Leech was brutal...

[Random guy]

I fished Leech for 25 hours this weekend and nuthin'. I mean no solid follows no hits and definetley no fish in the boat. I lived and guided on Leech for years, I should've been able to find some fish? What I was wondering how was the rest of the State? Any body else have a tough weekend or is it just me? I'm bothered by this, I thought about selling the boat on the way home and taking up crossword puzzles or something.

[porterhouse]

Man that sucks!!!!!! I didn't get out this weekend but I moved some fish on White Bear on Tuesday afternoon and lost a mid 40 incher at boatside.

I'm thinking with these cooler nights were having there should be some movement to shallow water very soon. Boy, I can't wait intil fall!!!!!!!

Brian

[shamalex72]

We fished Alex saturday morning. On the lake at 5am, fished until 10am, not even a follow. As we were leaving another guy was putting in, he said he was on Shaminaue for 4 hours and same thing, nothing.

Today we went smallie fishin' on the river. Had to give the muskies a break.

[JWB475]

Fished Bemidji from 10:30 AM until 10:30 PM on Saturday, other than 2 follows within 10 minutes of each other at 5:00, we had zero action until sunset.

Then at sunset I had one muskie completely miss a Giant Jackpot and then about 50 yards later I blew it when a monster tried to inhale it. The fish was on very briefly, but I set the hook way too soon.

I can't tell you how frustrating it is to fish all day, catch jack squat and then to blow it on the last spot of the day...

So to sum up - 7 hours of nothing, 15 minutes of action with 2 follows, then 2 hours of nothing, followed by 1 miss, and 1 complete melt down...

[Muskydanno]

You're pretty much experiencing the action i had the week before Jon. I worked three 12 hour days for one 46.5 incher. She was pretty rough to us.By far the toughest i have experienced out there in a long time. Hopefully fall brings a change in those fish out there!

[markkstanley]

I least I feel better. Minnetonka continued to mistreat me but it sounds like statewide the bite is lousy. Saved some gas money by staying home.

[Team Northland]

Fished Baby Lake on Saturday, 2 lazy follows from 7am - noon. Moved to Wabedo for the rest of the afternoon. NOTHING!

Sunday, we fished Plantan. from 6:30am - 10:30am. Again 2 follows, small fish again. This day it only took us 4 hours to see 2 fish. Small consulation.

This time of year, where are you concentrating your fishing efforts? Shallow, deep, inside/outside weedline, reeds, rock, humps etc? I've really been having a diffcult time putting hooks into a fish this year.

[CaptainMusky]

That's the exact same results I had on Saturday when I fished Bemidji! :-)

I still think I should have jumped in after that one fish!

[esox addict]

I fished indepoendence on saturday and managed to put a 39 incher in the boat. I missed one other one and had a few more follows. Sunday was a lot tougher though, just one follow.

[mtreno]

sorry boys - boated three yesterday - all under 7 feet of water - sure seemed like fall out there.....

[Random guy]

Sounds like we all had our butts handed to us except mtreno who has burnt up all of his luck for the year. I figured it was bad on the way home yesterday when at 1 in the afternoon there was three of us lined up heading south on 10, all black Stratos 219s with big nets propped against the rod locker and a look like we all just had our dog die. I figured the other two rigs had the same luck I did and gave up and headed for home. It was really a site to see matching boats, matching sunburns, matching bad moods as our single axles swinged from side to side. Kinda looked like that old photo with the vetrans all bandaged up marching to a worn out drum.

[FishingwithJake]

I fished Wabedo all weekend and didn't see or catch a thing. Very frustrating. Other than the wind, weather was nice.

[CommonSense Guy]

It's discouraging to hear that things are dead up North. I am going to be fishing the Longville area Thur-Sat. I hope things start to happen. You don't need to drive all the way up there to put fish in the boat. Except for two weekends this year I have concentrated all my efforts in the metro area. I have 8 in the boat and my partner has 4. Our biggest is 44" so not great, but we have seen seen and missed a lot of fish this year. Some big girls included. Obviously you have to put time in on the water. But I think it helps to be out there during the middle of the week when no one else is. Throw in the right conditions and you will find active fish. I stuck two fish last Sunday in 8 feet of water at 10AM?

