Lake Leelanau
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Lake Leelanau Fishing Reports
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Reports from all past years within a 60-day time frame
Species
Smallmouth BassSeason
Spring (Pre-Spawn)
Technique
Soft Swimbaits (Sm/Md)
Structure
Points
Forage
Minnows
Species
Smallmouth BassSeason
Fall
Technique
Ned Rigs
Structure
Brush Piles
Forage
Crawfish
I was getting nothing working the ledges with crank baits and drop shotting. In an effort to get some fish in the kayak I switched to the Ned rig and went shallow. After getting some monster perch around the reeds, I got a few small smallies. I ended up working some of the stumps with a coppertuese Ned rig with a chartreuse head and got a fair amount of smallmouth in the boat. I should point out the weather was consistent over a few days. It was pretty sunny and fairly windy the entire time. The lake was new to me but I only worked the middle of the lake on the west shore. I think I would’ve had better luck on the south end of the lake but pedaling down there wasn’t in the cards for me this time.
Species
Smallmouth BassSeason
Spring (Pre-Spawn)
Technique
Tubes
Structure
Laydowns
Forage
Crawfish
Water Temperature
48°
Slick calm conditions and a high sun made the fish really skittish. The water was 48 degrees and slowly climbing in the afternoon. Finding isolated logs was key and getting the tube to hit them was crucial for getting the fish to commit. Being able to make really long cast with the heavy tube and staring up the sediment on the bottom was the best way to trigger the fish to commit.
Species
Smallmouth BassSeason
Spring (Pre-Spawn)
Technique
Hard Jerkbaits
Structure
River Channels
Light winds with a water temp in the high 40's had fish starting to push up into 8-12 foot of water. They wouldn't fully commit to a swimbait but had no issues connecting with a jerk bait. They key was getting the jerk bait to touch and rip out of the tops of the grass that the fish were relating to.
Species
Smallmouth BassSeason
Spring (Spawn)
Technique
Drop Shot
Structure
Ledges
Water Temperature
54°
Smallies were starting to move and bed.
Species
Smallmouth BassSeason
Spring (Post-Spawn)
Technique
Topwater Walking
Structure
Ledges
Forage
Minnows
First time fishing Lake Leelanau. Fished seemed to be mostly post-spawn. Fished June 9th-11th, 2022. Did find one fish on a bed. Throughout all 3 days the bite window seemed to be extremely small. Morning bite seemed to hit from 5-6 a.m. Fishing top water we had success with a sexy dawg jr. We tried buzz baits and poppers as well and had little to zero bites. Fish really seemed to love that erractic action. Throughout the rest of the day until the evening we would try 5xd cranks, tubes on the bottom, and flukes high in the water column. We had some success with these baits. The evening bite seemed to turn on around 9p.m. until 10. We even had walleye hitting the sexy dawg jr, which I did not think was possible. Haha. Fish would hit the top water in 2ft to 10ft of water. It was really hard to figure out a pattern but this is what we had success on. Biggest bass of the trip was a 5.5 lb smallie caught on a sexy dawg jr on that morning bite. Most bass were in that 2 to 3.5 lb range. Good luck and tightlines!
