With the Minnesota walleye
opener approaching and the
renewed popularity of Leech
lake I would like to give
some tips for catching
walleyes on opener. First we
will have open water to
fish, I will give a ice out
update in another post.
Openers on leech lake
typically are very good even
with a late ice out. As I
head out from Erickson
landing my first stop may be
the Mounds area and
Steamboat bay. This is a
river channel that runs
north and south along the
east shore of steamboat bay.
The channel is 10 to 11ft in
depth and has nice breaks
with weeds that hold fish.
It is a spring hot spot for
walleyes. The area is large
in length and there will be
boats fishing it but plenty
of room from the Mounds
north. For me this is a warm
up spot, I will use 1/8 once
jigs (stand-ups work good
for weeds) tipped with a
spot tail shiner (I will be
using spot tails well into
June) I will work the river
channel breaks from 5ft to
10ft drifting, trolling or
pitching depending on wind
conditions. (wind will have
nothing to do with the fish
being there,,,,,,they will
be!) There will be anglers
slip bobber fishing with
leeches and minnows also,
this is a good method if you
have the fish pinpointed.
Then its out to the big
lake. As you pass thru the
narrows you will begin to
see the boats spread out
from the east side of the
narrows all the way to the
meadows north. This whole
area can hold fish and you
just have to search. Its a
huge area with lots of 12ft
or less water. The walleyes
can be anywhere. I may go
all the way to the meadows
to start as I have done well
there on openers past, but
may not be necessary if the
wind is blowing. Fish will
be any where from 5ft to
12ft or so. Another area is
pine point but the crowds
are such that I will avoid
this area but there will be
fish there. There is also
good potential around goose
island. On the north west
corner of the island is a
point (under water) that
runs west all the way to
Little hard wood point that
tops out 6 to 7ft with a
drop on both sides that hold
spring walleyes.
I prefer the jig and minnow
tactic but walleyes will be
caught using all popular
methods on Leech, its
basically up to you what you
want to use. You can fish
with a crowd or find your
own school of fish, That's
the nice thing about leech,
the lake is big and can
accommodate allot of boats.
The west side just has so
much fishable water in the
spring that you can find
your very own honey hole.
Other good areas are Stoney
point, Ottertail point, both
duck points, and various
12ft sand flats between pine
and stoney, east and north
of Goose just to mention a
few.
I really expect a good
walleye bite this year on
leech, last fall and winter
were the leech of old. The
stocking efforts of the Dnr
and the limited fishing
pressure over the last few
years have allowed leech to
come back strong. If you
have any questions please
ask and remember
presentation is not near as
important as location!!