Fall Update- Leech Lake

Outright Angling - Leech Lake Fishing Report for 10/15/2018  

Well, with water in the 40's now, we don't have a whole lot of time to get out on the lake. Mother nature is in charge now, but the fishing has been pretty fantastic! 

Walleyes have been schooling-up and binge-feeding on minnows the past few weeks. The bite windows can be short, but those anglers crossing paths with active fish are experiencing some really great catches. It's pretty hard to beat casting a jig-and-minnow combo in 4-8 feet of water. We have also been getting bites on a bit heavier jig with a 3"-4"plastic minnow tail, and even rattle baits some days. We should have great opportunities for walleyes at least through the month of October this year, for those willing to brave some chilly fall temps.  

Muskie fishing has been productive for those willing to chase "the fish of 10,000 casts" (luckily we do a bit better than that). We often do cast for hours (or troll) for the right opportunity with these fish, but the adrenaline filled pay-offs can be huge. Large spinners, big rubber baits and jerkbaits are all good options right now for muskellunge. Main lake points, rock reefs, and rocky shorelines where the wind has been blowing in are all good locations to search for that fish of a lifetime right now. If you want bragging rights on the biggest fish in Leech Lake, well...you sure can't catch them from the couch. Get out and give it a try!

Cheers and hook-sets! 

Leech Lake Mid-Summer Muskie Update

The ball is definitely rolling! Casting for muskies has been really fun the past week, and some fish were caught trolling in the weeks prior. I'm predicting a good casting bite now to November. If you think you might want to get out on Leech Lake this year, give me a shout. I still have some availability each month, I would love to have you aboard! 

Isaac from Texas got on the board early during his first ever attempt at muskie fishing.

He then upped-the-ante with this beast! 

Congrats on a real beauty!!

Here is Thomas from South Dakota with his first muskie, caught during less than ideal conditions.

We had a decent trolling bite dialed-in the last week of June. Since then, it has been all casting.

Fellow guide Steve Nosbisch jumped in with me one morning and scored this heavy fish on a topwater. A really nice Leech fish! 

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We typically don't even take these little guys out of the water. This one was so striking,

 I just had to take a quick pic.

We are getting a few nice pike too.

9 yr olds can catch muskies too!

Mark got to pose with his best Leech Lake muskie while fishing during great conditions.

Cheers and hook-sets! 

Capt. Phil Bauerly 

June Wrap-up- Leech Lake Walleyes

It has been a very busy June, with a lot of great people and great fishing to boot. June typically starts out with very consistent fishing, with jigs and shiner minnows being the standard presentation. Later in the month, walleyes expand their forage menu to mayflies, crayfish, larvae and perch. A wide variety of presentations are now being used including; crankbait casting and trolling, lindy rigging chubs and leeches, slip bobbers and leeches, vertical jigging lures, and casting jigs and plastics near weeds and rocks. 

Pictured below are just a few highlights from the past month of fishing on Leech Lake.

Note: I'll be switching into hard-core muskie mode soon, but am still looking forward to walleye fishing three-to-four trips per week or so in July and August. Mid-September until the end of October is typically good walleye fishing on Leech Lake too, I still have many dates available for fall fishing.

Not too many of these in South Carolina.

Tiana with the fish of the day! 

Limits of quality eating sized walleyes are the norm during the first six weeks or so of the season. 

Contact me now to get good dates on my 2019 calendar.

Stormy day limits.

Mid-lake fish. 

More mid-lake action.

Sunny day slab of a walleye.

Grip and grin.

A nice cold-front fish.

Reef donkey.

Tough conditions but getting it done.

Digging them out of the weeds.

A nice golden fish from shallow water.

A rare triple! 

21" Smallmouth Bass for Chris, the biggest I have seen! 

Cheers and hook-sets! 

Capt. Phil Bauerly 

Walleye Opener Success- Leech Lake

It's been a great start to the walleye season, awesome weather and a darn-good bite.

Nice fish are scattered in loose schools in 5-10 f.o.w. If you have side imaging, you can locate these concentrations a bit quicker. 

The fish are biting in windows, so you may have to grind a bit until the bites come. 

