Going Green in Gold Country

In Minnesota, fishing revolves around one thing: walleyes. After all, it’s called Walleye Country for a reason. If bass come up, it’s smallmouths.

So I was a little surprised to hear the chatter going on at the National Guard FLW Walleye Tour event at Leech Lake. Not that it was about bass, but that it was about largemouths and how good the fishing was on Leech Lake.

So on our down day, FLW engineer Dave Likens and I decided to do a little bass fishing.

Our morning started off with a lot of wind and a little rain – pretty standard for Leech. The problem is, on Leech even a little wind can make you feel like a rag doll in a dryer. So our first stop was in a small cove protected from the elements, and the fish were chomping. Unfortunately, they were the toothy variety: Pike. After they tore up a number of spinnerbaits and Yamamoto Senkos, we decided there had to be a better bay with more of the right green species. A move across Walker Bay into Steamboat Bay, where a local had told us we could find what we were looking for, did the trick.

After fighting a few mechanical issues, we made our way to a point covered in isolated reeds and doubled our first cast. Game on! Using weightless Senkos, we managed about 40-50 bass in the next 4 hours. Dave and I each had a 20-pound limit of our best five and figured to have at least caught one more 20-pound sack. In all, about 15 of those fish were at 4-pounds or even slightly better. And all this on the cusp of a cold front, with temps in the high 50’s following a 97-degree day. We were proud of our accomplishment!

Eager to tell our tale, we started talking to local legend and host of the National Guard FLW Walleye Tour Chip Lear. He congratulated us, and then he deflated us. Apparently, there had been a tournament held there two weeks prior where it took 32 pounds to win. In fact, he and his partner finished 7th and they had almost 28 pounds.

Our hearts dropped. Here we were thinking we had dominated the lake and the bass, only to find out we would probably have finished middle of the pack in that tournament. Being in the business of tournament fishing, we pride ourselves with doing well. So through dinner and into the night I kept thinking of why we hadn’t done better.

We met the next morning for take off, and Chip and Dave were still talking about the legendary 32-pound sack. Shaking his head in disgust, Chip finally reached a hand to Dave’s shoulder and said “Dave, did I mention that in Minnesota you can keep eight fish?”

Eight fish?! That means the winning team had a 4-pound average. The world was right again! We caught what would have rivaled the win. And to think that a northern fishery can produce such quality and quantity of bass makes me proud to be a Yankee.