Points of Interest on Leech Lake you can reach by watercraft

Leech Lake is bigger than big. At some points it's almost 20 miles across, you-can't-see-the-other-side big. You could spend days exploring Leech by boat and never see it all, nor fish in the same square-mile vicinity twice.

Because it's so big, you should take a map with you if you don't have a GPS on your boat or don't know how to use it. Note where Trapper's Landing Lodge is, and develop a plan for your destination and return.

The little island straight out, and a little to the left, from Trapper's Landing Lodge has a name: Pipe Island. Not much there. But this little clump of land can serve as a reference point when you're out on your boat and looking for a landmark to help you identify where Trapper's Landing Lodge is along the shore.

If you leave Trapper's Landing Lodge by boat and follow the shoreline on the right, the first point you'll come to is Diamond Point.
Continuing along you'll eventually come to a narrows between Partridge Point on the right, and Bear Island on the left.

Bear Island
Say you're standing on your patio at Trapper's Landing Lodge, looking out over endless Leech Lake. Now, about three miles out, on the right side, is land that looks like the same lake shoreline that connects around to Trappers. But it doesn't. It's a long strip of land, about 140 acres, called Bear Island, and it is indeed an island. When you head over there with your boat, you'll be able to motor around it. You'll notice there are homes on the island, but no bridges to the mainland. There is no running water or electricity on the island. Bear Island has significant American Indian heritage and because of its location in a warmer lake-effected micro-climate, contains unusual plants. No timber harvesting is allowed.

Battle or Sugar Point
The northern tip of Bear Island points right at the Leech Lake shoreline called Battle Point. In 1898 the 3rd U.S. infantry was attempting to apprehend an Ojibwe chieftain named Bugonaygeshig, who violated the law by conducting a bootlegging operation, but American troops were successfully fought off at this point by Bear Island Pillager Indians.
This last scuffle, called the Battle of Sugar Point, was the location of the last Indian uprising in the United States - the last time the United States Army fought Native Americans. Six U.S. soldiers were killed; ten were wounded. Only one Indian was slightly wounded, and ole chief Buggy was never captured.

Pelican Island
About two miles dead east of Bear Island, smack in the middle of Leech and due north from Trappers is a 100 yard stretch of land called Pelican Island. As you learned in a previous post, Pelican island is where most of Leech's cormorants nest. Pelican is a protected nature reserve and nesting ground for thousands and thousands of birds, including pelicans, sea gulls and the cormorants. It is surrounded by large rocks, so you won't be able to get your boat within a hundred yards. Humans are not allowed on Pelican Island: just birds.

Traders Bay, Agency Narrows
If you pull out of Trapper's Landing Lodge and keep the shore on your left side, the first point you'll come around is Rogers Point. Shortly after you'll pass Horseshoe Bay Resort, round Stony Point, and then officially be in Traders Bay. If you head to the dead center of the bay, you'll find what is known as the Agency Narrows, which is your passageway into Agency Bay; and your quickest way to get to Walker Bay.

Agency Bay
Agency Bay, right around the narrows, is a popular boat hangout spot, as the lake bottom there is sugar-soft sand and the water is shallow for almost a hundred yards out. In summer months many boats will be anchored here all day long, and folks will be grilling burgers on board, or set up a camp along the shore.

City of Walker, Lighthouse in City Park
To get to Walker, after crossing southeast through Agency Bay, (about two miles across) bear right, and use the city water tower in the distance to guide you to the dock at city park. If you're trying to find Walker by water at night, as of this last year, there is a lighthouse in city park to guide you. The lighthouse, about 30 feet tall, was donated to the city of Walker by private residents and built last year on site at the park. It is available to rent for private functions. Call the Chamber of Commerce for inquiries, (218) 547-1313.



Pelican Island covered with the birds who live there.
Photo by Stephanie Hemphill
MPR photo by Stephanie Hemphill

"The good news is that walleye stocking worked. The better news is that the naturally reproduced walleye were even more abundant." */-Pat Rivers, large lake specialist with the DNR Fisheries Walker office.

This is the story of one of the greatest comebacks in Leech Lake history. You may have heard how the walleye appeared to be even more mysterious and elusive than usual in 2004 and 2005. What you may not know are the details of the massive campaign to combat this perceived decline, and how spectacularly those efforts have succeeded in restoring the number and health of the walleye in Leech Lake to previous levels of angling perfection.

