Fishing Leech Lake

Happy Boxing Day, 2011

2011-12-26T16:41:00.004-06:00

We keep talking about being in the northwoods for Christmas, but this year, like every year since we bought our oasis at Leech Lake, we spent the holidays in California. From what I hear, most of Minnesota did not have a white Christmas. But as this photo shows, it definitely snows on the shores of the 3rd biggest lake in Minnesota.

White-out on the shores of Leech Lake

Where's Winter?

2011-12-11T13:12:00.003-06:00

I'm not at Leech Lake so I can't comment on the weather myself, but here's a report from the Bemidji Pioneer on the area's apparent lack of winter.

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By: Tom Siemers, Bemidji Pioneer

Welcome to the great winter that isn’t or at least hasn’t been thus far. Official statistics for the area are difficult to come by, but a reasonable estimate is that the Bemidji area has received 3-5 inches of snow so far. Typically snowfall by this point measures 10-12 inches.

For this December, so far, the average high is 22 and the average low is 7. These temperatures are approximately 5 degrees above average. Ten-day forecasts issued by government agencies and private companies are in agreement that temperatures will continue to run above average through Christmas. The prospects for snow by then are few. A chance exists later next week but that system appears as though it will track south of the north woods.

Want some snow? As strange as it may sound, you need to head south. Areas around Winona and Rochester are reporting snow cover of 4-6 inches. Visible satellite images show a solid swath of snow covering the ground from the Twin Cities south into northern parts of Iowa and Nebraska. These areas have seen several storm systems and have recorded 6-12 inches of snow so far.

Significant snowfall was reported earlier this week across the desert areas of New Mexico and Arizona. Highways throughout much of New Mexico were closed and a dusting of snow even fell in Scottsdale, Ariz., a suburb of Phoenix. So, you don’t need to envy neighbors or friends who gloated as they packed up to head south for the winter.

The National Weather Service’s 90-day forecast holds out hope for the snow obsessed among us. The northwoods falls into the area with better-than-average odds of above-average snowfall and below-average temperatures.

Take these long-range forecasts with a grain of salt, however. Weather is the result of many factors, some of which are difficult to predict so far in advance.

October 25, 2011 -- Goodbye From Leech Lake

2011-10-25T09:36:00.004-05:00

From the phone message I received yesterday from Lake Country Power I didn't expect to have electricity from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. this morning. All morning long I went about my business of closing up the house and cabin before leaving for the airport at 11:15 a.m., the whole time waiting for the power to go out. But so far (at 9:35 a.m.) it's still on.

The temperature at Leech Lake this morning at 8:00 a.m. was 35 degrees, the sky was grey and overcast and the wind was light at 5-8 mph out of the NNE.

By 8:30 a.m. I was going about the various tasks that I perform before I leave the lake. I gathered up the garbage and took it down to the waste and recycling center at the Ottertail Peninsula Community Center, then stored the truck in the cabin garage for the winter. I closed up the cabin and set the security alarm. I did several other little chores required for closing up the places before I leave. It'll be a long, cold winter on the shores of Leech Lake and the properties need to be secured.

At 10:00 a.m. the electricity was still on, and I have to believe that at this point Lake Country Power isn't going to be cutting off our power. That enabled me to finish up some of the tasks that require water, such as cleaning the bathroom, since our well pump is powered by electricity. At this point I've pretty much got everything in order and think I'll take one last quick walk in the woods.

After my walk in the woods I went out and sat at the end of the dock for a while. There were a couple of loons right in front of me, most likely a mated pair, diving for fish then resurfacing a little distance away.

It is now 11:00 a.m. The Malays will be here in a matter of 15 minutes or so, so I need to sign off and shut down the computer. Goodbye from Leech Lake.

October 24, 2011 -- At Leech Lake

2011-10-24T09:51:00.008-05:00

Today is my final full day at Leech Lake for this visit, which means most likely my final day at Leech Lake in 2011.

