Some 2017 Notes- Leech Lake

With the up-and-down weather we have been experiencing here in the northland, the panfish bite might be best described as hit-or-miss. Productive shallow fishing for perch, sunfish and crappies has occurred during periods of warm spring weather, only to have cold nights drive these fish back into the deeper water where there metabolism slows. With the warmer weather that is forecast for the next ten days, there should be ample opportunity to catch some of these feisty favorites ahead of the walleye opener on May 13th.

Speaking of walleyes, the water temps on Leech Lake have been hovering around 40-50 degrees for more than a week now. These temps are coming into the preferred water temps for spawning activity for these fish. Accidental catches of walleyes while perch fishing have shown spawned-out female walleyes, which is pretty much right on schedule. With reproductive activities out of the way, walleyes on opening day will only have one thing on their mind, eating! More on that next week!

Cheers and hook-sets!

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Thanks for the update and looking forward to your ‘words of wisdom’ next week prior to the opener’!

Thanks as always Phil. Looking forward to spending the opener up there!!

Great. I will be up the Thursday after opener so looking forward to it

I will be up on Thursday after the opener too. Good luck!

Look forward to being up there the Wednesday after opener!! Cannot wait and fish on!

It appears that all of the boat landing docks and buoys are in here on Leech Lake, we are ready for opener! Water temps in Walker bay and the main lake are hovering around the 50 degree mark, with afternoon temps up in the “frog water” approaching 60 degrees some evenings. Crappie and bluegill fishing has been dynamite in shallow protected water, and perch fishing is still productive a bit further out.

The focus for most this week will shift from early season panfish, to Stizostedion vitreum, the walleye. We are counting-down to the most anticipated day of the season for walleye anglers, fishing opener 2017!

Be courteous, be safe, and have fun!

Cheers and hook-sets!

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The water is really warming up, surface temps this afternoon were all 55-60 on the bigger water. With sun and calm winds forecast, finding fish that aren’t spooked by the boat traffic could be key. The bait shops and town sure are busy compared to the last eight months.

Again, be courteous, be safe, and have fun!

Cheers and hook-sets!

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It was a successful opener for me and my guest anglers. We worked hard for bites at times, but ended up with limits of very nice keepers, and some slot fish. What an awesome weather day besides!

Cheers and hook-sets!

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Took my Dad and his 2 buddies out during bankers hours 9-4 and it was a gorgeous day! Took a bit to find them, but ended up with about a dozen eyes, a small gator and a 18″ smallie (that was a LL first for me). Big fish was a spawned out 25″er. Long lining jigs on windy shallow rocks was the ticket, who woulda guessed lol.

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Weekend re-cap:

Leech Lake saw a great turn-out for the 2017 walleye opener this past weekend. The fishing sure didn’t disappoint, and neither did the weather. Though most anglers worked for bites, nice keeper sized 15″-20″ walleyes went into livewells, and into frying pans across the region. Of course, picture pretty “slot fish” are always a welcome sight out here as well.

An 1/8 oz jig and minnow was our best producer as predicted, though my guest anglers saw their best action in 10-12 feet of water, a little deeper than most Leech Lake openers. Getting your boat speed just right made a huge difference this past weekend with 0.7 mph being just the right approach for getting the walleyes mouths to open-up.

The lake ecosystem is 1-2 weeks ahead of normal, with water temps in the upper 50’s on most of the open-water areas.
I predict that a host of presentations will come into play besides just the usual jigs and minnows that are the staple during most early season outings. Lindy rigs, slip bobbers, crankbaits and spinner and nightcrawler harnesses can all be potentially hot presentations should the water temps climb into the 60’s over the course of the next few weeks. For now, we will start with jigs and minnows, and go from there.

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I hope the Mayfly hatch is not 1-2 weeks ahead…. Moved our annual week trip to the week of June 11th to get away form them.

Glad you had luck but from what I saw most did not! We were there on Saturday from 5:30am till about 4:00pm did not fish Leech on Sunday. With 4 boats fishing with 12 guys we had a grand total of 11 eyes caught with 5 keepers and the rest to big. We also saw between all of us about 15 total more fish caught by other anglers with everyone being thrown back. Each boat fished at least 4-6 locations during the day and all of our boats had experienced anglers that usually do quite well on the opener and on Leech so not sure what was going wrong but for eyes ……poor opener IMHO

Mixed results from the group was I was suppose to go up with, and all the others I spoke with as well from around the lake.

