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

[mnwild]

I will be up there on opener and we already have a clue where we will fish. I was just up there this weekend and I caught some really nice sunnies(26) & crappies(9) in the shallows.

[Riverratpete]

Gotta get me one of them walleye blinds, great idea, never thought of it but willing to try

[John Mickish]

So when using the dough balls do you troll them over 12' with downriggers or pitch them to deeper water? Have you found much of a difference between the home made bread dough or store bought frozen bread dough?

[madtown04]

mnfishinguy,

I like to troll the dough balls over 12.8 feet of water with downriggers. One tip for dough balls is not to use a conventional weight for the downrigger. I prefer to use a 13 oz window counterweight for my weight. I think the stirring of the mud get them going.

I've personally found that the home made bread dough is far superior to the store bought stuff. I like to add a little extra yeast to the home made stuff. It really brings the walleyes in. I also like to add a few extra raisins to my bread dough. It adds a lot of extra nutrition for the hungry fish and they just gobble it up.

Also, instead of making the dough a ball, make it more elongated, so it's shaped like a fish. For a hook, I like a number 5 trebble with two of the hooks broken off.

Let me know how this method works on opening day.

[Riverratpete]

good stuff good stuff

[Gofishleech]

cant beieve I clicked on the thread again,,,,,,,,,,,,not again!!!

[Muskie456]

Do you guys know if Reeds or Shrivers sells dough balls? I really want to make sure that I get the correct kind. Is there a curtain color I should be looking for? I was thinking chartruse or even black. Also have any of you tipped the daredevil with the dough balls while bobber fishing. Any information will be greatly appreciated.

Oh, one more thing I was thinking about trying the grocery store pond at first light on opener to see if I could bang out a quick limit do you think the dough balls will work in there as well?

Thanks

[fishgutz77]

Just a word of warning: do NOT bring dough balls to the small pond at the store you may not make it back to the lot.

And always remember to put some dough balls in a garment bag as a make shift chum slick while trolling if you don;t have a 13 oz shash weight.

[John Mickish]

Has anyone experimented with whole wheat dough balls yet? Thinking of giving that a try.

I personally think I am going to go for the suspended fish in Walker bay trolling at 5.0 MPH with the boards out.

[MontanaMax]

You don't need to troll. After "Mars Attacks" came out, we found walleye are mesmerized by Slim Whitman's singing. Just drop the kids' shower boom box about 6 feet, and the walleyes come in droves. They attack the doughballs like they are mini Martians, and no slip bobbers are needed.

[SpitnArgueDuckClub*]

This has got to be the dumbest thread on this site.........pitiful, just pitiful

[Barry45]

Dough balls? and Crappies? Good lord. I agree Calvin. Glad I will be up on the big V for opener. Don't get me wrong I love the Leech too and will make it there this year, but Vermillion is where I will hang my hat one day.

[tweedlap]

Just a reminder that doughballs used on Leech can't be transported to

another lake. Please take care of our lakes.

tweed

[gigidy]

i think you guys have dough inside of your head

[pikestabber]

Just a reminder that doughballs used on Leech can't be transported to

another lake. Please take care of our lakes.

REGS UPDATE: As long as you thoroughly scrape off any whole grains that are attached to the dough balls, you can transport them for use on other bodies of water.

...You guys are too much, I have been laughing the whole (wheat) time I read this!

[fishgutz77]

Just more proof that it has been to long between stable ice and the opener.

[ROOOOSTERFISH]

Who's got the biggest balls of them all!!!????

[baggy]

I will be fishing Leech for the first time the weekend after opener and staying at the campground in federal dam. Can anyone give me some tips for fishing up there? I am willing to try anything.