It was cold again this morning, 31 degrees at 9:00 a.m., but there was little to no wind. It was sunny out, but the sky was filled with high clouds. As the morning progressed, a fog or haze settled in over the lake, but by noon it had burned off as the temperature increased to 43 degrees.

John took his small boat out for about an hour, but I decided to stay inside and focus my time on cleaning the house. The fireplace had to be cleaned out and vacuumed, the floors throughout the house needed to be vacuumed, the bed linens needed to be washed, the refrigerator needed to be cleaned out, and dozens of other little chores required my attention.

About 3:00 p.m. I did meet up with John and we stored his small 14-foot boat in the garage at the cabin. I doubled checked to make sure I could easily park the truck in the garage, and there was plenty of room for the truck and the boat. John's bigger boat, or my Lund, couldn't fit in the garage while the truck was in it too, but a small boat like the "Blue Fin" fit fine.

I paced myself and did numerous chores throughout the course of the day. I also made time for a walk in the woods which evolved into a walk down to Paulsens' and back. In all, about a 3-mile trek. It felt great and I actually got a bit hot with a sweatshirt on. The temperature had risen to 45 degrees, there was no wind or even breeze, and it was sunny despite some very high, wispy clouds.

About an hour before sunset I decided to take another walk in the woods. I love being here on Ottertail Peninsula, be it in our woods hiking the trails, out on Leech Lake fishing or boating, or just sitting in our living room looking at the lake. But the beauty of the sight and smell of the woods in the Fall I find particularly enjoyable.

I tried to keep things simple and finish off the little food I have left rather than make a big dinner. I still have a few more areas to clean, but I'll attend to those in the morning.

As for this blog, this will be my final post that chronicles this visit. Normally I like to make one final post on the day I'm leaving, but tomorrow from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Lake Country Power will be shutting off the electricity to this area so they can perform some routine maintenance, which means that most of the time leading up to my departure -- at 11:15 a.m. -- will be spent with no power. What little time I do have left with electricity will be spent closing up the house and cabin, such as setting the thermostats, the security alarms, shutting off the well pump, etc.

So let me say goodnight and goodbye from Leech Lake. I'm sure I'll write some follow-up posts with some of the pictures I took during this visit, but I won't be writing from the shores of Leech Lake until sometime next year; most likely around Walleye Opener in May.

So long...

October 23, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

2011-10-23T11:11:00.007-05:00

This morning at 9:00 a.m. the temperature was 38 degrees, the wind was light at 5-8 mph out of the WSW and the sky was overcast and grey with a light rain falling.

I puttered around the house this morning, making coffee, checking ESPN.com for sports scores, and calling my parents to see how they were doing. Then around 11:00 a.m. I got a call from John Newman asking if I wanted to join him on the water for a little fishing.

With a light, cold rain falling, temperatures hovering around 40 degrees and the wind at 8-12 mph out of the SW most people would have been content to stay inside their warm, dry houses sipping coffee and reading the Sunday paper, but I donned my Cabela's Guidewear rain gear and walked out to the end of my dock.

John was already on the water fishing, and if fact was directly in front of my house, so he easily spotted me and then brought the boat to the end of the dock where I got in. We then motored out to 11 feet of 47-degree water in front of John's cabin and let the wind push the boat toward shore and north toward Malay's.

On our very first pass something hit my jig and minnow hard and bit it right off. I tied on a new jig, tipped it with a fresh minnow and continued fishing. We had a few bites, but were unable to boat any perch or walleye.

We made a total of four passes and during one of them John hooked into a nice perch, which he added to his total of jumbos in the basket, and I caught a whitefish, which I kept and will deliver to my neighbor Ken Lichttenegger who nets whitefish and then smokes them in a smokehouse. Ken gave me one of his smoked whitefish last year and I shared it with my brother-in-law Tim and my nephew Jackson and all three of us loved it.

