Leech Lake — Trader's Bay to GrandVu, Nine to Twelve

Leech has so many bays that I once spent a whole morning “running to the next spot” and came home having mostly fished the inside of my own windshield. This week’s public note at least hands us a short list.

The walleye map, shrunk down

The Oct. 7 Bemidji Pioneer weekly, with Reed’s Sporting Goods as the Leech contact, puts walleyes in 9 to 12 feet at:

• Trader’s Bay
• around Goose Island and Bear Island
• across GrandVu Flats

Bait is simple: a jig with a nightcrawler or a minnow. That’s a little shallower than the 10–15 foot rocks-and-wind-points call on our Oct. 2 card, and it adds Trader’s Bay and GrandVu to the roll call. Same lake, slightly different neighborhood.

Perch: up near Walker

Perch are best in 5 to 8 feet north of Walker Narrows, in Agency Bay, and off Sand Point. Somewhere a garage freezer just cleared a shelf on hope alone.

Muskies and panfish

• Muskies: shallow rocks with bucktails are still the best bet.
• Panfish: anywhere cabbage or sand grass is still green, especially Boy Bay, Steamboat Bay, and Sucker Bay. Once those weeds go brown, so does the party, so this is a while-it-lasts deal.

Two things worth slowing down for

The same column says some area lakes are turning over, which can make the bite tougher for a couple of days. It doesn’t name Leech specifically, so read that as a regional heads-up, not a Leech diagnosis.

It also asks folks to respect deep-water crappies: fish pulled from deep basins usually don’t survive being released, so once you’ve got a meal or your limit, quit that spot. That’s not a rule we’re adding. It’s just good manners toward a lake that feeds a lot of people.

Fine print

This is one weekly roundup line for a very big lake. No counts, no water temps given, so we’re not adding any. Confirm current MN DNR regs before harvest.

Sources

• Weekly Fishing Report: October brings hungry fish, quiet lakes, Dick Beardsley, Bemidji Pioneer (Oct. 7, 2026)
• Prior card: Leech Lake — October Midday, Rocks Still Leading