Yearly early June Trip

Hi all,
It's once again time for my yearly trip to beautiful Leech Lake. I make it every year the first week of June. As I noted last year, I have kept a fishing journal for some years now. I count all keeper size fish caught off the docks or marinas and any fish caught from the boat.

I'm making my trip a week later this year due to my week always moving up a few days. I would have had to go on May 30th to keep the same week.

Here are the results from the most recent years.

2000 = 18 walleye, 6 northern, 8 perch, 3 rock bass
2001 = 15 walleye, 12 northern, 11 perch
2002 = 9 walleye, 11 northern, 10 perch, 21 rock bass
2003 = 2 walleye, 53 northern, 6 perch, 2 rock bass
2004 = My second son was born, no fishing for me
2005 = 0 walleye, 18 northern, 17 perch, 4 rock bass, 1 largemouth bass
2006 = 1 walleye, 17 northern, 33 perch, 7 rock bass, 1 largemouth bass
2007 = 12 walleye, 39 northern, 37 perch, 21 rock bass, 3 largemouth bass, 2 crappie, 1 bullhead, 17 sunfish

2008 = 19 walleye, 38 northern, 1 perch, 3 largemouth bass, 7 rock bass, 14 sunfish, 13 crappie, 2 bowfin

2009 ?

2007 was our best year for numbers, but 2008 had better fishing when I factor in the larger size per fish, the high amount of rained out fishing time, and, crappie were nice! Notice how the bottom fell out on walleye numbers but returned strongly recently.
I am a multispecies angler, fishing for whatever has the best chance for success. I tend to fish for walleyes only in the evening by shadrapping. I don't like the crowds. I fish for northerns in the afternoon or late morning, and crappies and bass in the early morning. Recently I keep intending to fish more for largemouth bass, but end up getting sidetracked for other species.
My plan this year is to fish more for walleye, even in the mornings or afternoons, especially if I get some light chop or a coming storm. I've heard about how numerous they've been. Also, I am going to try once again for crappie in my secret spot. My new plan is to try my Georgia fly rod with a tiny bobber and a suspended jig worked below it. Last year, I had great success with a spinning rod and suspending the jig for crappie, rock bass and sunfish. Perhaps the flyrod will help me to get the jig back at them quicker. I'm hoping that last year wasn't unique for crappie due to the late ice out and they are still there this year. I'd like to bass fish but suspect I'll get too caught up in the other kinds to do it more than once.
I am worried that the forecast calls for cold and rain. That might put a dampter on things. I will update this post when I get back, hopefully with good results. Good luck fishing everyone!

Steve

pm sent...........

Nice log of your recent trips, goodluck on your week's fishing and we are looking forward to your report. thanks Kevin.

We just got back from our yearly drive from GA to Leech Lake. I fished it with my wife, son, mother, and father from June 6th to June 12th. The fishing on Leech Lake was not good. The fishing was downright spectacular!

We shattered all of my logged records in total fish, with good size as well. We landed 157 fish as keepers from our resorts docks and marina as well as any fish from our boat. Here are the specific results and methods used.

Walleye = 31 total fish. 19 fish were 10 - 12 inches, 7 fish were 15 - 16 1/2 inches, 5 fish were 20 - 25 inches. Since we didn't catch any between 12 and 15 inches, I suspect that was the jump in year class. Last year, we got many in the 13 and 14 inch sizes that were very skinny. Perhaps the two year olds had a slower growth rate this time. Shadrapping in the evening from 8:30 to 9:30 in 8 - 10 foot water and then very shallow 5 feet deep shortlining after 9:30 worked well. People were catching them right off the docks after 9:30 or in strong winds. I didn't have much success jigging in the day and gave up quickly to hunt for other species. There was a peak every night from 9:00 to 9:15. We caught very few shadrapping before 8:30. They were biting in the dark at times after 10:00, and many other fishermen in the resort would come back as late as midnight. The silver-black minnow imitating worked far better than the perch colored this time probably because giant schools of minnows were pushed in shallow by strong winds early in the week. I only had two minnow colored shadraps and lost one early in the week. What resulted will forever convince me of the power of color. The minnor colored outfished the perch colored 5 - 1 on the first night then 10 to 0 on the second night! Don't tell me color doesn't matter. The next day I was in Reeds buying some more minnow colored. Most other years, perch colored outproduced but certainly not this time.



northern = 34 fish. The northern were strong all over the lake. The shallow bays caught its share for me in the late mornings and afternoons, and I picked up a few while shadrapping the walleyes. Don't forget large spinners and spinner baits for your larger northern.

Crappie = 15 fish. The crappie were hiding under the boats of my resort and along a deep beaver dam, that many of the rest of you also frequent. Deep water with thick cover is what is needed. Use a live minnow free lined or a jig under a bobber. My fly rod idea felt really silly when I arrived at my spot, and I ended up fishing more traditional methods.

Rockbass = 47 fish. They were thick on my agency bay deep weed spot and also on a different beaver dam than where I got the crappies. Fish the beaver dams. Most were hefty redeyes of over 11 inches.

Largemouth bass = 6 fish. I discovered that largemouth bass love a football jig in leech colors when bounced along under docked boats and around fallen timber. I now prefer this to a spinner bait for largemouths. I also lost a few more of these when they shook the hook. They were quite fun to catch.

Perch = 17 fish. These were all accidental on the boat with a couple of nice ones hooked by my son around the resort's dock. This is one of the few fish that I never actually targeted.

Sunfish = 7 fish. My son tenaciously pulled out hundreds of sunfish from my resort's marina. 7 were deemed by me as large enough for him to keep.

Other Notes:

- There were a lot more leeches on the fish this week. I usually pulled them off if I was throwing the fish back.

- I watched two mallards swim out from a dock. I giant splash ensued under them as one took off and the other flopped back down to the surfaced, and struggled back into the air, minus a foot, as giant musky jaws chomped one last time below him. Small dogs, beware.

- Two of our larger walleyes didn't put up much of a fight and were very pale. Does any one know why? Is this because they had been caught recently and lost a lot of slime or does it have something to do with spawning?

- Why is it that I can't find a single pine tree on pine point?



Memorable Moment: My mother and I trolled pine point on June 11. At 9:00 P.M. , I hooked and fought a 24 1/2 inch walleye in an exhilerating fight. Many of you watched me do this from your neighboring boats. After a quick release, we let out our shadraps, and after only 30 seconds I hooked, then minutes later landed a 25 inch pale walleye. We then let out the shadraps and 15 seconds later my mother hooked and landed a pale 22 inch walleye. That was 14 1/2 pounds of walleye landed in only 7 minutes from the landing of the first one to the last one. Leech Lake is back.

I'll be back again next year at about the same time. It's back to Georgia fishing for me. I look forward to reading your posts. Yall have fun up there.

Steve

Hello Steve,
Thanks for the great report, I am already looking forward to next years report. I really wish more people (including me) would do reports like this more often. May I ask which resort you stayed at? Thanks Kevin.

We stayed at Brindleys.

Great report and nice going catching all of the fish. Fishing remains strong on Leech.