Contact me with your size and color requirements. I can help you out with bulk jigs.

Perch fishing is continuing to be strong on Winnie and the travel conditions are somewhat better down here. One friend told me that you need to keep the truck moving to avoid settling in to soft spots in the snow, but travel by truck is still possible over most of the lake. There are going to be folks catching Perch on the deeper humps in the main lake right up until ice out, but anglers looking for more action, are finding better numbers in shallower water. Fishing along the edge of the main drop off from 20 to 30 feet until you locate a school of fish, then moving up on to the flats is the ticket to finding these larger schools of fish.

Crappie fishing on the smaller lakes is also a good bet right now. Even though the Red Lake reports are coming in as “spotty” fishing, many of the smaller area lakes are going strong and except for a few of the really publicized spots, the crowds are minimal. Crappie locations have shifted to some of the shallower spots too and if you aren’t seeing them on your electronics, it’s advisable to check out the drop off areas in shallow water before switching lakes. It’s a good idea to bring some wax worms along and bait up with them often enough to check for Bluegills that may be mixed in with the Crappies.

We are heading up there tomorrow and it sounds like we are going to have a lot of slush. Apparently they got a lot of snow up there last week and it made a mess of things. The plowed roads are reported to be good, but travel off the road not advised. A friend was up there last week and reported that guys were getting stuck everywhere.
We have a house rented for the weekend and are expecting to stay put most of the time.

BirdEye,
I have talked to some folks who have seen an increase in Walleye abundance all the way out of Red Lake and into the river at Thief River Falls. They say that there are even Crappies in that stretch that they believe have migrated out of Red Lake. With the shallow structure and wide open flats that connect the two lake halves, it’s probably a pretty safe bet that the Walleyes are covering ground in both directions.

I remember discussing Pokegama, but I’m not sure if it’s actually on the list. One of the keys to making the choice is whether or not the lake has good reproduction naturally. If a lake’s Walleye fishery is maintained primarily by stocking and there is little or no natural spawning, a slot limit doesn’t really do anything except slow the harvest rate, we need to contact the Grand Rapids area fisheries manager and ask if Pokegama has plenty of natural reproduction or is primarily maintained by stocking.

An update to my last report on Winnie, travel conditions are pretty favorable right now and the Perch fishing has perked back up a bit. Fish in the 26 to 30 foot range and watch for signs of bait fish. There are still lot’s of Perch running the open water and chasing young of the year Perch minnows. The Walleye fishing that had been better than average has slowed and now we are seeing lots of fish, but not getting them to bite real well. I think there are some early signs of Walleyes moving back toward the shallows and it wouldn’t suprise me to see Walleyes back in that 8 to 12 foot range in the next week or so. Unfortunately, by the time that shallow bite really gets going, our season will close. But the Perch action will more than make up for it.

On Friday 2-13-04 someone with a nice tractor did folks a favor and opened up the landing at the Birches again. They ran a nice road out west a mile or so from the landing. Now even though there is about a foot of snow on the lake, it has settled down and for the most part we are able to drive with a 4 X 4 truck anywhere on the lake. Last night we came in from the Zoomers area without using any roads.
I cetainly believe that folks should be free to use the public access if it is available and my hat is off to whoever opened up the landing.
On the flip side, there is also a certain comfort that comes with using a well maintained, paid access road. I personally like the idea that help is near by if I get in trouble and if that costs a few bucks, it’s a pretty good trade off.

Pfluggy,
Your concern is obvious, but please whatever you do, don’t sit by and wait for the DNR to fix this. Your voice is more powerful than you think. Call the DNR fisheries office in Walker and tell them that you’re concerned. You don’t need to have the answers, but they need to know what your thoughts are. Most of the time the DNR gets little or no input from the public. Unless we tell them otherwise, they can easily get the impression that we don’t care.
Stand up and be counted

In addition to the orignal post, a friend of mine reported that they had great action going out 13.5 miles from Wheelers point. That’s a good 3 miles past where we fished and it sounded like the traffic was light and the action was good further out.

I hear you’ve been on a heck of a bite out there. I wish I could get free to make it out with you. Do you think it will hold up for a while?

James,
The direct answer to your question is that we are now working extremely hard to gather a few fish on Leech Lake. When we do catch them, they are often fish that should really be released (19 to 23 inches), but folks are having such a hard time getting them that they are willing to keep fish that they would otherwise release. The information about Leech Lake seems to point in the direction of a simple lack of fish. When other lakes had a banner spawning season, Leech showed no sign of a good year class.
The reference to the fisheries report, was to point out that (in my opinion) the fisheries folks in Walker are still not focused on solving the current problem. The report was generated in 2002 and describes an increase in pressure that really occured in 2000 and 2001 when there was something of an “angler revolt” over the slot limit on Winnibigoshish. Many folks who didn’t like the slot limit headed over to Leech where the fish were their own worst enemy. The bite was so good that the pressure stayed high for most of the summer. Now that pressure is gone because there are vastly fewer fish being caught. This is not a “perception of a declining fishery”, it is evidence of a real decline and at this point, it doesn’t matter how it happened, it only matters how we solve the problem.

Here’s a couple of quotes from message that I received from one of my customers who has stayed on Leech Lake for years;

Quote:

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We took Monday off after that wonderful long day with you on Sunday. Tuesday we spent all day bouncing around for a dozen ( 3-4nice ) perch and a bonus 20″ Walleye………. I was able to get one of your maps at Sugar Point but wasn’t able to put in any waypoints or get any more help. Leech is dead. Won’t be back in my lifetime. We’re trying to decide on where next year. Will talk more then.——jerry and norma

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Now some folks might like the idea that these two aren’t coming back, but there are plenty of us up here who are depending on tourism and I for one, want the conditions to be as favorable as possible for returning visitors. Every time any of us leave the house and fish on a lake, we become tourists.

