Outright Angling Fishing Report May 13, 2019

Walleye fishing is here, and Leech Lake area guides, resorts and other local establishments are off and running. The fishing has been great, with the classic jig-and-minnow doing most of the damage in 5-14 feet of water, just as many predicted.

 Details matter, and paying attention to boat speed, jigging cadence, jig color etc, is key to putting more of these delicious-state-fishes in the boat right now. Don't miss the best walleye bite of the year, local resorts and guides still have some limited availability this month. 

Crappie fishing remains strong, with good numbers of fish showing up at the end of our lines, along with some real trophy slabs. The shallow extremities of the lake are great places to look for these fun and tasty fish. 

With bass and muskie fishing right around the corner, angling opportunities will be quite plentiful here at Leech Lake. Pick a species or two and plan your next outing, I would love to have you aboard.

Cheers and hook-sets,

Capt. Phil Bauerly

outrightangling.com 

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 

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

Catching (our breath) in June- Leech lake *Pic Heavy*

Wow! With 30-45 mph gusts today, I find myself with an afternoon off of the lake. June has been a whirlwind of meeting great folks, netting fish and staring at electronics. Not every day has been uber-productive, but overall, the fishing has been great here on Lago Leech. The big walleyes stole the show this week with 9 fish covering 26 inches or more of my bump board, and 30+ fish over the two foot mark. As always in late June, we have some ideas where they will show up tomorrow and what they will bite on. But most likely, we will have to try several presentations/locations this week to really get dialed in.

Here is a great slip-bobber fish caught in 4' of water earlier in the month. 

Limits are great, and when the keepers are averaging 17-18 inches, it's hard to beat. 

A healthy looking portage bay fish.

Smile blades are well named.

"Day off" slip bobber fishing with my boy.

Another great slip bobber fish.

Windy days usually mean limits for all.

One of 5 bigger fish this day. 

Thick fog? No problem. A 29" gravel lizard from Walker bay.

Regular client Jeff  and company went on a tear before their Canada trip, boating a whole bunch of 23"-27" walleyes.

26"er

25"

Here is dad, scouting and helping me get dialed in before a trip.

Even the guide gets to land a nice one. 

Dad strikes again!

1st Muskie hunt of the year, we moved some really nice fish but couldn't seal the deal. Action plus pike made it fun though. 

The spinner/crawler bite has been hit or miss, this fish did hit on a post frontal, sunny day. 

Cheers and hook-sets! 

Captain Phil Bauerly- Leech Lake

Dialing In Daily - Leech Lake in the 60's

For years I have been telling people that when the water temps are in the 60's on Leech Lake, stay nimble and bring every bait type and lure that you can get your hands on. You never really know what each day will bring. Whether it's trolling crankbaits, rigging leeches, pulling spinners and crawlers or the standard jig and shiner, or even rigging big chubs in Walker bay, leave nothing off of the table. One day you can have an incendiary pattern of rigging leeches in 9 f.o.w. and the next, snap jigging minnows is the only thing that will wake them up. Being willing to "shake the etch-a-sketch" and start all over when bites are slow is really key in June.

This week I found some schooled up fish and jigging shiners or rigging leeches was the best presentation to maximize the catch.

When fish were scattered, a spinner rig and minnow or shallow crankbait located some really nice ones and allowed me to dial-in on some smaller loose schools. 

Having a system while trolling is important. I like to start shallow and work deeper. I like to use a couple of different presentations that work at similar speeds. Shallow crankbaits behind planer boards and spinner rigs on bottom bouncers strait back both work well trolled at 1-2 mph.

      Having more than one live bait type out to start the day has been a good idea too.

We have been seeing a fun mix of 1/2 keepers and 1/2 bigger slot fish the past week. 

Cheers and hook-sets!

Lots of Wonderfull Slots

Despite the liberalized slot limits this year, the keepers are coming in one out of every 4-5 fish with the bulk of the catches being 22"-26" fish. A few of my spots are kicking out more keepers but it's very hard to leave big fish for eaters! The good news is that the catching has been fantastic with just enough keepers to make for some outstanding outings. Taking pictures of mid-twenty inch fish is starting to get quite redundant but we never tire of setting the hook and reeling in this quality of fish. Not to mention the "certain kind of grin" we get when we hoist one of these beauties. With water slowly warming, I expect to soon be able to catch Walleyes a dozen different ways including artificial lures, minnows, leeches and crawlers as well.

Cheers and hook-sets!

5/14 Boxer Recon

 

With weather improving, I got out for two hours in the evening and tried a different area that I have been thinking about. The 15-20 inchers were out to play this time which is a good sign after this weekend's mostly female bite. Five out of six fish were boxers though I only kept one. I have confidence in 1/8oz green jigs tipped with a Spot Tail Shiner minnow right now. Is there a fish fry in your future?

 

Cheers and hook-sets!