Leech Lake Fishing Report for August 21st, 2024
August 21, 2024
Report from the Dock
There seems to be no problem catching bluegills, bass, and pike across the state, but a definite trend has developed during the past week. If you want to hook into bigger fish, you need to look at deeper weeds, 15 feet or more, on a lot of lakes. In some cases, the fish have been away from the weed edge and suspended or right in deeper vegetation; shallow weeds are still producing numbers of fish, but they tend to be smaller fish. With the state’s supply of large leeches just about dried up for the season, anglers have been fishing walleyes with nightcrawlers, crankbaits, big minnows such as red tails, and horizontal baits such as Jiggin’ Raps or Tikka Minos. In most areas, you need to cover water with these baits and pick off the aggressive fish in a given school. Low-light periods have been more productive than midday hours. Muskies are hitting bucktails on weedlines and are being found suspended over deep water on many lakes.
Leech Lake Report
A spinner and crawler are turning walleyes in 13 to 17 feet in Portage Bay, the Snakepit area, and Five Mile Point. Late in the day and after dark, a slip bobber and leech or crankbaits are producing walleyes on the north end of Walker Bay in 10 to 15 feet. There have been a few reports of bigger perch being caught with a small jig and minnow on the flats in 7 to 12 feet, while muskie activity remains solid on the sand and rock piles throughout the main lake and Walker Bay in 5 to 10 feet.