Here’s the latest walleye report on Leech lake courtesy of local guide Brian Brosdahl:
“There are a bunch of rock reefs throughout the main lake that will hold walleye. I don’t want to name specific reefs, but what you need to know is that you can catch them trolling in 8-14 feet of water. There’s a lot of water, so you don’t necessarily need to fish by other boats.
“Throughout the various bays – Portage, Sucker, Steamboat and Boy Bay – there are chara beds and the walleyes always cruise through those areas. You can float a crawler behind a Roach Rig to catch those fish. Just remember in Walker Bay there are some deeper humps, but I personally prefer to fish the chara flats and the sand clearings.
“Fishing has been phenomenal on Leech Lake. The fish are moving out on the rocks feeding on crayfish. When the water temperature gets close to 70 degrees, that means the fish are going to be pounding crayfish. That’s when the spinner bite really starts happening. You’ll see I have the Northland Butterfly Blade, but I like to have a little float because I’m going over rocks out on the main reefs and even on chara beds I’ll use a 2 ounce bottom bouncer going 1.2 to 1.4 miles per hour.
They are loving nightcrawlers right now. I like to use a long-shank hook so I can thread the crawler up there a little bit, preferably one that doesn’t spin in circles.
“Jigs are also working. The Long Shank Fireball jigs are really awesome. Watermelon, blue and white, and parrot are a few of my favorite colors. You can’t get spot tail shiners, but golden shiners, red tail shiners, regular shiners and fat heads will work fine. If you like to jig and you’re a jig maniac like I am, you can catch them on that or even a Whistler Jig.
“The bluegills and crappies are biting off the weed beds out further on the deep weed line, so bring your Lite Bite slip bobbers and your little Fire Fly jigs. I like to use a 7 foot rod if I’m fishing in the deep weeds to quickly pick up the slack in the line when your bobber goes down.
“Basically, there’s no wrong place to fish on Leech Lake right now. The rocks are hot and so are the flats. Nighttime trolling is a great option, but plenty of folks are getting them during the day as well. Fish how you want to, they’re biting on Leech!
That’s the latest walleye report on Leech Lake – thanks Bro!
