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| Due to the COVID our LOTW trip was cancelled just like everyone else. My buddy has a place on Leech so we decided to pound Leech for a week instead of our annual Canada trip.
We were very surprised at the amount of musky boats out there fishing. Although we really had nothing to compare it to since we hadn’t ever tried to fish the lake for a week before.
I saw a comment on the Canadian border post about there being 8 boats on North Bar last Monday night. It’s true. We saw it.
Very easy to see that the wind dictates pressure on Leech. Nice calm night Sub and Annex are crawling with boats. But we found even a moderate wind of like 6-8 MPH keeps people off Sub and Annex at dusk.
For anyone willing to comment we would love to know if last weeks musky traffic is “normal” or higher than normal due to covid?
Side note we got cut off worse than ever in 20 years of musky fishing. We set up just west of Stoney point working our way no more than 50 yards from the point and a what looked to be a guide boat and follow boat pulled right onto the point and started fishing.
Don’t get me wrong. I’ve been cut off before many times on many lakes but I think this one takes the cake. We were shocked. We held our arms up like “what are you doing!” They wouldn’t even look at us which leads me to believe they know they were in the wrong. Ugh
Midge
Edited by MuskyMidget 7/28/2020 11:39 PM
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| Did you do any good? |
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Location: Chisholm, MN | It’s not normal. Pressure can be high but nothing like this year. Complete zoo |
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Posts: 925
| We have 20 years of data for LOTW and only 1 week of data for Leech. But based on our 1 week of data on Leech, Leech is less than half the production of LOTW.
Problem is, we don't know if we had a good, average, or bad week on Leech. Our production on Leech would be considered a below average/bad year on LOTW.
Edited by MuskyMidget 7/29/2020 10:37 AM
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Location: Leech Lake, Walker MN | You can not compare leech to lake of the woods ! |
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Location: Chisholm, MN | MuskyMidget - 7/29/2020 9:52 AM
We have 20 years of data for LOTW and only 1 week of data for Leech. But based on our 1 week of data on Leech, Leech is less than half the production of LOTW.
Problem is, we don't know if we had a good, average, or bad week on Leech. Our production on Leech would be considered a below average/bad year on LOTW.
What Don said, you cannot compare any Minnesota lake to lake of the woods. Lake of the woods is one of the best lakes in the world. Leech is a good lake for Minnesota...if the pressure isn’t so high. |
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| I know we can’t compare Leech to LOTW. But someone asked if we did any good so I tried to explain.
My question and main point of the original post was if Leech was overly crowded due to COVID or if that’s normal summer musky traffic. |
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| I fish leech quite a bit. With nice conditions it is common to have 3-5 boats on each popular reef, (sometimes more). Keep in mind leech lost the majority of its weed beds due to the rusty crayfish and the boats need to go somewhere. The lake fishes much smaller with the loss of cabbage (rustiies) and bullrushes (fisherman). If you are looking to get away from traffic and choose to fish July-September, Leech might not be for you. |
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Location: Minnesota. | Thanks "Midge". Sorry to hear about your travails out there. There's not much of anything worse than rude people in any sport and fishing is among the most irritating...
Jeremy. |
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Posts: 358
| one thing ive learned over the years on mn lakes is to fish the best spot on a spot first...then fish off of it. this helps protect from cutoff syndrome.
I'd say your experience is pretty common. And i'd also suggest to just fish right through it, dont turn off of the spot, i have caught enough fish behind someone to brush it off pretty much.
If you had a tower cam at Stoney or similar large main lake spots you might see somebody fishing it most times of the day, but fish can show up at these spots any time so its always worth fishing them imho. |
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| not 100% of the time but more so then not,,,guy in front has on a bucktail,,guy in back has on a bulldawg or spinning prop topwater their fishing way too fast,,
you have to throw something opposite. |
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| pete619 - 7/29/2020 3:00 AM
Did you do any good?
Must have got skunked. Did not ever answer. |
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| Did not get skunked. 48, 46.5 and 3 sub 40s. Didn’t think our catches mattered when the point of the post was if the pressure was normal or extra pressure due to COVID.
Thanks for pointing that out though Musky Gal
Edited by MuskyMidget 8/1/2020 10:33 PM
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Location: Chisholm, MN | Muskie Gal - 8/1/2020 7:41 PM
pete619 - 7/29/2020 3:00 AM
Did you do any good?