 Avoiding crowds and getting the bait away from the boat seems to help. 

Jigs and 4" plastics are getting hard bites when the standard minnows get denied. 

I'm looking forward to putting more of these golden fish in the net in the weeks to come. 

Cheers and hook-sets! 

outrightangling.com

Jig Fishing for Leech Lake Walleyes- FAQ's

A jig is a jig right? Well, I'm fortunate enough to be able to do a lot of experimentation when it comes to jig size, color and what we hook onto the back of a jig. Everyone has their own tweaks and favorites. I'll share a few of mine, along with the thought process that goes along with choosing the right jig for the conditions and fish mood. I field a lot of questions from clients about jig choice, here are some of the most frequently asked questions from my outings on Leech Lake. 

Q:"What's your favorite color for jigging up Leech Lake walleyes? 

Me: "I don't really have a favorite...the one that is getting bit that day. I feel like half of the time, jig color makes no difference at all. The other half of the time, it can be the difference between a so-so day of fishing, and a very productive and memorable day."

The truth is, I typically approach color as a new experiment each day. When fish are aggressive, I do however like a jig color that stands out. Chartreuse, orange, and U.V. combos get the fishes attention, and allow feeding fish to find your bait the quickest. Conversely, if we are getting short-strike after short-strike, or fish are negative or spooky, then a less aggressive color gets the nod. Here is a tip: colors that match the bait are often most productive for finicky fish. Gold or silver jigs blend-in with minnows, and fish don't know where the minnow ends, and the jig begins (see above photo). When fishing Leeches and the bites are short, a black or brown jig will match the bait, and can make a huge difference in the number of hooked fish during a tough day of fishing. Of course, an abundance of available forage like crayfish, shiners or mayflies can also effect what colors might work best in a given situation, so experimentation is almost always a good idea. 

Q: "What size jig-heads do you like for Leech Lake walleyes?" 

Me: "A simple 1/8 oz ball-head is the standard, but I like jig-heads from 1/16 oz to 3/16 oz for most live bait situations, and 1/4 oz to 3/4 oz when fishing plastics."

I'll typically start with 1/8 oz, and will move up to 3/16 oz if the wind is really howling. Down-sizing to 1/16 is sometimes beneficial for spooky shallow fish, when we are missing a lot of strikes. I do all my jig fishing in 2-12 feet of water, when we are looking for walleyes that are holding deeper than twelve feet, i'll typically switch to a heavier live-bait-rig. I just don't think these fish like a lot of lead near the bait. Of course, we utilize spinner rigs and crankbaits for fish holding in 12-25 feet of water as well. 

Q: "Do you ever fish with plastics for Leech Lake walleyes?"

Me: "I love fishing with plastics...aggressive bites will often cue me to make the switch to plastics. You do have to be willing to experiment with jigging cadence, color and jig weight however. It really helps if you have multiple anglers on-board to experiment with plastics."

Anytime we are catching walleyes with a fast, aggressive jig-stroke (aka snap-jigging), I feel like those fish will eat plastics. At this point, the fish don't have time to examine the offering..it's a reaction bite. We save a lot of time (and bait) when we make the switch to plastics, and the bites will often be harder and more frequent once we get dialed-in on color, profile, jig weight, jig stroke etc. I almost always fish with a heavier head with plastics though, this will force you to fish a bit faster and more aggressively. Putting a plastic trailer on an 1/8 oz jig and fishing it just like live bait almost never works for Leech Lake walleyes. 

Another situation I like plastics is when we are specifically targeting big fish with something like a swimbait. Hungry post-spawn female walleyes smash 4"-6" swimbaits fan-casted over cabbage weeds and boulders in May and June. This is a pattern I look forward to each year. It isn't always a numbers game, but the size of the fish caught will typically be very impressive. Many big walleyes are caught by muskie fisherman during this time, which is further evidence that these females may be targeting larger meals in shallower water. 

The MN Fishing Opener is just days away and hopefully these simple tips can help you put a few more of those delicious state fishes top-side.

Cheers and hook-sets!
Capt.Phil Bauerly- Leech Lake
outrightangling.com