The Mighty Mississippi

The Mighty Mississippi

By Mike Raetz

The Mississippi River, to most, is a very intimidating body of water.  However, what most don't realize is it can be some of the best fishing around, especially when lakes prove tough.  At your fingertips, you have endless miles of great fishing opportunities and a chance to catch a fish of a lifetime. When fishing a river there are 2 main things to look for that will increase your chances for a wonderful day on the water. First and foremost look for slack water. Slack water is a break in the current where an object blocks the flow and slows down a small area to almost no moving water.  These areas will hold fish looking to ambush prey swimming by, particularly brown bass. The next is structure, IE mats of weeds, rock piles and brush. Rocks are a primary area that draw smallmouth to feed on crayfish and small bugs.

Equipment used on the river is very similar to your tackle you would use on any lake. But for your rod and reel set-up a little more bulk is a good idea. Using braided line is better to keep  line from fraying as that will happen given the debris and rocks prevalent in a river. I like to use 15lb all the way to 65lb braided line but a happy medium is to use 25lb test line. For baits it is really pretty simple and don’t over think it. Any weedless style skirted jig with a craw style trailer or topwater frog will do the trick. The weedless style jigs are going to help you get through the rocks and wood without getting hung up so easily. Topwater frogs or perhaps a popper lure are very popular for pulling over thick sets of lily pads and mats of weeds where these fish will go on the warm days looking for shade. Dark colors are best for crawfish trailers and other finesse baits because the clarity is poor. When using a darker bait, choose one with a glitter flake in the lure will allow the fish to see it from farther away giving you the best chance at a bite.

Take these tips and hit the river for some outstanding fishing!

Leech Lake Fishing Report

Leech Lake Fishing Report

Well things are changing all over the lake with bugs still hatching, water temps in the mid  to low 70s,
and tons of perch and minnows swimming throughout the lake.  With all of this, we have found a mixture of results with some days being excellent fishing and other days it being what I call the “walleye grind” on the lake.

The Main Lake Rocks are still producing fish.  Having a staggered bug hatch has helped keep this bite active.  The morning seems to be the best time to be fishing the rocks.  Pulling spinners is the best method and mixing up blade colors has been key.  Dialing in the color with the speed and you will set up a trolling program that will put fish in the boat.  With walleyes actively feeding and moving around, spinners are the ticket in covering water and finding the active schools of fish.  We have found that 1mph to 1.4mph has been the ticket in 16-20ft of water on sunny calm days and 11-14ft of water on windy days.  Annex, Submarine Island, Red Rocks, Pelican Reef, Mokey, Huddles, and West Bar have all produced fish this past week.   If spinners aren’t working, slow down by blowing up a crawler and using a lindy rig to work through the schools of fish.  

Wind Blown points are still producing fish if you get a steady wind from the same direction for a couple

days in a row.  Depending on the conditions, you will need to cover the water column.  On a good windy day, fish are still being caught in 6-8 feet of water pulling lindy rigs with crawlers or leeches.  Stoney, Little Stoney, and Ottertail have all been good.  On calmer days, look to fish the steeper breaks in 14-18ft of water.

Walker and Agency Bays are producing some fish on humps and shoreline breaks.  14-25ft of water has been the ticket pulling lindy rigs with crawlers or sucker minnows have all produced fish.  Also slip bobbering fish in and around cabbage beds or weed edges with a lively leech is also producing fish.  

Continue to be versatile and try fishing new water when you are out there.  Getting away from the fishing pressure like always is a major key to success.

Tight Lines

Leisure Outdoor Adventures







More Pics from the last couple of weeks

Muskie Madness!

                                             Leech Lake            

Oh the Summer Peak Period (Water temps reach mid 70s) is one of the best times of years to put those fish with the biggest teeth in the net!  With the warmer water temps the muskie's metabolism also rises which means they have to feed more often to sustain a diet.  That means fish are active more times throughout the day giving you, the angler, more chances at casting your lure past the top of the line predator.

If you have read anything about chasing muskies in Minnesota Leech Lake is always one that is on top of the list.  There is hundreds upon thousands of spots to fish.  The first thing I always track as a fishing guide on the lake is the bite in the weeds or rocks going?  If the weed bite is strong there are many great long shoreline stretches to focus on.  I spend hours searching on flat calm sunny days looking for fresh cabbage growth.  I mark them out by utilizing my GPS on my Lowrance.  I literally know exactly where my lure is landing with each cast.  If the rocks are hot I will then focus on the main lake rock points and mid lake structure.  Doing the same on calm days I have had these spots marked out for years and unlike the weedgrowth they don't change from year to year.

My go to lure in the summer months is a bucktail.  Last season with no doubt, especially on calm days, we caught way more muskies on smaller bucktails, like my favorite, the Bigtooth Tackle JUICE Mini.  If the wind is rockin we sometimes would up the blade size to the JUICE Mag 8 or 10.  I have two favorite colors the "Halo" and "Honey Bear" color.  They are as natural of a color as it gets.  

