Leech Lake Recap

Pre-Fishing

I arrived in Walker, MN with high hopes. I was not fishing on a team, luckily Co-Angler Sargeant Rich was able to join me to pre-fish. With almost 103,000 acres and 195 miles of shoreline the extra rod in the boat was welcomed! Having never fished Leech I used my research to come up with a game plan to target "unders" and "overs".

Slot Limit

Leech Lake has a slot limit where all fish between 20" and 26" must be released. My task was to find spots where I could catch a limit of "unders" as close to 20" as possible along with spots where I could catch fish over 26". The first couple of days we caught a lot of fish with most being in the protected slot. 

There was one spot in particular that was just loaded with slot fish. There were also 19" walleyes mixed in and they were fat!

We ended up getting a strong pattern fishing in 5'-7' of water. I was jigging and Rich was long lining a leech. From Saturday through Wednesday the jig bite was on fire. On Wednesday the leech bite started to improve. Leech Lake is known to be wind driven. My number one spot had the perfect wind the first two times I was there. This had me concerned if conditions changed. I tried it again in the middle of the day with high sun and flat calm conditions. It didn't matter that place was loaded with fish. Now I needed a couple of back up spots just in case.

I had a nice crank bait bite going on until Wednesday. As you can see from the photo above the walleyes were eating my Taildancer's. Unfortunately, when I checked the area on Thursday I didn't mark any fish and there was a huge mayfly hatch. I worked the area pretty good with no luck and I ruled out that area. I did find a couple of backup spots on main lake reefs. When the wind was blowing in the bite was easy. It was a bit tougher when the wind laid down.

I focused on Walker Bay to find my overs. I found a couple of points that had fish and didn't have the heavy fishing pressure that the humps had. My game plan was set. I would start in Walker Bay, try for an "over", then head to main spot. I thought I would have to go through 20-30 fish to catch the right ones. With the size I was catching I thought I could weigh between 12 and 13 pounds just with "unders". I was feeling pretty good as you can see in my interview with WalleyeFirst WalleyeFirst Roy Vivian.

Day 1

I started in Walker Bay and I was able to get to my spot. There were two other boats working the same area but there was plenty of room and the fish were there. We were using the largest red tail chubs we could get our hands on. We had three fish pick our chubs but we just couldn't get them to commit. It was like they were just playing with the chubs, killing them in the process. It was agonizing to see them on the screen and yet not get them to go. We stayed there for two hours, which in retrospect, was probably an hour too long.

I was still feeling confident as we made our run to my primary spot. There was no wind but that did not concern me as that was all in my plan. We get there and see a huge slick of mayfly shells. Uh oh! The spot I thought I was going to catch 20-30 fish was dead. We pounded the area and my co-angler caught the only walleye which was a 22" slot fish. I thought I could get them to bite but I was wrong. After talking to a few friends when there is a big mayfly hatch in shallow water it makes for a really tough bite. We stayed until about 12:30 with the skunk still in the boat!

I was due back at 3 so we had to get on some fish quick. I went to my backup spot on the mid-lake reefs. I was marking fish but they were reluctant to bite. We were able to get a fish here and there ending up with 3 little squirts that weighed 4.31 pounds. We just ran out of time. Had I got there a little earlier we would have at least got our limit. So much for the optimism I showed in that WalleyeFirst interview!

Day 2

My plan was the same as Day 1 with the exception of only spending one hour in Walker Bay and an hour less at my primary spot. Due to the slot limit I knew I had a chance to cash a check but I would need an over. I started in Walker Bay and there was a boat on my primary area. I am sure he saw what I did and hovered over those fish. He didn't hook up and neither did I so I left around 8.

We get to my primary spot and barely start when my co-angler hooked up with what appeared to be a slot fish. Much to our surprise it was only 19-1/4" but it looked like it swallowed a football! The fish weighed a hair over 3 pounds which is hard to believe but I wasn't going to complain. It is a shock that fish had room for a leech in it's stomach as it was just full of mayflies. Knowing five of these would get me back in the game I pounded the area. We caught one more 17" walleye that was outside of my primary area. My co-angler was in 9th place, to keep him in the top 10 I had to get close to 10 pounds so we headed to the main lake reefs.

Just like the day before we picked up a fish here and there. One skinny 19 incher along with a 16" and 17" walleye. The last one came at 1:30 so we headed back to Walker Bay to get that over! We got to that area and there were 5 boats. The wind was perfect so I tried my best to maneuver around with out getting in the way of others. Right off the bat I had one on that felt like an "over". I don't think I have been so disappointed catching a 23" walleye. I immediately had another fish. As I was fighting it my co-angler was reeling in his chub when he got bit. Mine ended up being a northern and we never saw the other fish. After that it was crickets. I did see an over caught which validated that they were there and I gave myself a chance.