Recurring theme, little to no keepers, and if they were fish they were overs. One boat I know 56 fish, 2 keepers. Mille lacs part 2?

I have heard many tough reports, but most of the boats we were around were catching some keepers. We caught 30 fish on Saturday with 13 keepers, but many went 18″-20″. On Sunday (Mothers day) I fished less than a half-hour and caught 4 nice keepers (pictured above).

I was in close contact with a group of 25 that caught 125 walleyes with 70+ keepers just for Saturday. While that isn’t lights-out fishing, it’s far from the dead sea.

As far as I could tell, the majority of the boats were on 10 community spots Pine, Stoney, Goose Island area etc which are typically good spots for opener, but every few years this doesn’t work out so well.

There are some areas of the lake right now where most of the fish will average 12″-15″, I would personally rather go for some size. Often though, much of the south shore and pelican island area, we will catch mostly slot fish with few keepers.

nhamm wrote:

Mixed results from the group was I was suppose to go up with, and all the others I spoke with as well from around the lake.

Recurring theme, little to no keepers, and if they were fish they were overs. One boat I know 56 fish, 2 keepers. Mille lacs part 2?

People have been warning it would happen if the slot continued to remain in place. I think they really need to start allowing people to take 1 slot fish or maybe even 2.

I would put our average around 1 keeper to 5 or 6 slot fish where we where fishing, and 90% of the fish in the slot where 22-23in I think we only had 2 fish all weekend that were over 23in.

Why do they use the “1 over 17 inch” slot for Upper Red lake but no other? I mean why couldn’t they use it on Leech (and hopefully sooner than later on ML’s!!!)? What is the difference in the fisheries that they use it on one lake but not the other?

Well, we finally got our opener weather. Water temps have dropped back down into the low 50’s and the fish are acting like it. Jig and minnows in 3-10 f.o.w. on the main lake has been the ticket the past few days, and the fish have been crushing it.

Cheers and hook-sets!

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The weather couldn’t have been more different from yesterday morning to this morning, thankfully the fish bit either way. Water surface temps are climbing out of the cellar today, I saw 51 most places yesterday but we are climbing by the minute. Yesterday we caught half of our fish on lindy rigs with leeches in 7-10 f.o.w. and today it was all jigs and shiners in 9-12 f.o.w. A lot of small pike have been feeding on the schools of shiners with the walleyes, so don’t get discouraged by the hammer handles when you find them.

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I had one mediocre outing, and three productive ones in the past four days. I guess it is fishing after all. Not hiding from the wind and fishing shallow has paid off for me lately. A jig and shiner or rig-and-leech have been splitting the catches. Finding a speed that will trigger strikes is also very important. I typically will only use a drift sock if my boat speed is over 1 mph. Lately .8 – 1 mph has been best for getting fish to open up. 6-10 f.o.w. has been best for me.

Cheers and hook-sets!

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Walleyes

The walleye bite on main lake rock reefs has been very good when the wind blows, or we have some cloud cover. A jig and shiner, jig and leech, or live-bait-rig and leech have all produced fish. Probing the tops of shallow rocks with a slip-bobber and leech has been productive at times as well. Cabbage-weed beds are also holding some fish, this will only get better as the crayfish move into these areas to feed and molt. During mid-day, we have also caught some very nice fish trolling crankbaits on deep breaklines in 20-25 feet of water. We should see some bigger bug hatches this week, and additional tactics such as spinners and night-crawler combos could start to shine.

Muskies

Leech Lake has long been known as a slow starter for muskie fishing. I believe these fish take their time getting to their more predictable summer spots, following meandering schools of baitfish for most of June. Fan-casting or trolling large areas can be productive however, just don’t get discouraged if fish don’t show up where they are “supposed to”. We were fortunate enough to land one nice fish on opener and have some action with a few others.

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Hello Phil,
Any word on the bug hatches this week? Big hatches small hatches?
Thanks,
Glenn

Just a few here-and-there so far, nothing major that I have seen. Water temps are just about there though…maybe this weekend yet?

