2020 Leech Lake Fishing Reports - Hackensack, Longville, Walker MN Also

[fisherdog19]

Just got back from my annual week on Leech and although the walleye bite was slow in our area, the slabs were on fire. Caught well over 100 crappies in about 20 hours worth of fishing over the week. The last evening we were there we loaded up three boats full of kids and set up with slip bobbers for a crappie throw down. We had 4 kids in our boat rotating 3 bobber rods and boated around 45 fish, the other two boats got about 15 between them. The kids sure had a blast and so did the dads watching thier kids reel in all those slabs. I would say I personally got about 10 over the 1.5lb mark and 3 of those at 1.75lbs or better. Slip bobbers with hair jigs and minnows tossed in the weed pockets at 12.5 fow got the most fish but I got plenty on a 1/32 collarless jig head and a 2.5" gulp minnow and even got some on just the hair jigs. Until the fall slaughter or next July, the crappies will have some time to heal their lips

[BMS]

Hi everyone new to the forum lots of great info. Fisherdog19 or anyone wiling I am taking the wife and kids to leech next week would love to get into some slabs but never fished leech before is there any good starting places? We will be staying at Oak Point. Thanks.e-mail is [email protected]

[PALEALEB]

Fisherdog, glad you had a great success with the slabs. I and 3 other families will be making the trek to Leech on Sat. We would love to put our kids onto the same fish as you did. Can you elaborate a bit more of where you were at? We are at Huddles Resort. We don't have a very large boat for the big water.

Thanks!

[fisherdog19]

Unfortunately I have no idea where Huddles Resort or Oak Point are so I have no insight to the surrounding areas. I can't say exactly where I was as it was not a big area and it has taken me 3 years to really pinpoint them. I will tell you that I found them in about 12 fow right in heavy weeds. I don't know exactly what type of weeds they were (possibly a type of narrow leaf pond weed) but they grew tall like cabbage to within 3 feet of the surface and looked like it except they had grassy type arms on them instead of leaves like cabbage. The crappies were right in the thick of it with the best presentation being a slip bobber set down about 6.5' with a jig and fathead. There are LARGE slabs in Leech and they are fun to catch so look for a good stretch of dense weeds and you may run into some slabs; it helps to have a calm day to find the weeds like I did the first day I was there.

[rocstar]

OK boys. From what I have heard and seen, the walleye fishing on Leech has been pretty tough the last few weeks. I don't know the lake well and a week ago I fished out of Stony Point. Stony, Monkey, Pine. Warm,fairly calm with light NW breeze and not many boats around. No size though. Fished spinners with 3 to 4' snells and crawlers only.I have never caught more perch walleye fishing anywhere. Gave half the bait box away to them.

Did manage to pick up three slotters in 18' to 20' of water when the wind picked up a little one day. All within 50 feet of each other. Also marked a fair amount of bait fish at that depth. Had a tough time marking fish however. Are they deeper and catchable or is this just the dog days of summer? Hard to imagine they are in shallower with this heat and sun.

I have seen mention of 4' to 6' snells. With non-aggressive fish is that the idea with the longer snell or is that more the standard for the lake year round? How about a bare hook? Maybe these buggers just aren't into any glitz and glammor right now.

Did not fish early mornings or late day. Did not try trolling plugs although this might be more productive. Great weather for boating but not so much for catching. Guess you cant have everything.

Lets get a little chatter going here on what you are doing!

[Joe]

well, I went out this morning took a couple people with. we used spinners and bottom bouncer, caught alot of perch to but landed three keeper walleyes,15"to 17.5" when we found the walleye, I stuck to that spot. we would have caught more but we had to leave early. these fish came in 11 feet of water. we did start at eight this morning,and it was dead calm,and high blue sky.now as far as the lindy rigs,I've had fairly good luck with a six foot snell and a red,plain,chartrusse hooks.no beads. and try inflating the crawlers.the perch love these presentations but i try to just pull it away from them,this dosn't work all the time but it helps.I have always had good luck with crankbaits in the evenings,last couple hours of the day till about midnight. fishing has been a little slower, but you should still be able to get some walleyes.you have to plan on bringing plenty of crawlers.

gonna go out tonight for a few hours and try getting some more eye's.

[rocstar]

Come on you guys out there! You got to have more than this. If you can't catch em, at least you can have some fun talking about trying!

[Joe]

I took a few guys out this morning. It was hot and no wind, what a hard day fishing walleyes but we caught them!! We were in 12 FOW using spinners and worms of course. We caught most of our fish on the goose flats. 7 keepers 3 too big to keep and a few smallere walleyes, not bad considering the weather. Also caught about 30 perch.