We came ashore at 1:20 p.m. at which time I ate a very late brunch, cleaned up a bit and then I took the whitefish down to Lichttenegger's. Well, it turns out that my whitefish was really a cisco, also known as a tullibee. Although they look similar to whitefish the way you can tell the difference, so I learned, is that the tullibee has a longer lower jaw while the whitefish has a longer top jaw. As a result, the fish went back into the lake.

After visiting with Ken for a bit I drove the ATV over to Newman's where he was talking with Tom Malay. John had purchased Tom's old 14-foot aluminum boat and Tom was there delivering the boat. The three of talked for a while then Tom went home. John asked if I wanted to go with him for a brief fishing adventure in his new small boat and I quickly agreed. I went home, cleaned up the kitchen, then met John at his boat lift at 3:30 p.m.

We made several passes from 11 feet of water to as little as 7 feet of water but neither John nor I got as much as a bite. Well, that's not true, right at the end of our 90 minutes on the water John got a bite from a perch but it came off before he could get it to the boat. At least the weather had improved. Gone was the rain, the sky was clear and sunny, although the wind had picked up a bit and was blowing at 10-15 mph from the WSW. The temperature was 54 degrees.

We came ashore at 5:15 p.m. and parted ways. John was going to haul his big boat into Bemidji where he'll leave it for the winter while I came home to have an early dinner.

I spent the evening listening to music and having a roaring fire in the fireplace. At about 9:00 p.m. I did put on a sweatshirt and went out to the end of the dock to look at the stars. The sky was clear and I could see the bright white band of the Milky Way stretching across the sky, I could see the planet Uranus as it rose in the eastern sky and I could see millions of stars. What a wonderful treat it is to be able to really see the night sky. In San Jose there is simply too much light pollution to see anything more than the moon and a few of the brightest stars.

Although my fishing experience was not all that successful today, I still had a fantastic day on, and near, Leech Lake.

Fall 2011 Nature Update

2011-10-23T10:06:00.006-05:00

I often insert "Nature Updates" into my regular posts, but thought I'd try something a little different this time and combine them into one post. Here are some of the interesting wildlife sightings I've had during my recent stay.

* This is typically the time of year when I see mink running around near the harbor and this year was no exception. I've seen several mink frolicking near the harbor, darting in and out of tiny spaces between rocks and boulders and swimming along the shoreline. They are long and lean, ideally shaped for squeezing into tiny places to hide from predators. And of course their luxurious coats protect them from the cold water while swimming in search of food. I really enjoy watching their antics along the shoreline.

* While I've not seen them in the act, the evidence of skunks is obvious throughout my yard. In the Fall skunks will often root for grubs which live a few inches under the grass. I've discovered dozens of small, shallow holes in the yard where skunk have been hunting their prey.

* Whitetail deer are abundant in this part of the country and I've seen dozens of deer while driving Sucker Bay and West Shores Roads. Deer hunting season begins in this part of Minnesota the first weekend of November, and tens of thousands of hunters will sit quickly in stands all over the northwoods hoping to take a deer. Among those that will be hunting are many of my neighbors, including John Newman's son Greg, the former owner of my house Clancy T., Dick Schiebe, Rome Von Rossum and many others.

* Loons are among the last birds to leave Leech Lake and fly south. In addition, many loons from Canadian lakes that are making their way south stop at Leech Lake to rest and feed before their long journey south to Florida, Mexico and the Gulf of Mexico. While I'm on the water fishing, or just working outside in the yard, the calls of the loons fill the Autumn air.

* The animals I come into contact with the most at Leech Lake are fish. During my brief Autumn visit to Leech Lake I've handled walleye, pike, perch, and of course, fathead minnows. I have not targeted muskie, bass or crappie, nor have I unintentionally hooked an eelpout. But for sheer numbers, fish, and particularly perch, are the animal I encounter most often.