Hi All,

I’ll be coming up to Leech for the first time this week and staying on the West side. Sounds like lindy/leech combos have been producing but I was curious as to what else I should be trying.

Has the spinner bite started yet? If bug hatches are close this can’t be at behind.

Also, do many people troll this time of year? All the reports I have seen are shallow, could trolling lead deep be productive?

Saw some good weights from the AIM tourney this weekend and would be fun to get some photos with a few big ones!

Sam

Here are my notes for this week. Bear with me ssperch, here is my $.02

As the shiner minnows and perch scatter, fishflies, and mayflies hatch, crayfish molt from their hard shells etc., walleyes really do have a buffet of food options now. Walleyes are definitely doing different things about the lake.

We are catching walleyes on slip-bobber/leech combos in 6-foot-tall cabbage weeds, Jigging Rapalas in sand patches, pitching light jigs and shiner minnows in shallow pencil reeds, and trolling crankbaits on leadcore line in 25 feet of water.

Most days, you have to let the fish tell you what they want. Often it does pay to “match-the-hatch”, on other outings we present a lure or bait that stands out from the multitude of protein options that we are competing against. Whatever the approach, it’s a beautiful lake full of beautiful fish, and figuring out how to trick them sure is a lot of fun.

Cheers and hook-sets!

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ssperch wrote:

Hi All,

I’ll be coming up to Leech for the first time this week and staying on the West side. Sounds like lindy/leech combos have been producing but I was curious as to what else I should be trying.

Has the spinner bite started yet? If bug hatches are close this can’t be at behind.

Also, do many people troll this time of year? All the reports I have seen are shallow, could trolling lead deep be productive?

Saw some good weights from the AIM tourney this weekend and would be fun to get some photos with a few big ones!

Sam

It seems like you are on the right track with your research. Honestly, it has been a different bite every 2-3 days from my experience. Throw a bunch of darts at the board and see what sticks some days. Good luck out there!

Not every day has been gang-busters, but the Leech Lake walleye bite remains very good overall. The recent mayfly hatches have made walleyes in some areas quite selective in what they will eat. Small leeches or a half of night crawler has been best either on a light jig (in shallow water), or on a lindy rig (a bit deeper). I have heard some great reports of people pulling spinner-and-crawler combos, but I haven’t put the time in with these personally. Trolling crankbaits in 20-25 f.o.w. has been good for bigger fish in my boat as well.

Typical for summer, spots that have names on them have been pounded, and don’t always kick out fish the way visitors hope they will. Reeds, cabbage weeds, sand patches and boring looking flats and shorelines can all hold fish, you just have to give ’em a whirl. 5-15 f.o.w. has been best overall for numbers.

Cheers and hook-sets!

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July 3 notes- Leech Lake

Walleyes

Waters are warming back up and walleyes are being caught on typical summer patterns. Cabbage weeds, sand, and rocks have been best the past week, with jigs and leeches still being my top producer. Trolling deep-diving crankbaits in 15-25 feet of water has been productive as well. Typical for summer, early morning and evening fishing is your best-bet on sunny and calm days. Clouds or wind can keep walleyes biting all-day-long however.

Muskies

The muskie casting bite has yet to really take off, but any day now fish should show up on predictable summer locals. We have caught a few fish trolling in large basin areas, these fish are still relating to open-water whitefish and tullibees that can roam fairly shallow until the water warms. Once the surface water warms into the 70’s, tullibees will go deeper, and many muskies will migrate toward summer ambush spots where they key on forage that relates more to structure.

Bass and Panfish

July is a great time to take a break from walleye fishing during mid-day, and focus on the excellent bass and panfish opportunities that Leech Lake has to offer. Largemouth bass are found in very shallow wild rice, reeds, and lilly pads, and can be easily taken on top-water frogs and swim-jig combos. Smallmouth bass are found near rocky shorelines and points, and will take a variety of jigs or crankbait combos. Crappies and bluegills can be found now in weedy areas adjacent to classic spawning areas.

Cheers and hook-sets!

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Thanks for the update!
I was wondering if the recent warm weather has changed the depth guys are catching walleye in? I am heading up to Stony Point campground this afternoon and would like to narrow down the water I have to cover.

Thanks!