Just got back from a few days up at Leech. As is the case my group stayed at Anderson’s Northland Lodge for the 26th year (my 13th) Had 15 guys up there and it was a great time.
9-28 Thursday morning went out and the lake was calm. FIL and I ran to the very north end of the lake to chase some perch I had heard about for a few years from a guy who happened to be staying at the same resort. Took awhile but we did find some decent perch. We tend to not keep them unless they are 9+” and we caught a ton of 8″ fish. Found 4 fish above 10″ and a couple northerns. Went trolling that night on the Grand Vu flats and for the first time in 13 years I struck out. All was not lost on the group though as a member got a 29.75″ 10# eye and a 7# eye off of one rock on the main lake shoreline. Wind at this point was out of the NNE so it seemed. Both fish were released
9-29 Friday I headed west and the wind was blowing on stoney and pine points. Tried stoney, little stoney, and pine to no avail. Needed perch for tacos on Saturday night so went to chase them. Didn’t find anything worth bringing home. Tried to find some eyes deeper and did mark a lot of fish at 15-20′ but could not get any to bite. Did find some small eyes (less than 12″s) and they were all released. At sunset/night I trolled mokey reef. Did manage a nice 18.5″ eye and a rock bass so large I thought it was a mille lacs smallmouth. One other boat on the reef and saw them boat 1 fish. So again was kind of slow. Lake was glass when I started and the famous leech lake night wind came in and woke the lake up some. Drove home in 1’s and 2’s
9-30 Saturday. Winds were out of the SE and the lake was getting big on the west side. Had a leech lake virgin with me and my friend. Tried goose flats to no avail. Decided to try little hardwood before heading to big hardwood. Well we never made it to big hardwood. There were about 5-6 boats drifting/achored off the shore line near little hardwood. I found a way to control the boat the allowed us to drift but also fish pretty vertical. First fish came pitching a jig towards shore. That started the day. We must have done 8-10 drifts down this shore. Each taking about 25-30 minutes. Every single one resulted in fish being caught. Worst drift we had was a 2 fish drift. Had one as good as a 5 fish drift. Had an amazing time bouncing around catching walleyes near docks in 3-5′ of water. Not to brag but it sure seemed like our net was getting more work than any other net there. Couple of boats slid in closer to try and copy what we did and had success. When the wind is blowing don’t be afraid to get shallow.
The new guy on the trip had the ultimate leech experience in 1 trip. Catching walleyes while fishing in a big walleye chop and then enjoyed a 1 hour 9mph boat ride home.
Sunday 10-1. It was raining and blowing so we did not go out.
Water temps ranged from 58.3 to 63.1, When we left most areas were 60ish. Will be back up thursday and hoping the temps drop another couple of degrees.