* By far the most amazing and spectacular wildlife sighting this trip was my viewing of a bald eagle. I was sitting in our living room, which has floor to ceiling windows, talking on the phone and looking out toward the harbor. Out of the sky came an eagle -- talons extended, head held high, swooping down through the trees and plucking something (a fish?) out of the harbor. This took place no more than 50 feet in front of me. I had a prime view of a master predator, a giant flying raptor, doing what it does best -- hunting.

When I next return to Leech Lake, be it in the winter for some hard-water angling or next May around the 2012 Walleye Opener, there will be more wildlife to see and enjoy. That's one of the many benefits to spending time in this northwoods paradise.

October 22, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

2011-10-22T09:13:00.013-05:00

A cold October morning, looking north from our dock on Sucker Bay, Leech Lake

This morning was beautiful, calm, clear and cold. The temperature at 8:15 a.m. was 26 degrees, the water was so calm it looked like glass reflecting the clear, pale blue and yellow sky, and the wind was nearly nonexistent. This is the most calm and peaceful Leech Lake has looked since my arrival on October 6.

As I cleaned up the kitchen and made coffee I spotted John Newman in his boat directly in front of our house. I could see he was using a slip-bobber rig most likely tipped with a fathead. Last night when we parted ways he said his plan was to "putter" around the house before joining up with me for a mid-morning fishing trip. I guess part of his puttering included some fishing.

I saw John pull his boat into his harbor around 10:30 a.m. Shortly thereafter I received a call from John asking if I wanted to go fishing at 11:15 a.m. I said yes, and met John at his boat lift at the appointed time. In hand I had a spinning rod/reel set up with a slip-bobber and another spinning rod/reel for jigging.

We made our way out to 9-10 feet of water in front of our cabins and joined six other boats fishing the same area. With little to no wind, the conditions were perfect for using a slip-bobber rig tipped with a fathead. We fished in this general area for nearly an hour and the only fish we saw was a northern that chased my minnow all the way to the boat while I was reeling in. The northern, by the way, snapped at the minnow and bit it off just as I was lifting the hook from the water.

Eventually we made our way north to The Birches, but again had no luck. I hooked a small perch that got off, and I don't believe John had a single bite. Finally at 1:15 p.m. we came ashore. We vowed to try again and decided to reconvene at John's boat lift at 2:30 p.m.

During the break in fishing I came home and made Cole slaw for tonight's dinner at John's cabin. I'm also slow-cooking a rack of pork ribs and I've got some chicken wings marinating. The dinner will be rounded out with a bag of crinkle-cut French fries and a cold, malted beverage or two.

At 2:30 p.m. I made my way back to John's boat lift. I didn't see him right away as he was coming down his driveway returning from a walk in the woods with his new puppy Bernard. Eventually the dog was put in the house and we motored our way out to 10 feet of water off Second Duck Point. The water temperature was 47 degrees, while the air temperature was a very pleasant 55 degrees. The wind, more like a light breeze, was out of the SSE at maybe 5 mph. Just enough to push the boat on a slow drift northward out into Sucker Bay.

We tipped our jigs with fathead minnows and set about our business of catching some jumbo perch. The bite was slow and it took us more than two hours to boat four very nice jumbo perch which went into the live well in John's boat; we each caught two.

Just before 5:00 p.m. we came ashore and agreed to meet for our dinner feast sometime after 6:00 p.m.

While I was making some final dinner preparations I turned on A Prairie Home Companion which I love to listen to on Saturday evenings when I'm in northern Minnesota. And for some odd reason, Garrison Keillor read The News From Lake Wobegon before 6:00 p.m. (he usually reads it around 6:40 p.m.) which enabled me to hear my favorite part of the program and still make it to Newman's shortly after 6:00 p.m.

John already had the coals started so it was only a short time before the marinated chicken wings went onto the grill. The Cole slaw was already prepared, so all that was left to do is start the French fries and put the already cooked ribs on the grill for just a little bit of that BBQ flavor.

