Away from the Masses

People have a built in tendency to follow the masses. Fisherman these days seem to have an extra need to do so. Go ahead and plow an ice road to your wheel house location…isn’t that where the crowd ends up? Anyway, getting away from the masses and resisting the urge to think they must be getting fish in the crowd has been the key to my successful days on the ice this season. In the last 10 days I have fished on 5 different lakes targeting bluegills, crappies, and walleyes. In every case I have picked locations away from the crowds. In fact, there have been very darn few people within shouting distance of us on any trip. I just enjoy that more that’s all…

Fishing has been fairly good in the Leech Lake area. Nice bluegills and crappies were had last week with a couple crappies approaching 15 inches in length. I have found the best locations to be flat mid depth areas adjacent to obvious deep basins or holes. For example, if there is a classic wintering hole that bottoms out at 35 feet, I have been looking for soft bottom flats adjacent to that hole or adjacent to other structural elements that are more like 18 to 23 feet deep. Every lake is different but I have had better success NOT fishing in obvious holes. Walleye action has been what I would call slightly less then “action” most of the time! That said, fishing has been consistent with the classic windows of activity at first light and dusk being the best. As a guide I don’t spend much time out there after dark but I would bet there are scattered bites through the night. I have been on lakes where there is no slot limit which often makes for a nice meal if you manage 4 nice fish in an evening! Jigging and dead sticks have been about 50-50, but if you get out and move at prime time you will hook more fish. If you are out on Leech Lake every attempt to get away from the masses would be advised. It’s a bit more crowded then it used to be in some spots but there is a ton of untouched water out there.

Travel conditions are pretty good BTW and I have been driving the truck to fishing locations with no issues. Be careful around heaves of course and sometimes you can run into deeper drifts in areas where wheel houses have been set up but otherwise travel is good on area lakes.

DoRight

Attachments:

1. 

   January-2018.jpg
   

2. 

   Tim-Jan-2018.jpg
   

3. 

   Jan-2018-1.jpg
   

4. 

   Jan-2018.jpg
   

Thanks for the update Deron, my gal friend and I were fishing just out of Aitkin last wknd and we were making plans to hit Leech wknd after next.

Tom

Good idea Tom. I have had some nice February catches on Leech. I will be out there this afternoon in fact.

I am making my very first trip to Leech Lake. The spot my buddy suggested is out of the Stony Point access. Is the access tore up? Any concerns a guy should be concerned with? I am portable so no wheel house to deal with. Any tips would be good too.

Thanks,
Dave

67firebird wrote:

I am making my very first trip to Leech Lake. The spot my buddy suggested is out of the Stony Point access. Is the access tore up? Any concerns a guy should be concerned with? I am portable so no wheel house to deal with. Any tips would be good too.

Thanks,
Dave

I bet I didn’t catch you in time Dave…hopefully I did. The Stoney point access was pretty hairy last time I went by, which was about a week ago. You can get on the ice but it is all heaved up and active as usual. It can change on you from hour to the next. If you are on a snowmachine and portable you will be ok, but vehicle traffic is probably a NO go.

The bite was quite good for keeper sized walleyes over the weekend which was a pleasant surprise! We had to move some to find them but in the end it paid off. Good luck out there.