Muskie
Fishing on Leech Lake
Leech Lake has several bays that harbor lush cabbage beds that hold muskies most of the year. The weed line on Leech Lake is 12 to 14 feet in most areas of the lake. Portage Bay has approximately 5 miles of weed beds in the Two Points area. There is an outer weed bed, a middle and inner weed bed. There are troughs in between the weeds. Start on the outer edge, keeping your boat in deep water a cast away from the outer edge. Work the edge with a variety of baits. Each angler in the boat should cast different bait till a pattern is set.
The rock reefs in the Pelican Island area hold fish year round. The same baits can be used on the rocks as well as the weeds. Windy days are usually better than flat, calm days due to the light penetration and the food chain cycle. Wind will start the food chain process by moving baitfish and subsequently predator fish will move in for dinner. Mokey Reef, Submarine, and the Annex are other reefs to try. Walker Bay also holds a good population of muskies all year with the fall being the best time to fish the bay. Search the steep breaks for scattered weeds. Walker Bay also holds several suspended fish. Trolling is a popular method of making contact with the suspended fish. Look for schools of baitfish suspending in deeper water. A note, Minnesota law is one rod per person in the summer. Good luck and let em go, Jim Murphy
Editor's Note: Jim Murphy is a professional fisherman who has been fishing Leech Lake for a number of years. He is well known as a local expert on fishing Leech Lake. Please feel free to check out his web site at http://www.fishingleechlake.com/guides/murph.
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Muskies
on Leech Lake naturally reproduce. The Leech Lake strain of muskies
is used by the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources to stock lakes
in Minnesota because it is a beautiful fish that grows to large sizes.
The Leech Lake muskies are spotted. The size limit on Leech Lake
is 40 inches. Leech Lake has a large population of trophy fish and
catch and release has maintained these numbers. Taking a quick picture
and releasing muskies will ensure that our children too can enjoy catching
muskies in the future. An angler can have a graphite reproduction
made of their trophy for mounting and let the fish swim away to spawn and
replenish the system.
Smaller
bucktails like a Muskie Candy, Mepps Giant Killer, Lil Eagle Tail, Huntertail,
or Blackburn are popular baits on Leech Lake. Use different colors
to set a pattern. Silver/Black, Silver/Purple, Orange/Black, Silver/White,
Bronze/Yellow, Gold/Brown all catch fish depending on the light conditions.
A very good bait last year was the Fudally Candy Spin, small spinner bait.
A fast retrieve has been successful, but vary your retrieve till you contact
fish. Jerk baits also catch numerous fish on Leech each year.
Reef Hawgs, Suicks, Squirrelly Burts, Vipers, Phantoms, and smaller Hughs
River Baits all catch fish. Match the hatch as they say, perch, ciscos,
whitefish, and walleye patterns work well. On some occasions, you
will have to have some orange on your bait to move fish, so experiment
with various colors. Also cast topwater baits. A Jackpot in
the white and red pattern is a good bait to start out with. Prop
baits, such as Tallywackers, Slammers, Top Raiders, Lo-riders, Musky Buster
lures all work well. Casting crank baits along the weed edge is another
good technique. Try twitching baits like a Jake, Shallow Raider,
Believer or Slammer in weed pockets and edges. There are also weed beds
in the 5-mile area of Portage, the Dead Head Bay area of Sucker Bay, and
the Grand Vu flats area.