We had a very pleasant dinner, then retired out the to garage for a little music and conversation. During our time in John's "man cave," I followed the Michigan State (#16) vs. Wisconsin (#6) football game on my Droid X2 smartphone.

Michigan State had a 31-17 lead in the fourth quarter, but Wisconsin rallied for two TDs to tie the game with under two minutes to go. The Spartans managed to drive to the Badgers' 44-yard line with just 4 seconds to go in regulation. MSU quarterback Kirk Cousins threw a Hail Mary pass to the end zone where it bounced off a Michigan State receiver and was caught by another MSU receiver right at the goal line. The on-the-field call was no TD, that the receiver had been stopped just shy of the goal line. But on further review by instant replay it was determined the ball had "crossed the plane" and MSU was awarded six points and the win -- 37-31! It is the second straight year Michigan State has defeated the undefeated and ranked in the Top Ten Badgers. So far this year the Spartans have beaten Michigan, Ohio State and Wisconsin. No easy feat! [Note: One other oddity of the game, Michigan State committed NO penalties during the entire game.]

After the game, and a good time with John, I made my way home. I wasn't really tired so I stayed up and watched The Wolfman, the old Universal Studios classic with Lon Chaney Jr. Finally I called it a night and got ready for bed.

If the weather permits, John and I will go out fishing one last time before he pulls his boat out of the water for the season. In addition, I'll spend some time blowing leaves off the yard at the cabin. Then the remainder of my stay on Sunday and Monday will be devoted to cleaning up the house before I go back to California on Tuesday.

Good night from Leech Lake...

October 21, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

2011-10-21T21:43:00.006-05:00

This morning at 7:17 a.m. I heard something not natural to the sounds of the northwoods. It was the sound of large truck, and it was coming from the cabin. I looked outside, it was still dark with the sun not yet up over the forest in the east, and could see the Ferrell Gas truck next door delivering propane to our cabin. About 10 minutes later the truck rumbled down our driveway and filled the propane tank here at the house. Content with the situation, I went back to bed for another hour of rest.

When I next checked the weather, at 9:00 a.m., the temperature was a chilly 30 degrees, the sky was mostly clear and the wind was out of the south at 5-10 mph. The forecast was for a beautiful Fall day here in the northwoods and at that time in the morning it looked like the forecast might be right.

Spent a few hours doing some consulting work, and then took a break shortly before noon to check on the work my neighbor John Newman and our mutual friend Clarence T. (from whom I bought our house on Leech Lake) were doing back on the deer stands on our collective properties. For the past several years Clancy, John and John's son Greg have been using a deer stand on my property and another stand in John's part of the woods to hunt whitetail deer. Last year Clancy bagged a 10-point buck on my property. This year everyone is hoping Greg will finally get his first deer.

To get back into the woods I fired up my Polaris Sportsman 500 ATV and drove it out of one of our out buildings, down the driveway and across W. Shores Rd. and into the woods. I have 17.5 acres of wooded land, John Newman and Norm Hansen have similar plots of land, so together we have more than 50 acres of prime northern woods. Our collective properties then abut land from the Chippewa National Forest and the Bowstring State Forest, giving us access to hundreds of acres of woodlands populated with maples, ash, ironwood, basswood and a few oaks. There are also some stands of white pine and sections full of birch trees, which when taken together provide outstanding habitat for not only deer, but for grouse as well. Good hunting in the woods; great fishing in the lake. This is a sportsman's paradise!

I came across John and Clancy as they were coming out of the woods. Most of their minor repair work to the deer stands had been complete, and so they were heading back to John's cabin. We chatted for a while in the woods, then all of us headed back home. Once home, I ate some lunch and the got out the Toro leaf blower and set about clearing the leaves off the road-side of the house.

