Leech Lake Report

[Walleye #1]

 

Leech Lake Fishing Report

 

 

Well the Leech Lake Walleye Tournament is a wrap and another huge success it was.  Almost 1300 fish were brought to the scales with almost 80 limits of 6 fish brought to the scale each day.  The best part there was a 98% live release rate which says a lot about the success of this tournament and its incredible workers.  A huge thank you goes out to everyone involved who helped make once again the Leech Lake Walleye Tournament one of the best in the Midwest.  Last but not least a big congratulations goes to one of the LOA team members Aaron Murphy and his partner Pete Miskovich on their 5th place finish and the largest bag for Day 1 of the tourney.

 

 

The lake is changing by the days and week.  Fish can be caught so many different ways and in so many different types of locations.  During the tournament anglers had success lindy rigging, with a jig and minnow, and pulling spinners.  The fish are definitely transitioning into their summer patterns and haunts and as June moves along it should really get good.  For the LOA team, a jig and a minnow was by far our best producer when it came to putting fish in the boat.  Depending on the conditions aggressive snap jigging along sand flats, breaklines in 8-12ft of water, or pitching jigs into cabbage was the best producer.  1/8^th KenKatch Long Shank Jigs were the ticket and color was key.  Changing up the color during bright conditions vs. cloudy or overcast was the key to putting more fish in the boat.  Many anglers had a lot of success rigging leeches and crawlers along shoreline breaks and along transition lines of rock/gravel or sand and gravel.  Having a longer snell with a smaller hook and glow bead, such as 6+ feet was definitely a key to success.  Spinner fishing is starting to also pick up and one of our favorite times of the year..look for rock edges on the main lake reefs or shoreline breaks around Sand Beach and Two Points to produce fish in 12-16ft of water.  Speed was the key, going anywhere from 1-1.5MPH depending on the weather conditions.

 

 

June is one of our favorite times to be on the lake because there are so many locations and ways to catch Mr. Walleye.  The Cabelas NWT tourney is the next big event on the lake in just a little over a week.  It should be fun to see many of the well known pros in action. 

 

 

Get out and Set the Hook!

 

 

Jason Freed

Leisure Outdoor Adventures

[lawman]

I am still catching walleyes of various sizes on shiners and fatheads in less than 10 feet of water on Big Stony and First Duck. Will try leeches when the shops run out of shiners which is right about now.