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Posts: 239
Location: Illinois | My family and I are taking a last minute trip to Leech Lake. We will be staying in steamboat bay I believe. It’s a family trip so I’m not sure a guide will be in the cards for the few days we are there, but if anyone can offer me any insight it would be much appreciated!
Thanks!! |
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Posts: 833
| I've stayed in that area a few times. There are not a lot of weeds in Walker Bay due to the rusty crayfish. You'll need to user your electronics to find what little is there. The three main points in Walker Bay all are worth exploring. Kabekona Bay is a good place to get to know as it is smaller so you can more easily explore it. It will also be a gentler fish if you get big winds.
Agency Narrows is also a good place to explore, lots of diverse structure to be fished in there.
The various humps in Walker Bay can be vertically jigged. Use your electronics, you'll see the arcs come up to take a look at your offering, which can be fun.
If you find masses of fish in an area, definitely fish it. Given the lack of weed cover, the food itself can be considered the structure.
Plenty of good walleye spots around that area to be had as well. |
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Posts: 793
Location: Ames, Iowa | To add a point to Brad's post, I'd suggest you troll those humps in Walker Bay. GPS will show those to you and you can make a run from one to another. They top out in 32-35 fow. I use 9 inch Slammers that get down to 16 feet at 3.5 mph. I'd suggest deeper diving cranks too. Tullibees and perch will be nearby so muskies may be on the humps or between the humps. Either way they will be looking up at your baits. The water in the bay is often so clear that you will be able to see muskies swim up behind your baits if you have 40-60 feet of line out with a 16 foot deep bait. Try different lengths behind the boat. Also if you want to fish the bullrushes try the Agency Narrows. There is a decent weedbed on an east/west tongue of shallow water south of Agency Bay Lodge right inside the Roosevelt Canal. There are big fish everywhere on this lake so don't be afraid to fish what looks good.
Edited by djwilliams 7/16/2019 10:09 PM
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Posts: 239
Location: Illinois | Thanks guys! I really appreciate the insight. Hopefully I will stick a couple, or better yet, get my kids on their first musky! I will report back! |
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Posts: 173
Location: Minnesota | Anyone have recent water temps?
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Posts: 386
| Muskyhunter10 - 7/17/2019 2:04 PM
Anyone have recent water temps?
HOT |
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Posts: 162
Location: Chicago, IL | Was out there for a day on 7/5 on my way up to Canada. 73 surface temps. Friend said there have been some big blows since then. We got one fish out on a reef. Few small follows in the weeds and one confirmed Musky strike in the weeds. Hope the winds stay calm for you so you can get out and fish effectively. |
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Posts: 1264
Location: Walker, MN | Water is 75-81 depending on location and time of day. |
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Posts: 59
| The first thing I would do would be to go to Reeds in Walker, MN. They sell Hot Spots Maps of Leech Lake. The staff there is very friendly and helpful. They'll go over the map with you and mark up some community spots. This is as good a place to start as any. I'm probably showing my age a bit by recommending paper maps, but I still prefer them to all of the GPS, digital gadgets, and cell phone apps that are out there.
To echo what others have said, Walker Bay has some great muskies fishing...if you can find them. That's the tough part. Walker Bay is a giant fish bowl that reaches depths of well over 100'. This is a very different type of fishing. You won't have to worry about looking for weeds in Walker because there are very few if any at all. I'm not sure if this is a byproduct of the rusty crayfish or just the nature of the bay.
My experience on Walker, all be it limited to a few fall trips, is locating areas where the water quickly transitions from a few feet to dozens of feet within a cast length or two. One place that exemplifies this is the area around the Walker Marina. If your standing in your boat and looking at the marina, to the right of you is sand beach with water depths anywhere from 3-5 feet that goes out about 200 yards then all of a sudden it drops off to 75+ feet of water. I would fish these shallow areas in low light conditions (i.e. early morning, sundown, and overcast). During daylight hours I might try trolling these break lines as well as the deep water adjacent to it.
There are a lot of humps throughout Walker Bay as well. With the aid of a lake map and some sort of electronics, they're fairly easy to find. You can cast them or troll them. You can countdown baits over them as well, especially if they're really deep. Another option is vertical jigging. I've always wanted to try jigging Bondy Baits over those humps, but have never gotten around to it.
One warning about Walker Bay is that it can get nasty in a hurry. The closest I've ever come to dying was trying to cross Walker with a sustained 25 MPH wind and four foot whiteys. Pay extremely close attention to the weather if you're going to be out on Walker Bay. It can turn on a dime.
Kabekona Bay is a one trick pony in my opinion. It's got some decent weeds and reeds all the way in the back, but it's the rock reef near the front that is the money spot. Being a rock reef, it usually only turns on during low light conditions.
For my money Agency Bay and Agency Narrows are the most intriguing spots on that side of the lake. It's got a little bit of everything. It's got weeds (at least it used to), humps, flats, shallow to deep water transition areas, and reeds. It's a heck of a lot easier to learn than Walker Bay and it's much better protected from the wind.
Hope this helps. |
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Posts: 239
Location: Illinois | I really appreciate you guys giving me some info. I’Ve predominately been fishing, without 4-5 kids in the boat, from 5-10am. I spent almost the whole morning in agency narrows and some time in agency bay. The contour changes are unreal. Most of my musky experience is from Eagle, where you don’t have to look far to visually find structure. I have tonight and tomorrow to put it together. From what I’ve seen from other musky boats, is that they have been fishing secondary structure predominantly. I haven’t seen anyone up close in the reeds or shallow weeds. I’ve thrown it all, but mostly DDD’s, depth raiders, and bucktails when I find weeds in 7-12 feet of water. I haven’t developed a pattern yet, besides reaffirming (according to my wife) that musky fishing is soooo dumb! It only takes one cast though, so I will keep after it!!
Thanks again! |
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