all the help!

Walleye Hungry – How did you hunting and fishing weekend go? I heard from a friend who was up their this weekend that the walleye bite was real tough. He said they was a walleye tourney with 65 boats and he said someone told him there was only 13 total walleyes caught – That is hard to believe , but what he was told. Sounds like the Duck hunting results were rather mixed with most reports not sounding real good. I’m headed back up to that area next weekend but not sure if I’m going to fish leech lake or stay on Woman lake where were are staying. Hope the outing went well for you !!!

Anyone got a water temp for leech?

Deuces wrote:

Anyone got a water temp for leech?

Going up in the morning. Will let you know.

Deuces wrote:

Anyone got a water temp for leech?

I believe that I had heard that it just dropped into the upper 50’s in the last few days

56-57 today. Got snowed on for the first time since spring.

walleyewizard wrote:

56-57 today. Got snowed on for the first time since spring.

How was the bite? The cooler water temps should help. Snow ??? Not ready for that crap just yet !!!