need some good news

[Guest]

I need some good news. Coming up to leech in two weeks and want to catch a few fish. At least the rock bass will bite i hope!<P>------------------<BR>

[Gofishleech]

Well just a bit of bad news first: the walleye fishing on Leech lake has been as tough as I have ever seen it(during mid day) and I have been fishing the lake for over 20 years. But hey,Isn't that what makes walleye fishing exciting ?<P>The good news is, fish are being caught. Evenings have been very good near Sand point, Cedar point and the saucer area. But its not the only option. Deep is the mid day option. on Leech deep means 25 to 40 or so feet. Bottom bouncers with spinner-crawler rigs are catghing fish along with live bait rigs and crawlers. The most productive deep areas are located in the center of the big lake near rock reefs and near the deepest holes on the big lake.<P>There are also walleyes in the cabage, slip bobber rigs are most efective in the thick vegetation. This bite can produce any time of the day.<P>The other mid-day option is long line trolling. Shad raps & Hot-n-tots trolled in 10 to 14 ft of water are also producing. 100 to 150 ft of line is nessesary or the use of planner boards. Try the east and west sides of Otter tail point.Pulling spinner rigs in these areas has also put fish in the boat.<P>Didn't mean to rattle on and on but for a Leech lake forum there is alot of winnie info here. So I felt it was time for some Leech lake support.Need more info just ask.<P>Gofishleech<BR>Tom Wilson

[Rick]

By the way Gang,<BR>Tom Wilson is a highly respected Guide on Leech Lake.<P>I regard his information as very accurate. Nice to see you here Tom!!!!

[Terry Hagstrom]

If you want action and have your boat on a trailer, head over to Winnie. All we do is catch out limits and catch plenty of through back fish. This can be don rright through the middle of the day. The past 8 weeks my clients and I have done this. Some days we needed all day and a couple of days we only needed an hour. Fish run from 14 to 16 3/4 for keepers. <BR>Also, there is plenty of northern action and some muskie to.<BR>Terry<BR>Terry's Guide Service

[jester]

I fished Leech on Saturday, and it was tough! Fished muskies most of the day, with no luck. We found a couple of Walleyes later on in the day, but they were small and very finnicky. I will be back in a couple of weeks for some big Northern Pike....<P>Tom Wilson-<P>Thanks for the advice. I visit your website occasionally and I very much respect your opinions. Thanks. I worked a few different spots on Leech for Walleye. We did some deep jigging out near Submarine Island, but had little luck. Do you have any advice for running the deep spinners during the day? Are you going all the way down (25-40 feet) or are you catching suspended fish out over those basins?<P>I really appreciate any info you may have....<p>[This message has been edited by jester (edited 08-06-2001).]

[Gofishleech]

jester,<BR>When I pull spinners it is always on the bottom. Weather its in 20ft or 40 ft. And I also only do this (spinners) in 20ft or deeper. The reason is I like to be as vertical as I can with this presentation. Any shallower and you need to get the bait away from the boat. All of this said I just don't fish for the suspended fish and if I did I would choose crankbait. (Mainly to have the confidense of knowing how deep my bait is running)<P>At present I have been jigging the humps in Walker bay. The bite is tough there also but manage to put a few eyes in the boat and the last few trips have produced a northern in the 10lb class each time out. The humps are numerous with some large and some small.<P>Fish activity should change soon. I talked with a fellow guide that on Monday (with a good south wind) caught a bunch of fish west of Goose Iland. This is a good sign that we may be breaking out of this dry spell. <P>Good luck<BR>Tom Wilson

[jester]

Thanks Tom. <P>Some fish were caught west of Goose Island, huh? Pretty shallow, there- less than 10 feet, if I remember. It IS encouraging to find a shallow Walleye bite. I caught a few walleyes on a little knob on the West end of Mokey reef in about 15-18 feet. That is about as shallow of water as I found Walleyes that day (slight south wind- maybe 5mph, bright sunny day, about 90 degrees)