Leech Lake Fishing Report for January 21st, 2026
January 21, 2026
Report from the Dock
Despite some strong winds and much colder temperatures over the past week in Minnesota, anglers continued to fish, but they didn’t move around much. That’s likely played a significant part in most areas featuring slower bites than a week ago. This week has been one of those in which many reports indicated that anglers were seeing plenty of fish on their electronics, but getting them to bite has been difficult. There were simply fewer people fishing for bluegills due to less than ideal hole-hopping conditions, while walleyes and crappies seemed to be turned off more than on. Low-light periods of the day and after dark remain the best windows to catch better numbers of walleyes and crappies. Last weekend’s trout opener on lakes outside the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness was a bright spot. Trout fishing reports in Minnesota were very good with splake, rainbows, and lake trout all cooperating in most areas.
Leech Lake Ice Fishing Report
Ice fishing on Leech Lake in January 2026 is delivering steady action, with perch, walleyes, and tullibees showing up across a range of depths. Find some weeds or a sand/weed combination in 10 to 14 feet and you’ll find perch, but you will have to sort through quite a few short fish. Walleyes are being caught almost exclusively at night on deadsticks with rainbow minnows around main lake structure in 18 to 24 feet. If you get away from structure on or near mud in 25 to 32 feet you will catch tullibees, some whitefish, and a few walleyes during the day.