One other tip is that we caught several fish, even in flat calm days, during the middle of the day last year.  I think with the given pressure during key times, like sunrise and sunset, fish would get pushed off of the community spots.  Stick with it and keep casting to good spots!  

 

Love the chase,

 

Jeff Andersen

 

                                                                  Mille Lacs Lake

                                                                          

As our summer water temps begin to increase, so does the activity and feeding of the Mille Lacs muskies.  Following the spawn, many of the larger fish in Mille Lacs move out over open water to begin recuperating and feeding.  Due to the vastness and bowl like features of Mille Lacs, these fish become challenging to target and effectively fish.  However, once the waters move into the low to upper 70 degree mark, many of these fish will often begin to show up on predictable weed and rock areas throughout the lake.  Identify the thickest patches and beds of cabbage and other weeds and you can bet there are muskies nearby.  Rocks can also be effective on Mille Lacs throughout the summer months and should not be overlooked.  These areas are often most productive immediately following or during a consistent wind which may move bait up onto the structure.  Focus on identifying the highest “crown” on the reef and start there.

 

Summer time muskie fishing on Mille Lacs allows anglers to use a variety of presentations but undoubtedly one of the most effective and exciting is topwater.  Walk the dog and prop style baits are great choices.  The other top producers are always in- line spinners in a variety of blade sizes.  Painted blades appear to outproduce metallic blades on cloudy days but experimenting is always required.  Other daytime favorites include rubber baits such as Bulldawgs as well as jerk and crank baits.  These baits all appear to increase dramatically in effectiveness when they are fished in a fashion where they make contact with the structure.  Mille Lacs lake muskies are notorious for pulling a Houdini act during much of the day, making the saying, “The night time is the right time,”  even more true.  Large in-line spinners and slow moving topwaters are always top choices for night bites.  Mille Lacs Lake offers some of the greatest trophy class fish found throughout MN and the entire country.  Take the time to learn a specific section or area of the lake and your rewards might be huge.

 

Go find your trophy!

 

Jim Kath

Bass Bonanza!

Bucketmouths on Leech Lake

John Janousek

Leech Lake is one of Minnesota’s best largemouth bass lakes.  Leech has long been known to hold large numbers as well as trophy sized largemouth bass.

Fishing for Bass on leech is a bit different than many other lakes or regions.  Leech lake bass live in shallow water period!  Occasionally some bass will be caught in deeper water but most bass on Leech are caught in less than 4 feet of water.  

Just Another Awesome Week on Leech Lake

Just Another Awesome Week on Leech Lake

The Brian Cook Group with Guides Toby Kvalevog, Jason Freed, and Perry Good.  Special Thanks to NWT Pro Perry Good for letting us partake in this awesome weekend with this incredible group of guys.

Eric Holst and His Son with an awesome morning

Thing have changed since the Opener and Mother Nature has had a lot to do with that. 

What we found this weekend was water temps had dropped in throughout the lake anywhere from 3-6 degrees due to the cold weather and rain we had last week.  That played a role in the fishing this past weekend, but the name of the game was to adjust your game plan and get away from what may be the “traditional” early season walleye patterns. 

Leech Lake Walleye Fishing Opener Smack Down

My Office for the Season.  Lund - Mercury

The Minnesota fishing opener has come and gone and did not disappoint!  The Leisure Outdoor Fishing Guide Team spent the weekend on Leech Lake and Mille Lacs.  This is the time of season to get in on the best walleye bite of the season!

Out of The Box For Opener...

 OPENER IS HERE!!!! Well almost, only a week away.  However, I guarantee every fisherman/gal is especially jacked this year!  A normal ice out pattern, that has been preceded by 2 nuclear winters, allowed the anticipation to build for weeks and are we ready! Boat is rigged, rods are rigged, cooler is packed, just one more week of work before you head to your favorite opening lake. 

Now for the potential, and I stress, potential bad news...We share this glorious world with Mother Nature and, from time to time, she likes to let us know who is in charge.  We know what weather we want, partly cloudy, Northwest wind blowing at 10-15 MPH, high 50's maybe 60's.  But, what if opening day brings a massive cold front, after a week of 60's, opening day high 42 degrees.  Or perhaps it is a blue bird, no wind, no clouds, high in the 60's, but no sign of the walleye chop that will provoke those finicky walleyes to be in a feeding mood.  No matter, there are fish to be caught and you will be out there.

Springtime is finally here and the ice fishing season is over for me.  My Clam fish shack is packed away until next year and my Vexilar is getting ready to be mounted on the boat.   Yes, the ice is still fishable and fish can still be caught, but I couldn’t get the visions of hooking up with a Lake Superior steelhead out of my mind. 

This occasion was special, because I had put the annual journey with my father aside for a few years.  Working many jobs, earning a new graduate degree, and helping my amazing wife raise our young family has taken priority. 

Dad with a steelhead around 28 inches

However, this year I was lucky enough to sneak away for the 2015 Wisconsin inland trout opener with my old man.  This year was important because he had some health issues in the spring of 2014 that limited his passion for these chrome missiles.  Needless to say, it was more about the father son outing than just going out to catch fish!