Only Two Minnows Needed

I ventured out onto the ice on Saturday afternoon, March 12 in hopes of landing just enough perch for a tasty fish dinner. I found a likely spot for perch -- in about 8 to 10 feet of water near a weed edge -- drilled several holes and got down to work.

Because I was fishing solo, I was traveling light. I don't have one of those slick ice shelters that fit onto an Otter sled, so instead, I set up shop in the open, with my back to the wind.

It was a cold day on Leech Lake, no more than 10 or 12 degrees. The wind was blowing at about 15 mph, so with no shelter, I was cold even with my insulated fishing bibs and heavy jacket. Nonetheless, I was on the lake, and enjoying the quiet.

After moving between holes along the weed edge for about an hour -- still no bites -- I decided to resort to "power jigging." This is my attempt to draw fish to an area where they have clearly decided to avoid. Up went my rod tip -- 8 inches or more -- and then drop and hold. Repeat, repeat, repeat. After 10 minutes power jigging I thought I felt a "bump." I slowed my jigging down and waited. When I didn't feel anything I brought my jig to the surface and found my minnow gone. Did I really have a bite? Or, more likely, had my crazy jigging jarred the minnow from the hook? Since there was no way of telling, I'm going with the "bite" theory.

I put a new minnow on jig and set about fishing again. I went another 15 minutes without a bite and decided to move to another location. But once I loaded all my gear back onto the ATV, I decided that a warm fire and a cold beer sounded better at the moment then running to another spot; so I called it a day. An hour and a half on the ice and nothing.

I didn't wander onto the lake on Sunday, but plan to hit the hard water again this coming weekend. Until then, may you have better luck at fishing than I did on Saturday.

Here's a beautiful 50-inch+ Leech Lake muskie taken by legendary guide Al Maas. Look for posts from Al on this blog in the future.
 

One of several jumbo perch landed through the ice of Leech Lake. 

The ice conditions on Leech Lake have firmed up nicely for the removal of permanent houses. The nightmare of slush that stranded houses several weeks ago has firmed up nicely with the recent sub zero weather. In my own experience, it was not too difficult to extract my shack from the frozen surface of the lake. Witht the removal of my permanent house this past weekend, I took the opportunity to search for perch in the deeeper water of Sucker Bay. The results were consistent with all of my ice angling outings thus far this season on Leech ... Nothing. Hope springs eternal in the heart of the ice angler that the lengthening days and warmer weather of March will see the arrival of hungry jumbo perch

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Here's my friend Rick, pictured with Leech Lake guide Al Maas (holding the fish), with a 50" muskie. Rick caught this beauty in September 2003 on a perch-colored spinner bait in the weeds in 3 feet of water.
 

Nice 'Eye

Here's my son Joe with a nice 28" Leech Lake walleye. He caught it last Spring on a Rapala Husky Jerk in 5 feet of water.

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Welcome to Fishing Leech Lake. This new blog has been created for people who want to share information, tips and fishing reports about Leech Lake, located in north-central Minnesota. Please share this blog with your friends and fellow fishermen.

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