Leisure Outdoor Adventure guides have had a busy week! We had a week of relatively good weather however its the time of year when lake temps start to drop. Guides were busy on Leech Lake as well as the Brainerd Area Lakes and Hackensack Longville area. As usual the target was walleye, pike, largemouth bass and smallmouth bass.
Lunker walleye!
Leech Lake
Fishing on Leech Lake has been up and down this week. Constant pressure and wind changes have created an up and down bite all week. Water temps have dropped from the high 70’s to the high 60’s and has made for some tougher fishing as of late.
There has still been a decent shallow water weed bite with slip bobbers or Lindy rigs and crawlers early in the morning and late in the evenings. On cloudy days, this bite has proven productive even through the late morning hours. For those fishing middle of the day, try fishing a bit deeper with a big minnow of any kind in depths of 20-30ft in on the breaklines.
Great late-summer walleye!
Use your electronics to spot fish first, then swing back and fish them as slow and finesse as possible. This bite has produced a few big fish this week, along with some bonus big pike, but not many keepers. Warmer stable weather should make things better as we move into late August.
Brainerd Area Lakes
Fishing in the Brainerd area still remains good for a variety of fish. Fishing wind blow weedlines, off-shore humps, or under water points has been the best for walleyes, pike, and bass. 16-28 feet of water has been best with redtail chubs, jigging raps, or slip bobbers and leeches. North Long, Gull, and Whitefish are still the best best to get it on the multi species action.
Largemouth bass were the fish of the day.
Hackensack and Longville Area
We also have been spending quite a bit of time in July and August fishing lakes in the Hackensack and Longville areas. There are tons of lakes within 30 minutes that yield great large and smallmouth bass fishing as well as crappies, pike, and nice walleyes.
For smallmouth, rocky under water points or bars have been best in 14-20 feet of water with drop shot rigs, tubes or wacky rigging. Laremouth are being found in 14-18 feet of water along weed edges. Underwater points and shelfs seem to be best for catching them.
When lindy rigging on these lakes you just don’t know what you are going to catch, so try red tail minnows, crawlers, and leeches and you will catch all kinds of species that make for a great day of rod bending action.
