The ground was wet, so it obviously rained sometime during the night, although I did not hear it. Rick and I finished off a pot of coffee, ate breakfast, then set about getting the boat into the water, despite the breeze.
While I got the boat prepped to put in the water, Rick ran the power cord out to the lift. Once the lift had been lower into the water, I backed the truck down the ramp into the water. I then got out of the truck and climbed into the boat. With my extra weight at the back of the boat, and with Rick pushing the bow off the trailer, the boat was quickly afloat.
I fired up the Mercury Verado 150 hp motor, moved the shift lever into reverse and slowly backed the boat out into open water. I then swung the boat around and guided it onto the lift. With the boat on the lift and raised up out of the water, Rick and I were able to get the canopy on the lift.
Next it was time to get our fishing licenses and buy some bait. We drove the truck up the peninsula to Birch Ridge Resort where the owner Frank sold us our annual fishing licences and two scoops of fathead minnows. Frank's assessment of the current fishing situation was that his resort guests were catching some panfish, including some decent-sized crappies, but that the walleye fishing was slow. With our minnows in hand, it was time to drive back to my place.
After a quick bite of lunch, and spending a some time getting all of the fishing and boating gear into the boat, Rick and I decided to go fishing.
We were on the water by just after 3:00 p.m. and started our 2012 season by motoring to Second Duck Point where we deployed the drift sock, let the wind push us north and west, and fished using jigs tipped with minnows. I noted that the water temperature varied between 63.7 and 64.3 degrees.
We made several drifts but the only fish we caught was a very small perch that I hooked. Rick suggested we switch tactics and troll, and I agreed, so we stowed our spinning rods and got out our baitcasting reels and Rapalas. I used my standard Minnow Rap, while Rick used a new model back called the Clackin' Minnow.
No sooner than we started trolling than something hit my lure hard, nearly pulling my rod and reel out of the rod holder and into the lake. I managed to grab the rod before it went over the side of the boat, but whatever it was that hit my lure broke off almost immediately.
After a couple of passes trolling, we packed up and came ashore. Once on dry land again, Rick got out my chainsaw and cut up a couple of small trees that had fallen near the fish-cleaning shed. While Rick was busy with that, I got the ATV out of storage, hooked up the battery, gassed it up, and took it out for a quick spin to get it ready for some summer riding. I also got out all of the outdoor furniture, washed it off, and got it on the back porch.
Rick and I also got the lake-water pump primed so we now have lake water running to all of the outside faucets. Basically, we spent a couple of hours just doing routine beginning of the year chores.
Around 7:00 p.m. we got dinner started; I BBQed a chicken. We didn't finish eating until after 9:00 p.m. and at that point I didn't really feel like going out for any evening trolling for walleye, so instead we just hung out at the house before going to sleep around 11:00 a.m.
It was a busy and productive day at Leech Lake, even if we didn't have the best of luck fishing. More tomorrow.
While I got the boat prepped to put in the water, Rick ran the power cord out to the lift. Once the lift had been lower into the water, I backed the truck down the ramp into the water. I then got out of the truck and climbed into the boat. With my extra weight at the back of the boat, and with Rick pushing the bow off the trailer, the boat was quickly afloat.
I fired up the Mercury Verado 150 hp motor, moved the shift lever into reverse and slowly backed the boat out into open water. I then swung the boat around and guided it onto the lift. With the boat on the lift and raised up out of the water, Rick and I were able to get the canopy on the lift.
Next it was time to get our fishing licenses and buy some bait. We drove the truck up the peninsula to Birch Ridge Resort where the owner Frank sold us our annual fishing licences and two scoops of fathead minnows. Frank's assessment of the current fishing situation was that his resort guests were catching some panfish, including some decent-sized crappies, but that the walleye fishing was slow. With our minnows in hand, it was time to drive back to my place.
After a quick bite of lunch, and spending a some time getting all of the fishing and boating gear into the boat, Rick and I decided to go fishing.
We were on the water by just after 3:00 p.m. and started our 2012 season by motoring to Second Duck Point where we deployed the drift sock, let the wind push us north and west, and fished using jigs tipped with minnows. I noted that the water temperature varied between 63.7 and 64.3 degrees.
We made several drifts but the only fish we caught was a very small perch that I hooked. Rick suggested we switch tactics and troll, and I agreed, so we stowed our spinning rods and got out our baitcasting reels and Rapalas. I used my standard Minnow Rap, while Rick used a new model back called the Clackin' Minnow.
No sooner than we started trolling than something hit my lure hard, nearly pulling my rod and reel out of the rod holder and into the lake. I managed to grab the rod before it went over the side of the boat, but whatever it was that hit my lure broke off almost immediately.
After a couple of passes trolling, we packed up and came ashore. Once on dry land again, Rick got out my chainsaw and cut up a couple of small trees that had fallen near the fish-cleaning shed. While Rick was busy with that, I got the ATV out of storage, hooked up the battery, gassed it up, and took it out for a quick spin to get it ready for some summer riding. I also got out all of the outdoor furniture, washed it off, and got it on the back porch.
Rick and I also got the lake-water pump primed so we now have lake water running to all of the outside faucets. Basically, we spent a couple of hours just doing routine beginning of the year chores.
Around 7:00 p.m. we got dinner started; I BBQed a chicken. We didn't finish eating until after 9:00 p.m. and at that point I didn't really feel like going out for any evening trolling for walleye, so instead we just hung out at the house before going to sleep around 11:00 a.m.
It was a busy and productive day at Leech Lake, even if we didn't have the best of luck fishing. More tomorrow.
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