I weighed 9.77 pounds on Day 2 which was the 25th best weight for the day. Not bad considering we didn't have an over. The good news is my co-angler, David Walker, moved up a spot and finished 8th. That made me feel great! I ended up 63rd out of 125 Leech Lake Results and only 3.86 pounds out of the money. Again a subpar day 1 was the difference. With that being said I fished a new body of water, put together a good game plan and I gave myself a chance. I can't ask for too much more. I will learn from my mistakes and apply them to future situations. Green Bay is next!

Lake City NWT Re-cap

The NWT opener is in the books. I almost snuck into the money but ended up 1.64 pounds short with a finish of 41 out of 126 Lake City Results. This has been a hard one to swallow as I can't help but think I let a good opportunity slip away.

Pre-Fishing

I arrived to unseasonably low water conditions which resulted in lower current. Generally this spreads fish out which was the case. Some traditional areas were dead water with some new areas coming into play. I spent Saturday and Sunday with my friend Chad Setterholm. We didn't exactly get off to a great start!

After an unsuccessful check of the upper portion of Pool 4 I thought of stopping at my friend Gary Nissan's favorite spot on the river, the Harbor Bar. We didn't want to ruin Gary's spot so we continued down river.

We checked out a few spots I have had success in the past. There wasn't much current but we did manage to connect with a couple of decent fish including this slimy thing! During the tournament my co-angler caught one close to 20 pounds, so much for that crank bait.

On Sunday I ran up to pool 3. The bite was a lot slower than I was expecting but we did manage to get 6 legals. The biggest surprise were the number of male walleyes we caught that were still milting. 

I had a feeling the bite would get better as the week went along. For the most part that was the case. I went back to pool 4 on Monday and caught 4 pretty nice fish but they were in 4 different spots doing three different things. I caught one pitching a jig and plastic in 3' of water. This had me pretty excited as the area was full of bait fish and I thought I might have found something. I spent three hours in that area on Tuesday only to find the bait fish were gone and so were the walleyes. I couldn't count on this area so I only used it as an area to check out if needed.

I headed back up to Pool 3 for the afternoon on Tuesday and Wednesday. The bite was improving and bigger fish started showing up in my spots. I fished with Co-angler Sargeant Richard Wright on Wednesday and we caught 10 keepers before 11 AM.

About 10 AM I pulled into a spot and we caught two nice fish right away and I lost one. Holy crap this spot was unbelievable! Realistically I didn't think I could win it there but I did think with that spot and others I could weigh 16-20 pounds a day. It was also a spot where 7-9 pounders might show up so I was feeling pretty good!

Day 1

I had a tough time sleeping the night before and had a few dry heaves before I left my hotel. I was in the first flight and had to be back at 3:00. With a long run and having to go through the lock I knew I had to be efficient and I was nervous. I had a great co-angler and we were on fish right away. We had a 22" and a 20" walleye within 10 minutes of getting to the spot and within the first hour we had another 20" and 18" walleye. This was a no-cull tournament which meant once you put the 7th in the live well your day was over. With weighing the best 5 I just threw in the 18 incher's as insurance hoping not to need them. 

Unfortunately, that was it, we did not catch another walleye all day. In fact we didn't even have one on! What in the wide world of sports was going on? I still can't believe it! We hammered that spot and I hit all of my others and we came up empty. I limped into the weigh-in with 4 fish that weighed 10.66 pounds which was good for around 79th place. You can't win it on day one but you sure can lose it!

Day 2

I was a little more relaxed going into day two and had another good co-angler. My plan was the same as day one, I felt my spots had the potential to get me into the money. The day was a reversal of day one. My "hot" spot was anything but that as we spent about 90 minutes with nothing to show for our efforts. I then went spot hopping and finally connected with a 23" walleye. About 8 spots later I connected with a 15" walleye that I was embarrassed to put in the live well but with the way the day was going I put it in the box. 

My other spots produced nothing including the spot I caught the 23. We made another attempt and my "hot" spot with no luck. It was about 2:30 so I went back downstream hoping my other spots would produce. I finally connected with an 18 inch walleye. I told my co-angler "You are going to think I am crazy but we are going back to that spot." He said "the one we have fished all day and haven't caught anything?" I said yes and just asked him to stay with it as it was the only place I had confidence that we could catch fish that would give us a chance.

We worked over the area again with the same luck. I looked back and my co-angler was in la la land probably thinking of how fast he could get on the road which was understandable. He didn't believe me when I said "FISH!" I think he said no way, are you serious and a few other words I will leave out. It wasn't a monster but it was a 22 inch walleye and it was number four. About 5 minutes later he had one hit right at the boat and it was a 25 incher. All of a sudden we have an outside shot at the money as we figured we had around 16 pounds. We needed to upgrade that 15 incher. Unfortunately that didn't happen and we had to go to make the lock. We tried a couple of spots on Pool 4 and I actually had one on that probably would have helped but it is hard to tell if it would have been enough.

We ended up with 15.85 pounds. Only catching four on day one was the difference. I did feel I had a good plan and fished a clean tournament. That doesn't make me feel any better as this one is going to sting for a while. Luckily Leech Lake is only 3 weeks away. I have never fished Leech but I am anxious to try some things I have learned over the years on Lake Mendota. Keep an eye on my Facebook Page, Roy Vivian, for updates.