[Joe]

Just got done fishing with leechguy tonight and had a blast fishing. We only fished for about 2 hours. We caught 15 walleyes 8 keepers a few small ones and a 20 inch eye. we fished the north end of walker bay in about 10 FOW using spinners and a worm. When we caught one we caught at least 2 more before moving out of them. Look for weed edges and focus on that.

[rocstar]

Fished 1/2 mile east off of Stony Point on Tuesday in the NW wind. Found them on the break from 20 feet to 27 feet. Small area though. Picked up 9 slotters 23" to 28" and lost two others. Great fishing! The three people with me had never experienced fishing like that before and will be talking about it for a long time.

Big flock of pelicans around us just chowing down on surfacing fish. Went back to the same spot on Wednesday with simlilar wind conditions but the fish were gone. So were the pelicans who moved another 1/4 mile east. What are they eating on the surface? Whitefish? Went out to visit them and marked lots of bait clouds below them. Are these whitefish too. Did not catch anything today.

[lindy rig]

The pelicans have been out in that area for most of the summer. Must be some good eatin

[rocstar]

Yes. They were just gorging themselves on surfacing fish that were maybe 6 to 10 inch long. I'm not sure what type of fish they were but there were hundreds. The pelecans would just swim around and wait for one to come up next to them. I was surprised they don't dive at all.

I don't know what brings the fish to the surface but must be some type of bug. I was out there when it was calm too but could not see anything in the water. Beneith them near the bottom were large clouds of baitfish or maybe they are actually the same fish that were surfacing. Any clue?

[John Mickish]

Just got back from a 1 day trip. Fished Agency and Walker bays. Fished mostly spinners and slow death rigs. Picked up a few in each location. Lots of perch and rock bass in the cabbage. Pulled some spinners on lead core in deeper water and caught some nice pike. In the late afternoon fished some mid depth flats in Walker with lindy's and leech's, that seemed to be the ticket as I picked up 3 in about 45 minutes, than had to leave.

[Burbot]

I have been noticing a large number of 3" Perch near the surface, small body of water.

[fridron]

Just curious as I haven't given it much of a try, what speed do you run when using slow death rigs?

[John Mickish]

I usually run mine at the same speed as a spinner rig, .75-1.5MPH. Don't be afraid to speed up or slow down to get the fish to hit.

[alum]

Gonna be up on Leech on the 19th and 20th, sounds like worms and spinners on the weedlines are good, any certain color, where would my best chance be, any suggetions?

[Joe]

went out today was pretty slow, we caught seven walleyes, of which we kept four. we got some nicer perch and one northern. we had on walleye that was 21″ . we used bottom bouncers and spinners, crawlers and leeches.

Alum, i talked with a bait shop owner and the supply on leeches is coming to an end soon. with the cooler weather we have coming i think you will be looking at shinners soon. Look for the wind blowen points.

[T.O.W]

So I'm finally here. Long awaited Leech Lake. I'm over in Horseshoe bay. It's been REALLY windy. Hard to find anyplace to go. Anything happening on this side of the lake or does anyone suggest trying to get to the other side. My first time here and cannot find a good weedline to work to save me. Any ideas? Not seeing alot of fish on the locator either. I'm on the hook for two meals of fish this week

[lindy rig]

TOW - On that part of the lake you are not looking for weedlines in my opinion. Grab a map and head east from Horseshoe Bay. Try some of the rockpiles out around Pelican Island. I would try trolling crankbaits first to cover some ground, then switch to crawlers/spinners when you locate them.

That is big water on that part of the lake, so if it stays windy I wouldn't hesitate to trailer up and launch from a different area. Not sure how big of boat you have....

[fishit]

Hey TOW- I'll be getting to horseshoe on thursday afternoon with the family. I haven't hit leech this time of year before but gonna give it heck. I got a black 175 alumacraft, stop and say hi. I plan on pulling spinners...that's all I got for now.

[T.O.W]

I'll do that if I see you. Hopefully I will have something to report by then. Not looking too good so far. Nice boat. I'm in a black and silver Alumacraft 165. Look for the big Wiemer hanging over the edge. I've taken the above suggestions and thus far unsuccessful, thanks Lindy, I'll keep at it.

[Chode2235]

Going to be heading up to Federal Dam, and going out of Portage Bay next weekend. I have never fished Leech before.

What types of fish live in this end of the lake, and how should I be fishing for them. Thanks guys.

