Leech Lake Northern Pike Slot
The 2005 Leech Lake fishing regulations — which have been in place since that year — limit each angler to a total of 4 walleye. In addition, anglers were required to immediately release any walleye measuring between 20 and 26 inches, and only one walleye over 26 inches could be included in a total of 4.
Leech Lake Fishing Tip. One of the most productive presentations has been a 48” gold spinner on a 1 ½ or 2 oz. Bottom bouncer with a Berkley Power Worm or Gulp crawler in natural color. Dusk into dark is an extremely productive time, but cranks will work all day long also. More Information: Bass Bluegill/Sunfish Crappie Eelpout Muskie. Pine Mountain Lake is a 1,567 acre lake located on the west side of Backus, MN. There is a public access located in a city park on the east shore of the lake. Pine Lake is a very good lake for walleye and northern pike. There are some nice-sized northern pike here too. For bass anglers, largemouth bass are available. The primary species of fish that most anglers come to Leech Lake are walleye, northern pike and muskie. All 3 species are here in good enough numbers for anglers to target them and catch them. There are some trophy-sized fish here too for all 3 species of fish. This lake has such a diverse fishery. Leech Lake is Minnesota’s third largest lake; it covers 112,000 acres of water and 180 miles of shoreline. It is known for world class fishing of walleye, muskie, northern pike, bass, crappie and jumbo perch. We will help guide you to the hot spots and if you want an on-water guide, just let us know and we will arrange it for you.
Well, it’s been an interesting week, instead of the cooler temps and rain we’ve grown accustomed too we’ve been hit with blue bird skies and temperatures in the 80’s making it feel more like July or August. It has pushed water temps into the upper 60’s and even some areas are getting over 70, but I can’t complain, well maybe a little. Warm weather such as this tends to send more people to the pool than walleye fishing, but nonetheless they are still trying.
Pictured below from L to R: Celia Gant from Minneapolis, MN – Zane Riediger from Wakonda, SD with his grandpa Doug behind- Jake Osterberg and his father Dennis from Belvidere, IL – all modeling beautiful mid 20 inch slot fish, the lake is loaded with these size fish, they bring a smile out of everyone.
Even though conditions may not be prime for walleye fishing there are still fish being caught you’re going to need to take advantage of low-light periods to get them, we had a full moon this past weekend and anglers that did some night fishing had the best return on their fishy investment.
If walleye is your target species there are a few areas that I would recommend. First off, use live-bait, there are still shiner minnows available and as I’ve always said “if we have shiners, use them” this time of year gets harder and harder to keep them alive, but they are far and away the best choice when it comes to live bait, in a tie for second place i would grab leeches and night crawlers and tie on a lindy rig and drag them across the bottom all the while experimenting with different color blades and beads. With your bait of choice in hand head to the south shore of the main lake from Marshal Point just south of the resort all the way east to Bungy Bay there is more structure, humps and bumps with gravel and rock piles down there then you’ll ever be able to fish, watch your sonar and only fish the spots that you mark fish.
Pictured below from L to R: Kristen Roux from St. Louis, MO her grandmother from PA and her brother Danny, all smiles with grannies big pike! another shot of Kristen this time with a mammoth small mouth – The Roux boys Mitch, Danny, Nick and Stan and lastly a father-daughter photo of Stan and Kristen.
Now if action is more of what you’re looking for tie on a crank bait (shad rap or flicker shad) and head out to the mid-lake rock reefs, Northern Pike have been on a literal tear. Limits upon limits of pike have been coming in, not many record breakers, but all have been in the 3 pound and up range, which really makes for a good eater. We continue to offer free fish filleting service here at Big Rock, so bring them in, we’ll get dirty for you.
Pictured below from L to R: Mike Rogers from Fort Dodge, IA – Justin Rogers from Des Moines, IA with his father Mike – Jonah Rogers from Des Moines, IA and a shot of clan Rogers – Mike, Justin, Jonah, Dorothy and Don. From slot fish to eater pike, night trolled walleye and our harbor rock bass stocking program (not pictured) they have done it all so far this trip.
Thursday night of last week we were just missed by a severe thunderstorm and though the skies were a tad on the spooky side Walleyes decided it was time to eat, the image below is a screen shot of Justin’s phone in which he was letting his sister in-law know what she was missing. look at the time stamps on the fish that he and his father were catching, pretty awesome!
Leech Lake Northern Pike Slot Tournaments
Justin is our web developer and photographer, he is responsible for the many outstanding photo’s that have been and his family have been coming to Big Rock for almost 30 years and we are over the moon that they chose our resort to be the place that they are expecting their first child, I heard they are having a boy and are leaning towards naming him Ray, sounds good to me! congrats from everyone at Big Rock Resort!
Pictured below the expecting couple: Justin and Jonah Rogers.
Featured image up top is courtesy of Rogers Photography – Justin was standing in the rocks along our shoreline looking south to capture the stunning rising moon.
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There is more to say about fishing Leech Lake than there is space available here. Its diverse natural habitat create ideal conditions for spawning and growth of many game fish species.
The Department of Natural Resources stated, “Based on current data, there is an increasing abundance of walleye and northern pike in Leech Lake, both in quantity and size of fish.”
Northern Pike Slot On Leech Lake
There is also excellent fishing for muskie, large mouth bass, perch and crappie. Kids can be successful fishing right off the harbor docks, the channel or lakeshore.
NEW IN 2019: Leech Lake no longer has a protected walleye slot limit – you can still keep up to 4 walleye per person, but only 1 greater than 20″ in length. For more information on this new regulation, click here.
NEW IN 2018: The northern pike possession regulation has increased from 3 per person to 10! However, there is now a slot limit, meaning any pike caught in the 22-26″ range must be released. You may only keep 2 over the 26″ size. For more information, click here.