NWT Sturgeon Bay Pre-Fishing Recap

I had high hopes for the NWT Sturgeon Bay tournament. I was fishing alone and with the tournament boundaries stretching from the southern end of Door County all the way to Death's Door on the northern tip. That meant I had to cover a lot of water as efficiently as possible. My plan was to stay north and hope the fish had migrated to their late summer home.

Day 1

The final day of the AIM tournament was underway out of Oconto. Despite the forecast for 3-5 ft. waves with some to 8 ft. I decided to go north and stay out of the way of the AIM anglers. This turned out to be a mistake as I did not get much accomplished. I marked a lot of bait and some fish but did not catch a fish.

Day 2

Because I wasn't on a team it was really important that I had someone with me so I could get more lines out which allowed me to experiment with colors, depths, presentations etc. I had a friend of mine from Madison, Scott, with me on Saturday and Sunday and on Sunday we added the son of a co-worker of Scott's. Richard will be a freshman at UW Superior where he says he is majoring in Walleyes and Whitetails.  We put Richard through Walleyes 101 on the bay.

We went south and found plenty of drum but no walleyes. Part of majoring in Walleyes is dealing with sheepshead so we made Richard reel in everyone! He didn't seem to mind but we need to find walleye's. After a few stops we started marking fish and caught one 18" walleye. We set up a little deeper and then it was on.

We were pulling crawler harnesses and were able to identify colors with the biggest fish coming on a certain depth. The depth we targeted was just above the fish we were marking. Although the other baits did catch fish I felt like I was honing in on a pattern.

Our best 5 were all over 27" with the exception of one 26-1/2. I have fished this area before and fishing can seem so easy and the next day is another story so I hoped to find something up north but at least I had a spot with big fish. I slept pretty good Sunday night.

Day 3

I fished with an old co-worker of mine and we went north. I was surprised to find water temp in the low 70's. Due to changing winds temperatures in the southern bay were all over the place, when we found the warmer water we found the walleyes. 

The wind was perfect as I checked areas I caught fish last Labor Day weekend. There is a ton of structure and I covered as much as I could. I did mark a fair amount of bait and a few fish but nothing like I did down south. We lost 2 fish that I think were nice walleyes but the rest were sheepshead. I decided to spend the afternoon between Sturgeon Bay and Egg Harbor with nothing to show for the effort. In retrospect I wish I would have stayed north of Egg Harbor.

Day 4

A small craft advisory was issued for the bay. Winds were out of the NW at 20-30 MPH with gusts higher. I wasn't going to fish but the thought of sitting around the hotel all day got the best of me. I only fished from 9 to 2 and I was happy I had one fish on. I never felt unsafe, thanks to my Lund but the conditions were not the best. I didn't accomplish anything fishing wise but it beat sitting around the hotel.

Day 5

I wanted to fish north so bad but I chickened out. I wasn't confident that I could put something together up north especially when the fishing was so easy on Sunday. I decided to go all in on the south bite and would spend the next two days trying to hone in the pattern.

One of my favorite things about fishing tournaments is you get to meet some great people. I shared the boat with one of my co-anglers from last year, Sargeant Richard Wright who serves in the National Guard. Rich is character and we have a similar sense of humor. It also helps he brings beef jerky!

We tried a couple of different spots but the water temps were colder than I liked. I headed over to where I was on Sunday and there was nothing there. Just like years past these fish move. There is no structure and the fish roam around chasing bait fish. Once you found the bait you would see the walleyes with them. In some cases you could see where the walleyes were feeding as the bait fish were scattered instead of in a ball. When we found that we usually hooked up.

Just like Sunday, once we found them the bite was awesome. We had a double of 28's and just after taking a picture we had another one on of that size or slightly bigger that got off. I made Sargeant Rich drop and give me 20 for dumping that one. You hate to lose a fish like that but we knew what was there and we were happy!

Sargeant Rich Drops and Gives Me 20

Even better we were catching are fish quite a ways from other boats. I don't like fishing in big groups and it is always my goal is to find fish away from the crowds. Normally I don't net fish during pre-fishing if I can help it but because we were fishing away from everyone I was able to put the Frabill to use! 

Day 6

I fished the last day of pre-fishing with Rich and Mark Michael, the owner of EZEE Steps. We only had until 2 O'clock so my goal was to hone the pattern and get ready for Friday. We went where the fish were on Sunday, nothing. Next we went where Rich and I got into them, we marked fish but not like the day before. We caught a 28" and a 25" when we moved shallower but I was getting nervous. 

I decided to move to another area. About two miles later I was going about 30 MPH when I noticed a couple of blips on my locator. I slowed down and noticed there were quite a few marks and some bait fish. We set up and made a pass. We caught one big catfish and a drum but I knew there were walleyes in there. We made another pass and we caught two good walleyes. That made me feel better for the tournament. It was clear that fish were moving and all I had to do was spend the time to find them on the electronics and go from there.

I will post the tournament re-cap later in the week. Thanks for reading!