[ndfisherman]

I am at leech lake on steamboat bay with my family until saturday. We have had a little luck right to the east of the island along the shore in 8 feet of water using spinners, but it has been slow. We could really use some suggestions of what to use, where to go (reasonable distance from steamboat bay), etc... We would are primarily looking for northern, perch, crappie and walleye. So far we have managed to catch a few keeper walleye and a couple of perch. My family and I would greatly appreciate any advice. Thanks

[Willy]

ND,

Run down to Sand point in the evening and troll your arse off around there then over to Cedar and up towards the narrows and you should find something. #5 shads. 7-10ft. Some wind would help. During the day, I would boogy down to Walker bay and blade or rig the humps.

TOW, I would run up to Ottertail, start there and troll north over the ducks and into sucker bay. There is good cabbage there. You should get a mix of perch and eyes.

Either way I would troll, troll, troll until you find something, then dial them in.

[RookieEye]

Yet another year of fall bite on Leech this year! We are coming up week of Sept 18-25th with intentions on our night-time trolling ritual! Last year was a disaster as the weather was quite nasty the entire week! (well...most of it!) This year we have the moon phase with us and we are hoping for better weather! We are a different breed in that our main focus is on night time trolling. We seem to have the best action right at dusk all the way til midnight for the biggest eyes. I hate to give my secrect lure advise away, but I have to admit that the Yo-Zuri line of cranks are quite possibly the best lures on the planet for trolling at night. The crystal minow is perhaps the deadliest lure we use in our arsenal. We look forward to some great fishing this year and I want that MONSTER that flipped out of our net from last year......I know where you live!!! I hope everyone has a great fall on Leech and good luck to everyone! I honestly start daydreaming of our next week the day I leave Leech!!! "THE EYES HAVE IT"!!!!

[thatoneguy]

ndfisherman - I live just up the road from Anderson's Cove resort. Walleye fishing has been pretty slow on this side of the lake. I've talked to a couple people who did OK pulling spinner rigs with nightcrawlers around Big & Little Hardwood points recently - that's not too far of a drive.

I haven't found any crappies lately, but you can catch all the perch you want right in the bay. Just toss little white or green jigs tipped with a chunk of crawler in the bulrushes or along the edge of rice beds in 4-7 FOW.

If you want to catch northerns, just find the river channel east of Minnesota Island (you'll see where it drops from 4-5 FOW down to 8-10 FOW just a little ways east of the big rice bed there) and troll Daredevles or Jawbreakers or spinners. Pike have been really active the last couple weeks. Not a ton of size, but lots of action and good eaters.

The evening crank bite around Sand Point has been DEAD, from my experience and those I've talked to. It's worth a try, but it's definitely not a hot bite. I've done much better for walleyes pulling rigs around Oak Point, Hardwoods, and Goose Island Flats the last few weeks.

Good luck!

[fishgutz77]

We are up for nine days after you guys and this will be our 11th year at the same resort on Kabekona bay.

When it comes to night fishing we don't bring anything but #5 glass raps. most nights it's always 12-20 fish in about 3 hrs and lots of eaters.

8- 12 fow and 1.7 - 1.9 mph will do it every time.

PS minimum of 75 ft back. Always use dark baits.

[eyehead]

Any recent reports?? We are heading up this weekend for my bro's bachelor party....Hope to get the guys on some fish. Thanks for any help as I've never fished Leech before.

[ryrywilke]

Spent last week on Leech, got home this past Sunday. Stayed on the south side of the lake at Spirit of the North----Anderson Resort. Fishing was slow for the first couple of days and nights, but wasnt long until we found the 'eyes. We headed over to Pipe Island around 8pm and fished every night after we found them until around 11pm, trolling #7 and #5 chartruese and white rapalas and wally divers from the west side of pipe about half way down to north of the white buoy about 200 yards or so running anywhere from 1.7 mph to 2.5 mph depending upon the wind, letting out anywhere from 75-100 feet of line and depths from 6.5-11 f.o.w. But it was during the new moon phase so I'm guessing that had quite of bit to do with it. We caught quite a few of nice walleys probably around 30 or so with two boats and keeping only 9. The majority of the ones thrown back we between 20 and 26 inches with another thrown back that was 27 1/2. So all in all after chasing them for three days our last 3 nights of fishing we pretty darn good. I would also like to thank the resort for hosting our big family and "putting up" with us for a whole week. Tim and Sue were great hosts and are very much looking forward to coming back again next year. Also was told of a decent lake to catch sunfish if the eyes dont bite which is very close to the resort we stayed at but kind of a bugger to get to if you dont mind using a logging road to get there. Also if you have a good depth finder with gps with lake master chip be sure to check out the other 2 flats that are to the west and south a little and the 3 flats that are little to the north and west of pipe island and troll around and through them. We picked about 1/4 of the eyes in that area also