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!!