Being closely involved with the excellent team at the DNR Grand Rapids Regional Headquaters, has given me some insight into the process. I think that the Leech Lake folks are in need of some good solid input from folks who fish the lake and approach them with a sincere desire to help. After a while, they will develop a sense of trust and progress can be made. These stakeholder groups can be a valuable tool for providing current information about the fishery. But, once the DNR sets a course, we have to be willing to follow it. If that means slot limits or some other form of harvest restrictions, we need to have an open mind and try to help stabilize these great Walleye fisheries. Otherwise, we are heading for a cycle of “Boom and Bust Fishing” where everyone finds the hot bite, fishes it to death and then starts looking for the next one.

Travis, an interesting note on the relationship between the Crappies and Walleyes. When the Walleye fishery crashed and the Crappies came on so strong, most of us anglers drew the conclusion that the lack of Walleyes opened the door for the Crappies and if left alone the Crappies would go on reproducing for ever.
I had an interesting conversation with the regional fisheries manager who says that the Crappies can only reproduce like that under a very special set of ideal weather circumstances and that most years, the weather (wind, temperatures, lack of food) would prevent the Crappies from reproducing. In other words, they feel like it’s a no brainer to concentrate on the Walleye fishery, because the Crappies may not be the ongoing king of the lake.
In any case, the Walleye fishery is coming back and there’s a good chance the lake will be more carefully managed. The really big story to me, is how fast a seemingly dead fishery can be brought back to life. Makes me think of some other lakes that could use a similar boost. Use your imagination to fill in the blanks.

I like the light line too, but some of my customers have poor results getting that fish out of the hole without breaking the line. I substitue 4 lb test, then use green and red magic markers to put stripes on the spool. The camo effect makes it a little harder to see that line in the clear winter water.

This is one of those posts that will result in more questions than answers, but it’s important information.
I’ve been following the fishery issues on Leech Lake for a long time. This is one of my favorite lakes and in spite of the terrific fishing that Winnie offers, my best personal performances over the past 20 years have all been on Leech Lake.
2001 was a huge Walleye spawning success in most of the area’s natural Walleye Lakes. In spite of this fantastic spawning season, Leech Lake does not have a strong 2001 year class. For most of us who fish the lake, it’s beginning to look like the fish aren’t even there to bring about a good spawning run. The DNR has not, does not and will not stock fish into the lake because they want to maintain the “genetic purety” of the “Leech Lake Strain”. So it’s going to be up to the fish to make this recovery on their own.
At a DNR Meeting yesterday (1-30-04) we were told that the main reason the slot limit didn’t go into effect was due to pressure by the resort community.
At the same time, there are a growing number of folks over there who are convinced that the Cormorants are the culprit and there are some studies out there that confirm these birds will eat anything they can get. But, they aren’t very selective and nothing in their diet ever makes up more than about 10% of their total consumption.
For anyone who hasn’t read the official DNR 2002 report on Leech, you owe it to yourself to read it. It’s pretty long to post here, but here’s a little bit of it. ” Summer angling pressure on Leech Lake has increased approximately 47% since the mid 1960’s. This trend of increasing angling pressure has been occurring statewide. Although angling pressure has been increasing through time, total harvest has remained relatively stable. Consequently, today’s angler’s fishing success is somewhat less than that of the past creating a perception of a declining sport fishery.”
It sounds like they’re blaming fishing pressure.
Reading this report together with Firestines comments after the slot limit was tabled, convinces me that the DNR is unsure of what needs to be done over there. But there’s no doubt that if fishing pressure is too great, predators are contributing to the decline and we won’t accept protective restrictions, the problem cav only get worse.
Most of us who fish Winnie a lot will agree that the slot limit has helped on that lake. So did it help on Rainy Lake and for Red Lake, protecting the fish, together with stocking has done wonders to bring back the fishery. In light of this evidence, how could a slot limit on Leech Lake possibly hurt?
We as anglers need to do whatever we can to provide input during this process. I’m hoping to do a lot more along these lines and I’ll happily provide more information for anyone who asks.

Depends on which “pit” you are asking about. The Tioga Pit is where they stoked the adult trout. These fish are brood stock from the DNR rearing ponds that get to old for good reproduction. They put them in the pits to let folks utilize them before they die. That pit was the target of a large group of anglers on opening weekend. When they got there, they found open water in the middle of the lake and only 6-8 iches of ice on the rest of the lake. There wasn’t mutch action right away, probably because of the heavy traffic. Last week some of these fish were caught. There are also some Lakers coming in from Caribou and from the other popular “pit” some folks call Canisteo and some refer to as Buckeye, Northeast of Grand Rapids. The average fishing day is about 5 or 6 hours of jigging for a couple of bites and maybe a keeper Trout. Last time I was up there, we caught two small ones and spotted a couple of others on the Vexilars. A friend caught a 25 incher up there last Thursday fishing in about 25 feet of water.
If you’ve got the trout bug and can’t get to Canada, it’s a nice way to spend a day.

Whenever the perch get fussy and the action stops, I like to use a really soft (noodle soft) tippped rod without any swivels, boobers or extra sinkers. Tie direct to a 1/16oz perch eye imitation and tail hook a smaller than average minnow. Lay the rod on a satnd or even a bucket, sit back and watch the rod tip. The Perch will hold on to that small bait for plenty of time to pick up the rod, put a gentle load on the tip and set the hook.