More Leech Questions

Got an invite to Leech next weekend (Oct. 1-3)and am trying to do a little planning. Ideally, I’d like to fish for walleye, but with just the weekend to travel and fish, will go for anything that bites. I think we are staying on the south side of the lake and I ordered a map of the lake to look over. I’ve read over the recent posts so have some ideas of places to start. If you have any other suggestions you are willing to share, I’d sure appreciate it.

As I start to get things pulled together, I’m assuming jig and minnow is a good start or maybe a Lindy rig. Not being real familar with the lake and I saw the note about redtails, what size jigs are you using? I’m usually using 1/16 or maybe 1/8, but with a bigger minnow, do I need to go heavier?

Any luck with plastics or are we better sticking with live bait? Any value in using plastic and live bait for a bigger profile with real food?

Trolling I’m thinking the usual suspects, shad raps, flicker shads, wally divers, trolls to, etc. Any particular bait or colors been better lately?
It sounded like there wasn’t much of a trolling bite from a few of the reports, but it seemed like a place to start and hopefully find some fish.

I just added a side imaging unit to the boat. Any fun stuff or cribs to look at?

Is it worth bringing the musky gear along? I know musky fishing is supposed to be better in the fall, but Leech is alot of water to explore in a day or two.

Well, I’m just hoping for some decent weather and looking forward to a day or two on the water. Catching fish is just an added bonus.

Thanks in advance for any help you can offer.

Dave

The FLW walleye tour is currently holding its championship right now on leech, sneak over to flwoutdoors to get a chance to read or watch a video on how the bite has been. I am assuming after the final day on Saturday, the pros will be spilling their beans about what was used to catch fish.

Thanks for the tip. I did get a chance to check out a few of the videos and articles. I’ve got a few more ideas to try. Looks like rigging and jigging were the ticket.

I fished the FLW event last weekend and the best advice to give is to remember that this is a very wind dependant lake. take a moment to understand the prevailing wind direction and what is going to be blowing on the days you are there.

Fish the points and rock humps if you are specifically looking for walleye and either a jig and rainbow minnow or plastics would be a good bet. DO not be afraid to go shallow either. The best fish were being caught in 7 to 10 feet of water on the wind blown shorelines.

The rig bite was somewhat deeper and that was using redtail chubs or creek chubs using a six to eight foot leader. Again focusing on the direction of the wind and fishing those areas being hit by the wind.

Good luck and tell us how it went.

I’ll second the shallow bite. I just got back from there on Sunday and had one of the best 3 day stretches I can remember on Leech. Nearly every walleye caught came from 6′ or less. Not a ton of keepers but hammered the slot fish up to 26″, which was the largest we brought to the boat. Perch bite was going pretty stong also. Jig & minnow and trolling cranks at night worked best for us.

Thanks for the tips. I’m heading up tonight after work. I’ll report back on how we do.

West Goose flats has been good for eyes Big Harwood and as other members have stated watch the winds hit Pts and shore the wind has been hitting.

Jig an minnow 1/4oz or 1/8oz bright green Snap jigging for eyes. Perch hit the narrows the bite has been good.

Rigging in Walker Bay on Humps deep with a big chub will put big slot fish in the boat and some overs.

Good Luck

I’ll will be going up tomorrow morning through Monday with a group of three boats. We will be on channel 78 if you have a radio. If we find them maybe we can help each other out. Charles

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Thanks for the tips. I’m heading up tonight after work. I’ll report back on how we do.

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Late report, but thanks again for the tips on Leech. Bob, I missed your note, but that is where we ended up fishing a couple of times. Lots of bites, but not any fish. Saturday morning we got there around 7:00 and fished until about 8:45 and went to Sand Point to fish for perch. Others from our group just got there around 8:30 and started catching fish just after 9:00 so it looks like we gave up too soon.

You could get all the perch you wanted around Sand Point and in Miller’s Bay, but the walleye were harder to find.

Car troubles got me up there later than planned and Friday night the water was rougher than I wanted to venture out on. Saturday wasn’t too bad, but there were some rough rides. One of the guys in my boat needed to be back to the lodge by noon so we headed back arounf 11:15. After about 20 minutes of bouncing around, he nudged me and told me it was okay if we got back late. We were only doing about 10 mph at the time. Sunday morning the water was flat when we went out, but a bit choppy when we came in. I took one last trip out Sunday and trolled in Ulm Bay (we were staying at Northland Resort) and got two northerns (23-24″) and a 23.5 walleye in about an hour. That was the most action of the weekend. The walleye was enough for me to win the big fish prize, but only because the contest ran from midnight Friday to noon Sunday (I caught it around 11:45). Some guys that came up early got a 28″ walleye Friday afternoon and one of the guys’ sons caught a 50 musky Sunday afternoon.

There were about 30 guys there as part of a company retreat and they each came for their own reason (fish, duck hunt, bow hunting, golf, casino run, whatever), but it was a good time and great camaraderie. I got up early to fish Saturday morning and the guy who had breakfast duty hadn’t been to bed yet, so he had me play his hand at the poker table, while he cooked breakfast for the fishermen. Quite an interesting bunch, I was glad to get invited.

Thanks again for the tips. I’m hoping to get invited back next year.

dave53, Looks like you had a great time on leech sometimes its not about the catching its being with friends and some fun. Also come back up the eyes are going good now till freeze up. The bite has been real good the last couple days for me.

Some fish from Yesterday