How it happened
The DNR has concluded that the primary reason for walleye population decline was two-fold. First, walleye fishing was a victim of its own success. In the 1990s, anglers harvested enormous numbers of the prized fish out of Leech Lake. Second, the numbers of a walleye-gorging birds living in the Leech Lake area, the cormorant, exploded from 73 nesting pairs in 1998 to more than 2500 in 2004. Huge flocks of cormorants could be seen stalking the waters of Leech, flying low to scan for their prey and dive-bombing down to pluck another of the lake's crown jewels from the water. In this fashion, the average cormorant consumed a pound of walleye per day in the summer months. Normally, nature keeps its own balance, and holds such predators in check via predators of their own.
But as it so happens, cormorants have no natural predators.

The cormorant problem is not exclusive to Leech Lake, or even Minnesota.
After being almost wiped out by DDT poisoning 20 years ago, the cormorant itself has had a dramatic comeback in the Great Lakes area and fresh water lakes in Canada, Asia and Northern Europe. Instead of killing all their cormorants, the Chinese trained to bird to be utterly cooperative, and do all their fishing for them: after cormorants in China catch a fish, they carry them via bill pouch back to the fisherman, and spit the fish out. Why aren't we doing that? Surely, Minnesota fisherfolks have equal cormorant-training potential.

Nor is this the first time cormorants have had an effect on the walleye population of Leech Lake. In 1925 cormorants were perceived to be causing the same walleye decline, and the problem was solved back then in the same way it is solved today - people deliberately reduced the birds' numbers.

The plan
By 2005 all the communities around Leech Lake could see the writing on the wall. An unfair fight was taking place and someone had to intervene on behalf of the defenseless, adorable, and delicious walleye.
Thus, an ad hoc committee of concerned locals, calling themselves the Leech Lake Task Force, teamed up with the Department of Natural Resources and the Leech Lake Band of Objiwe and put together a 5-year strategy called the Leech Lake Action Plan, which called for the following actions:

Restock Leech with baby walleye, called fry and fingerling,

Kill off 80% of the cormorants

Limit the number of reproducing female walleyes that could be taken out by anglers.

The work
Action was taken immediately and the multi-year plan followed. Here are the details.
The number of Walleye fry (babies) stocked in Leech Lake:

• 7.5 million in 2005


• 22 million in 2006


• 7.5 million in 2007


• 22 scheduled for 2008

Walleye stock from Boy River run by Woman Lake was identified as being the closest genetic match to Leech walleye. The fish were marked with oxytetracycline, an antibiotic that leaves an identifiable mark on fish bones, enabling the DNR to identify walleye as stocked fish when they are caught later.

Cormorants were 'taken out' to the tune of:

2,993 in 2005

3,303 in 2006

2,784 in 2007, for a total near 9,000 birds culled; leaving the total number of 563 nesting pairs, plus some additional juveniles.

Regulations limiting anglers to pulling four walleye a day out of Leech, requiring all walleye from 18-26 inches be returned immediately back to the water, and allowing only one walleye over 26 inches, were implemented and remain in affect.

The results
Although the success of the 2007 Governor's Fishing Opener on Leech Lake, with Governor Pawlenty pulling multiple walleye out of Leech, was much-publicized evidence that there were walleye to be had, other more scientific tests and fish sampling clearly indicate a full walleye recovery or comeback. Since 1983 Leech Lake has been one of ten large lakes in Minnesota tested annually with variety of technologies to monitor all statistics of the lake, including fish populations, growth rates and size distribution.

The average number of walleye caught in a gill net sample in 2004 was 5. The goal of the Leech Lake Action Plan was to increase that back to the historical average of 7.5.
The 2007 gillnet catch rate was 13.1 walleyes per net was the second highest on record, and nearly double the 1983-2007 average of 7.5 fish/net.

The median lengths of the 2005 and 2006 year classes were 15 and 12 inches total length, respectively.

The number of age-8 and older fish caught in gill nets has increased from 1 in 2001, to 54 in 2007. This fact indicates that the protected slot limit is having a positive effect on the population.

The percentage of fish sampled which are marked as stocked fish has dropped from 2006 to 2007, which is an indicator that the lake has reached walleye capacity, the walleye classes indigenous to Leech are thriving and there is no problem inherent in their genetic strain.

Leech Lake as an ecosystem can only sustain a certain number of fish, and DNR biologists believe the lake has likely been restored to its most natural balance. Any further stocking would result in young walleye competing for a limited food supply, so a greater percentage of them would not succeed in putting on enough weight to survive through their first winter.

In sum, everything that could be done by man to maximize the number of healthy walleye has been done, and there are many indicators of better-than-expected success. Some serious fisherman in the area say there were always plenty of walleye. They'd just didn't stick in their usually places; you just needed to look around more.