I would appreciate any tips for fishing some lakes up near Longville. I have fished them a few times but wondering what happening right now. I will probably be jumping from Little Boy,to Wabedo, to Inguadona. I was wondering what the fish have been relating to.

[jeffro]

Leech has been tough, i have been up there 5 weekends this year and don't have a 40" yet. nothing that has produced fish for me the last 5 years is even showing fish this year. I even spent alot of time last weekend trolling Walker bay. I found alot of bait but no muskies in the boat. I even resorted to walleye fishing saturday night and although my dad and i only caught 2 fish it was better than i did with the muskies. going up again L-Day weekend to beat my head some more.

[CommonSense Guy]

I am not going to try and come up with an explaination. But I hear a lot of guys haveing a tough time. I hope it things heat up this weekend. I am going to spend sun up to sun down on the water.

The fish were active last night ahead of that front. I went out for 2 hours. Saw 6 or 7 fish. Caught a 37. That's 9 fish this year under 38 inches. I guess I shouldn't complain too much but I would trade in a lot of those fish for a pig. I have seen some big girls though.

John have you fished much near Longville?

[half2fish]

at least you guys are not me. i have been fishing muskies on mille lacs for 3 summers. i am 17 years old. this summer i have only got to put in about 50-60 hours on the lake because i have been working 2 jobs. but last summer i put in 100+ hours on the lake. and the summer before just as much. i could count the number of follows i have had on my fingers and toes. and have only hooked one fish. i have tried everything. here is my down points. i can only drift and cast, or troll. i dont have a trolling motor because. i also am only allowed to fish in wahkon bay because i only have a small 14 foot aluminum mirror craft. but still with that many hours in i would think that i should have caught at least 1? oh well. i will just keep at it. good luck everyone.

[Steve Foss]

When I was your age I fished just that way because of the same limitations you have. Now, 25 years later, after fishing in boats with all the bells and whistles and taking weeks off at a time to pursue fish, I still look back on those times as the best years of my life. You are fishing the way musky hunters did 35 years ago, but with better tackle!

Musky fishing is like bowhunting. It's great to bag the 12-pointer or 50-incher, but you can get a lot of reward from just seeing them come in and remembering the temptation on their faces before they turn away from the doe-in-heat scent post or the Jackpot.

I reared back and set the hook hard into a heavy fish on Vermilion last weekend while jerking a small Reef Hawg and felt like I was trying to pull on a stump. Two seconds later the fish released and I never hooked it. Probably clamped its jaws on the wooden lure and I couldn't get a hookset because I couldn't move the lure in its mouth. Then it just opened and said "ahhhhh, you can have your lure back."

Could've been nothing but a 30-inch pike, for all I know, but my imagination of 55-inch fatties keeps me from sleeping nights while I review how that all happened.

[Random guy]

Common Sense shoot me an email or just yell out the window, I'm close enough to hear ya. What Lakes are you fishing? I have fished Ingi alot and spent some time on some of the surrounding lakes. It was hard to fish those little guys when Leech was in my backyard but I could come up with a few ideas.

[WaveWacker]

I know I got in on this late but on the weekend of the 13th I had good luck on Leech. I boated a 48" my partner had one on right by the boat that was all of 50" but the hook came out. Had 4 other follows for the weekend as well. All where nice fish.

[rascalP]

Fished for 4 hrs on a N. metro lake 8/12. My buddy got a 45" and we moved a few more. 8/17, same lake, he got a 43" and I missed another that blew completely out of the water 5ft from the boat. COOL! Not huge fish, but big by our standards. He throws one lure -- MB Topwalker. I throw everything else .

rascal

[wisconsinfish]

I fished leech the 19th thru the 21st and had a little luck. 4 follows and one 43" catch. A few others I talked to had some follows, but nothing special.

[wisconsinfish]

Fished Leech 9-2-05 thru 9-5-05. Bite seems to be picking up a bit. 4 catches and 14 follows. 44,45, and 2-48's. Most of the fish were caught and seen when we had cloud cover and did the best on the weeds.