Must have got skunked. Did not ever answer.
Why do you need to know so badly? |
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Edited by bturg 8/3/2020 4:05 PM
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| I also went to leech instead of lotw. fishing was good and caught some great fish. but it was busy. as many as 10 boats fishing the same weed flat. looked like a lot of guides |
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Location: Ames, Iowa | I just got home SUnday night from 2 weeks on Leech. Water temps 73 to 76. The wind made it tough to stand up and cast some days. Did a lot more walleye fishing, bait fishing. I do not think the muskie traffic on spots was that bad. Yes there were more guide boats out with multiple clients aboard. One early evening a guide's boat flew into a herd of boats near Bear and set up right in the middle with 2 guys casting away. I got the feeling it was getting near the end of the hire and they were desperate. They blasted off after 10 minutes. Saw boats on Red Rocks right up in the shallow with nothing. Everyone seemed to be running and gunning. I tend to stay off in 9 fow there. There is always a boat on Sub. I was spending my time going after a weed bite, then concentrated on all points I could find- steep and gradual. I could not raise a fish at Pipe or Miller in the bulrushes, or Battle in the weeds. Saw nothing at Pelican or North Bar., or Red Rocks, or any point- except northern and bass. Saw quite a few boats on the beaches, but they did not stay long. I had aggressive follows on Kabekona Bay on the back reef. There are big fish everywhere on that lake, but not for me that trip. Maybe mid September when I go for 4 days. BTW, all of the boats on Annex are pulling crankbaits for walleyes in 13-15 fow. |
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Location: Chisholm, MN | djwilliams - 8/15/2020 1:15 AM
I just got home SUnday night from 2 weeks on Leech. Water temps 73 to 76. The wind made it tough to stand up and cast some days. Did a lot more walleye fishing, bait fishing. I do not think the muskie traffic on spots was that bad. Yes there were more guide boats out with multiple clients aboard. One early evening a guide's boat flew into a herd of boats near Bear and set up right in the middle with 2 guys casting away. I got the feeling it was getting near the end of the hire and they were desperate. They blasted off after 10 minutes. Saw boats on Red Rocks right up in the shallow with nothing. Everyone seemed to be running and gunning. I tend to stay off in 9 fow there. There is always a boat on Sub. I was spending my time going after a weed bite, then concentrated on all points I could find- steep and gradual. I could not raise a fish at Pipe or Miller in the bulrushes, or Battle in the weeds. Saw nothing at Pelican or North Bar., or Red Rocks, or any point- except northern and bass. Saw quite a few boats on the beaches, but they did not stay long. I had aggressive follows on Kabekona Bay on the back reef. There are big fish everywhere on that lake, but not for me that trip. Maybe mid September when I go for 4 days. BTW, all of the boats on Annex are pulling crankbaits for walleyes in 13-15 fow.
I can never imagine myself going up to a spot and seeing someone fishing it and just join them. And especially cutting in front of them or starting on the other end and just going right toward them. It happened to me several times out there last weekend. It seems all etiquette is thrown out the window this year. I hope things are different next year but that is not the way northern Minnesota should operate. |
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Location: Elk River, Minnesota | Hiya,
Not sure how many of you are feeling the way I am, but having that many boats around with all of this going on, my interest level has dropped to the point I have only been out a total of maybe 6 hours this year. I'm not one to just hop in line with the rest and don't want to fight crowds for muskies....it's frustrating, can be very challenging (like DJ stated) much of the time contacting fish, and it really takes away from the enjoyment for me. Hoping this fall I might get out as more people change over to bird hunting and the lakes quiet down a bit.
One month to go essentially...
Steve |
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Location: Ames, Iowa | Leech is so big that you can find good spots that have no other boats on em. I put in at Whipolt and had Pipe to myself save for a pontoon and another boat. I think 3 casting away and the driver hunkered down. But they passed over a rocky 8-12 ft flat & the bullrushes & got right up on the little island in 18 inches of water at 3pm. Two boats other than me on North Bar. Same for the entire west side of Pelican. I was the only muskie guy on Kabekona as far as I knew. I had most places to myself. Maybe that's why I caught no fish- maybe I should have followed the crowd. |
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Location: Ames, Iowa | Sorry doubled the post.
Edited by djwilliams 8/15/2020 7:57 PM
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