Fishing Update

[Murph!]

Well ,we are two weeks into the walleye season. The key to the season has been the weather. Mother Nature has been very gruel this spring. There has been a consistent bite when we have a wind. Wind blown points, flats, and shore lines have produced fish on shiners and jigs. Some pattern of green or perch pattern is the best choice. As of late live bait rigs tipped with leeches are starting to catch fish. There has been an insect hatch of small fish flies and the walleyes are feeding on them as they rise to the surface.

There are two tournaments scheduled the next two week ends. The Leech Lake Walleye Tournament is followed by the FLW professional walleye tournament. Good luck anglers.

Bass season opened today with the long awaited Muskie opener on June 4th.

[Murph!]

Let's have some input on this board. Sharing info is helpful to all. You do not have to share exact locations just your success or even bad luck.

[Ryan T]

Hey Murph, we're coming up next weekend for the Muskie opener. Do you have any update on current water temps and weed conditons in either Walker Bay or Portage?

[Murph!]

The water temps on the Big Lake were in the high 50's to low 60's. There isn't a lot of weed growth due to the cold spring and high water. Temps are a bit cooler in the Bay. These conditions make for a dicey opener. There is also a big walleye tournament on Leech this upcoming week end.

I may try a smaller area lake for the opener, no solid plans yet.

[petey]

I haven't yet got walleyes on leeches. They seem to still be on shiners. Fish are still in 6'-10'. I've marked them deeper, but no bites down there. Like Murph says, follow the wind - but that doesn't necessarily mean follow the boats. Pine Point is still crowded (are they still catching fish up there?). We've made a couple of longer boat rides and been rewarded well. Also, we've been getting fish every time the wind picks up a little more. I'm wondering if anything is going in Walker Bay yet, it usually drags a few weeks behind the big lake in early season...

[Ryan T]

Thanks Murph. We'll be in the area fishing Sat-Mon. Staying in Walker and plan to hit Leech Sat either way and fish hard and hope for the best. We may venture to the smaller lakes if Leech is brutal. Either way it's always fun to be up north and hope the Muskies are biting and the boat bar at Charlies is open!

[GradyJ]

OK Ryan now I'm interested. Where is the boat bar? Is it on leech?

[Murph!]

Great place to relax, party is usually in full go on week ends. It is at Charlies Up North T the Y junction. Good food also.

[petey]

Charlie's is always a blast. Good food, lots of it.

Lake temps are slowly rising. We did well moving a little deeper, 18'-22'. Stayed with minnows although others are catching on crawlers too. Strangely, our best luck was actually when it was calm and sunny - the bites were light but giving the line did the trick and we got plenty of 17"-18" for eating. Although I didn't try it, there are some bigger fish being taken shallow in the weeds, during low light conditions.

[Ryan T]

Well since I asked for info I'll give our woeful report. Fished Leech Sat and Sunday Morning {16 hours total} and saw one muskie. It was a nice 46"er or so, fat and healthy and not a mark on her. Last time we were at Leech for the Muskie open was in 2008 when we had the last cold spring and we had done well {10 follows and a nice 44"er boated} so we thought we could go and repeat the pattern from that year but no dice this time. Spent the majority of our time pounding the flats and focusing on any weeds we could find on them, fish were just not moving {for us at least}. Did get some bonus fish, 3 pike in the mid 30" range and a 25" walleye. Decided to go home a day early and try the Metro and didn't have much better luck.

O well, the weather was nice, Charlies was busy at night and we had a good time no matter what. Seems like Leech, especially the Walker bay area where we normally fish due to my boat and the waves is very hit or miss. We've had trips that rivaled LOTW action and we've had trips like this one where just nothing was happening.

[Murph!]

Well Ryan, that's muskie fishing in a nutshell. Tough critter to figure out, just when you think you may be on to a pattern boom, nothing. Leech is a late bloomer for the most part, muskies don't move too well till early July, go figure.