Well, been plenty busy with the trials and tribulations of life lately. Lost my job 3 weeks ago, my house is sold on the 1st of November, my wife is living with her parents… But that doesn’t mean I haven’t been out fishing and hunting!!! In the last month, I have been on Leech/Plantangenet and Forest Musky chasin’, in SW Minnesota swatting Ringnecks, on the Miss north of Coon Rapids, and out on Chisago pounding the shallows for Bucketmouths.
For once I have no pictures, so I will try to keep this stuff short.
To start the month MUSKIES and I had a great trip up to the Leech Lake area. We fished on Friday the 8th with legendary guide and MN Fishing Hall of Fame inductee Al Maas. The weather, as usual, was borderline unbearable. I can honestly say that there isn’t a lake rougher than Leech when there’s a NW wind over 30 mph, the rollers just seem to come from every direction and are so irregular it just pounds the life out of you. We fished primarily in Walker Bay; near Cedar Pt., Walker Narrows, and Kabekona Bay. Al set us up on some of his best fall spots, but the fish, like the weather were not cooperating as well as we had hoped. Totals for the 8 hour outing, 5 follows – no fish boated. As a fellow who fancies himself a guide as well, it was good to see that even in the company of a fisherman of such repute, that my techniques and strategies were really no different in the final analysis. What it really comes down to is SPOTS!!!!! One more thing, everyone needs to keep there eye on Salmo this year, they are coming out with some new baits, that I happened to get a chance to try out, VERY NICE!!! Saturday we fished Plantan and had some great action. Fish were shallow, adjacent to deeper water and on the reed edges. Baits of the day were hands down Phantoms and Vipers, natural color patterns. We raised two fish in the 50″ range, one of them twice. Boated a 38″, and had 5 other skis chasing. If you are thinking of a late season Ski trip definately keep Plantan at the top of your list. Fished Leech again on Sunday morning, it sucked, we threw baits six hours, only to have a fish follow in 60 feet of water in Kabekona reeling up a Perch colored Ernie at the end of a trolling run. I had no clue until the fish emerged from underneath the boat hot on the tail of the rising bait. Shucks!
Around town, it has been total hit and miss. The river north of the Coon Rapids Dam is running really high with all the rain this fall, and the leaves and debris make many techniques difficult to do. The 50 fish days of last fall have yet to reappear this year. I have found Smallies concentrated in 8′-13′, relating both to the break and rock fingers extending out into the channel. It’s a numbers game, troll until you find fish (Glass Shad Raps, Tail Dancers), then come back and pick them off the spot (Tubes, Senkos). Forest is starting to show some Skis, 4′-8′ of water has been the best, but you need the weeds. The lake seems to be all the way turned over so clarity is no longer an issue. MUSKIES was out solo today and saw 5 fish. Had one on boatside, mid 40’s, shook the hooks. And lost one other one after a power run. We’re shifting gears to bigger baits, like Phantoms and Vipers, unfortunately with the bigger baits, good hook-ups are harder to come by.
Finally, I was out on Chisago on Friday. The rain and cold were bearable and the fish were really stacked up. My best baits were tandem willow (nickle) white spinnerbaits, Mann’s 1- in silver and firetiger, and Chompers tubes in salt and pepper. I caught 17 bass in 5 hours, and snapped of a Pike next to the boat that was well over 10 lbs. All of my fish came in 5′ or shallower. The back bays that were great last fall are almost void of active fish. 11 of my 17 came off of one stretch of shore not more than 50 yards long. I made three passes on it, first with the spinnerbait, then with the crank, and finally with the tube. Each pass was good for 3 or 4 fish. Even the big Pike hit in 2′ of water. Size wasn’t amazing, but almost all the fish were between 17″ and 18″. This lake gets better the closer we get to ice, so any of you metro bass nuts that haven’t put the boat away for the winter. Get out there, it will certainly be worth your while.
If anybody wants to go fishing give me a call, I just be sitting waiting for the phone to ring…
Dan Larson
In-Depth Angling Field Staff
Hawg Hunters Guide Service
612-247-9398
I HEAR THE PHONE SO I RUN!!!!!!!
FISHING WITH AL MAAS WAS A GREAT FALL SURPRISE. IF ANYONE IS INTERESTED IN LEARNING LEECH THIS IS THE MAN TO TALK TO, HE HAS A LOT OF KNOWLEDGE OF THIS LAKE AND IS VERY HELPFUL AND WILLING TO SHARE HIS SECRETS AND HOT SPOTS. FISHING WITH NEW SALMO LURES THAT ARE NOT OUT ON THE MARKET WAS A TREAT TOO.