Big Week End on Leech

[Murph!]

The big Leech Lake Walleye Tournament starts on Saturday June 5th. There are 120 boats entered this season. Come to the Walker City Park for the weigh in, you will see a lot of nice fish. Good luck to all anglers. If you are not fishing the tournament keep an eye out for tournament boats, you may learn some new spots, they are on the fish for the most part.

For some including me, this week end marks the beginning of the real fishing season, Muskie opener is Saturday. Looking forward to a good season with the early warm water. Reports to follow.

[GradyJ]

So how does that tourney affect those of us coming up this weekend? I'm not sure that 's a good thing to have another 120 boats on the lake competeing with my "average" finhing skills. Looks like there is a lot of rain forecast for the upcoming week. I'll look on the positve side and say that's way better than clear sunny days.

[Spitnargue]

This weekend sounds like a great opprotunity to pick up some helpful info on walleye fishing Leech Lake.Try making the best of the situation and follow some of the big guns around, mark a few new spots and go to the weigh in to hear about the techniques of the top 10 teams.

[DUCKHTR]

Hello Murph,

New to the area with a few questions re the walleye tournaments. Do the tournament fishermen follow the "slot" and release the 18-26 inch fish immediately or do they get to keep them until the tournament is over?

Also, in walleye tournaments are the fish that are brought into the "weigh-in" generally released or are they kept to eat?

Finally, are the fish that are brought in to the weigh-in that are released, do they go back to the area of the lake from which they came or are they generally all released at the weigh-in site?

Would you expect walleyes to migrate back to the part of the lake from which they came or if they were released at the ramp in Walker is it likely that all or most of them stay in the Walker area of Leech?

Thanks for your input.

DUCKHTR

[Murph!]

The tournament anglers are bound by the same laws that average anglers are. All fish in the slot, 18 to 26 inches must be released immediately. Per state rules each angler can have one fish over 26 Inches. The goal of each 2 man team is to weigh 2 fish, one for each angler over 26 inches and have the largest 3 fish under 18 inches. Each team could weigh a total of 5 fish per day of the tournament. I believe the winning team had 33 plus pounds for a 2 day tournament, averaging 3.3 lbs per fish.

All the fish are released after weigh in. Most fish make it, some do not. I do not know if the fish return to the area they were caught. If there is enough food in Walker Bay I would assume they would remain in the Bay. It would be interesting to place some type of tracking device in the fish to study their activity after release.

Hope this helps.