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Website: Darrell & Dads Family Guide Service

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Leo Lake Report
Pend Oreille County, WA

Details

08/23/2008
Trolling
Crappie
Other
Other
Other
All Day
09/20/2008
5
790

As far as the man-made stuff goes, it's a primitive campground, not particularly nice, shallow unmaintained boat launch, no dock. That's probably why there aren't any previous reports.

There was one couple in a canoe toward evening, obviously there to enjoy the wildlife. A 16' bass boat toward morning stayed about an hour and left. His "significant other" made quite a fuss because they had to back too far into the water to launch, and then walk through the water to get to the boat. We have an ordinary 14' aluminum with 15hp engine and a small electric trolling motor. It's not a particularly large lake, a bigger setup would probably be a waste, if not problematic.

As for the natural setting ... Sunny in the mid seventies and a slight breeze. The osprey were catching more fish than we were. Ducks. Various birds. Deer came out for water. It's a very pretty area. It would be best experienced paddling or with a quiet electric.

During the morning, things were a little slow. At first, we motored to the far end and caught a number of perch (6-8") on worm and bobber in the shallows at the far end of the lake from the boat launch. No luck with power bait. It got a bit slow, so I decided to get things moving to maintain the family interest.

We trolled with a small electric a number of laps around the lake while I worked my way through the tackle box trying various lures. No luck with flatfish, rapellas, spoons, wedding rings, rooster tails, or other spinners. We started getting results with the realistic rubber minnows; especially the silver/transparent varieties that look like you can see their insides.

We had enough hits through the afternoon to keep everyone interested, but things livened up more in the late afternoon. The minnows had the long twist tails on them and I thought that was what was bringing all the interest. We were catching perhaps one of every five hits until the crappies ripped the tails off all our rubber minnows. Then we really started catching them. There was little more left than a rubber fish head with a hook.

90% of the action was near the lilies. We kept the first couple dozen and started throwing them back. Sometimes 2 or three of us would catch one at once. I'm sure we caught 50, maybe twice that. We fished until we ran out of daylight.

It was a lot of fun, but I don't think the biggest one was more than 8". They try hard for their size, but are hardly the crappie I grew up with in the mid-west. The kids had a great time and are hooked for life.

If you are looking for a simple family outing away from noise and skiers, this is a good spot.


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Available Guide

Available Fishing Guide:
Website: Darrell & Dads Family Guide Service

Phone: (509) 687-0709