Well walleye season is in the books and the winter season is slowing creeping away which means spring and open water is just around the corner. This past weekend not only marked the end of walleye season, but also the 38th annual Eel Pout Festival.
This year’s event came with some restrictions for folks, but as a whole still many had a great time. Our Leech Lake Guide Service, runs the tournament portion of the event and this year we decided it was time to change things up.
Stage all set up for the Festivities
For many years, the fishing part of the event has been about catching and keeping as many eel pout as possible With pout fishing have taken off in popularity in the last five years, and us feeling it was time to be proactive we decided to establish a four fish limit. This not only cut down on the amount of fish being brought it, but it also created a much more competitive tournament amongst its participants.
Overall we weighed around 300 eel pout and saw some impressive eel pout come in. You can get all of the results at https://www.eelpoutfestival.com/leaderboard/. This year we used a new tournament program brought to us by Hendri at Smokey Hills, and it worked awesome.
Finding Eel Pout
Kiss the Pout for Good Luck
Some of the best eel pout fishing is still be to had because they are one of the first fish to spawn and will do so under the ice. The next couple of weeks can result in some of the best eel pout fishing because the fish are actively moving towards the shallows. Fishing them with a heavy 1oz glow spoon and tipping the treble with three minnows is the ticket. Size, profile, glow, and scent are all attractants to this underwater predator. Look to areas that have steep breaks within Walker, Agency,
Kabekona Bays as well as looking at areas on the main lake that have gravel and rock structure. Leech has some dandy eelpout in it, just remember like every other fish to use selective harvest and catch and release when fishing for them. Our hope is the new format of the tournament will not only encourage this during those three days, but also year round
Winning Eel Pout for 2017
Looking for Perch?
Otherwise the report for the rest of the lake centers around jumbo perch and panfish. The Jumbos are starting to show up more. Look to large expansive flats around Sand Point as well as the areas around Goose Island and up in Sucker Bay. Anywhere from 6-12ft of water is a good starting point with the key finding those depressions in the flats as well as weeds or sand/weed transitions. Jigging spoons tipped with minnow heads or full minnows work well, as well as a glob of wax worms. Don’t be afraid to set out a dead stick when working the areas over. This helps give you an idea of where the fish are moving at times.
Panfish Report
For panfish the shallow bays of Steamboat, Boy, Millers, Uran, and Sucker Bays are all good places to start your chase for Leech Lake crappies and Gills. Fishing weed edges or pockets are good places to start. Tungsten jigs with plastics or small jigging spoons are the go to. As the ice begins to melt 
this is some of the best times to be chasing big crappies and gills on Leech. These fish are hungry and active. Much like the eel pout they are vulnerable to being caught in numbers so be conservative and keep only what you need. Preserving the fishery is important to the future of our lake.
Until next week
Jason Freed
Leisure Outdoor Adventures