Thanks

baggy

[FishWhisper]

Hey Baggy, I too will be fishing up in Portage, I have a place out of Ilse Harbor so I fish that area all the time. Once you head out of the river you will see the mass of boats along the break line depending on the wind direction you can drift along in a depth or start in 4-5 ft. of water and drift out to 12-15 ft. most will use minnows and jig, I will long line with a crawler and single hook and most likely work some 14-15 ft. depths or 6-8 ft. depths. Don't be afraid to stay away from boats and have some shad raps too, troll in the evenings in 6-8 ft. in the same areas. I'll be in the white Lund Fisherman. probably 100 boats also

Good Luck!

[baggy]

Thanks FishWhisper,

We will be in an old green crestliner. You might want to stay away if you see us, we are terible luck. Everytime Me and the old man go out the fish seem to be on hunger strike. I can't wait to try up there. Thanks again for the info.

Baggy

[motley man]

As said above, it should be good.

[fishfurfun]

Will be up on Prtage ase well. Fishing should be great! I'm from Isle harbor also and have not had to many problems catching fish in that area.

[FishWhisper]

Hey fishfurfun, you gonna be on the water at dark noon!

[Meat-Run]

So how did everyone do? We did poorly and was very surprised that we didn't get the numbers like last year. We fished the little hardwoods between goose island and only managed about 6 walleyes on Saturday. We lost our bait bucket so who ever picked up hope you put our $30 of rainbows to good use on the other hand it forced us to use the forage minnow plastics and was pleasently surprised that most of our walleyes came on them in the perch color. Sunday was almost a bust with only one small walleye and some decent 12-13 inch perch to help fill the live well, how did everyone else do?

mr

[Guru57]

We were up there Sunday and fished the same area but moved closer to the main shoreline near The Meadows in the afternoon and did well. 20 walleyes- 11 keepers and a bunch of perch. It was interesting how the fish turned on like a light switch when the clouds moved in or a breeze kicked up. Also got there and realized we had no juice in the trolling motor batteries after charging all night before. Must have been some connection bad or the batteries just went bad.

[Jig4All]

We hit the lake early on Saturday morning and fished off Pine Point, we had a limit by 8:30 but they slowed down after 8. I've never seen that many bots on Leech before, must have been all those predictions. We did do better when there was a breeze, when it was flat it was slow.

[Kloby]

Reading many reports, people stated that fishing on Leech was slow for opener. We stayed at the Fed Dam along with everyone else on the lake. Started fishing on Saturday morning around 6:30 and the bite started right away.

Saturday we caught close to 50 walleyes with four people in boat, kept our limit with ease. All the walleyes we threw back were in the slot. Largest walleye caught that day was just under 26". Also caught three northern and about an 8 pound Bowfin.

Sunday morning we fished for about 3 hours and caught 16 eyes. Again, all we threw back were slotters. Caught three more snakes as well.

Where we fished...right outside of the Fed Dam, but not in the group. Moral of the story: Stay away from the group!!

[weedis99]

We kept a few keepers on saturday between 2 of us. First time on the leech for both of us but what a wonderful lake. We got out later then we wanted too, must have been buddies bachelor party the night before. I deffinetely think being away from the crowd worked better and being a long weeds would have worked well. I think we would have done better if we did that more but first time on the lake we were fishing structure more then weeds. We marked most of our fish in no more then 17 feet of water and caught our fish in less then 17feet.

[ROOOOSTERFISH]

I think you caught a eelpout but what do I know.

[tommac]

We started out on Stony Point on Saturday morning - what a crowd. Most boats seemed to be up in 12-14 ft and not doing much. We drifted out of the crowd and started picking up fish as soon as we got down to 16 ft - marked a ton at that depth and deeper. Eventually moved up to Big Hardwoods and found most of our fish in 17-18 ft - again out away from the crowd.

Saturday evening/sunset we did well in shallower water around Goose Island - 12 ft or so but then ran out of shiners and called it a night. Couldn't even catch perch on leeches. Shiners with green jig heads produced all the fish.

We ate a couple meals, brought home our limit, and threw back some nice fish up to 25 inches. Slow fishing when the wind died on Sunday, but a great weekend overall.