I've said it before and I'll say it again now, this is a chore that always takes longer than I originally estimate. Today, I spent from 1:00 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. clearing the leaves and I still have a bit more to do. I stopped when I did because John came over to invite me to an early dinner of freshly cooked roast beef sandwiches, home made potato salad and a variety of malted beverages. I was thoroughly tired of clearing leaves, so I gladly put away the leaf blower and made my way to John's cabin.

John, Clancy and I spent the next hour and a half eating, telling tall tales and enjoying being on the shores of Leech Lake. With the table cleared and the food put away, Clancy headed down to visit a friend of his on Ottertail Peninsula while I made my way home to get ready for a late afternoon, early evening, fishing session with John.

I took with me my spinning rod/reel rigged with a 1/4-ounce Bass Pro Shops XPS walleye jig and my baitcasting rod/reel with a Rapala Minnow Rap tied on for trolling. At the time we motored out of John's harbor, around 5;15 p.m., there were nine boats set up in front of our cabins. Rather than join the flotilla we instead went a bit further north toward Malay's cabin.

With the wind coming out of the NNW at 10-12 mph the boat was pushed toward shore and south toward our cabins. We made several passes through this general area during which I caught a medium-sized northern pike, which bit off my jig right at the side of the boat as I tried to land it, and John caught one nice jumbo perch, probably 11-inches long. Those were the only two fish we caught during the drifting portion of the trip.

After sunset, which occurred around 6:15 p.m., we switched tactics and started trolling. We trolled to the middle of Duck Bay in 8-10 feet of water, and then turned and headed north toward our cabins. The hour-long venture yielded no fish, and only one hit -- something hit my Minnow Rap but didn't get hooked. At this point John wanted to come ashore so he could let the Newman's new puppy, Bernard, out of the kennel so he could go outside.

Once on shore I made my way home, had a frozen pizza for dinner (after all it was Friday night) and then settle in front of the fireplace with a warm, roaring fire. I listened to some relaxing old jazz records on the turntable, did some writing and eventually went to bed well after midnight.

Although I caught only one pike today, it was great to be out fishing on Leech Lake. Since I leave on Tuesday, and since John is pulling his boat out of the water on Sunday, I may only get one, possibly two, days of fishing before I have to fly back to California. At that point, my next time on the lake will most likely be in May 2012 when I return to put the boat back into the water. Of course there is a slight chance of a winter visit which would enable me to get onto the hard water for some ice fishing; something I haven't had the pleasure of doing in several years now.

Good night from Leech Lake.

October 20, 2011 -- In Leech Lake

2011-10-20T09:13:00.009-05:00

As is typical, the weather report about today's weather have so far been inaccurate. So much for AccuWeather.

Forecasts had called for light winds of 5-7 mph out of the NNW when instead they closer to 8-15 mph out of the north. Temperatures were supposed to be in the low 50s. Well, at 8:30 a.m. the temperature here at Leech Lake was 30 degrees and the ground was covered in a white blanket of frost. The overnight low, according to Minnesota Public Radio, was 19 degrees in Bemidji. I guess it could still warm up to the 50s, but it sure doesn't feel like it. The forecast also predicted sunny skies with no clouds, when the opposite is the case. The sky is completely cloudy and grey without a sliver of blue sky to be seen anywhere.

I had hoped that the forecast would be accurate because I need to take the boat out of the water today and I probably still will. It's just that it will be a more difficult task with windy conditions.

I ate a light breakfast then decided to bite the bullet and get the boat out of the water. I drove the truck next door and hooked the boat trailer to the receiver hitch on the truck. The next step in the process was to remove the canopy from the boat lift. First I removed all the bungie cords that hold the canopy onto the metal frame of the lift, then removed the canopy itself. With the north wind blowing it was a bit tricky but I managed to get the canopy onto the dock where I could then drag it on shore.

I then backed the truck and trailer down the ramp and into the water. With the trailer in position, I donned my wadders, lowered the boat off the lift and into the water, got into the water myself, guided the boat around the dock and lined it up straight to the trailer. I then clipped the hauling strap onto the boat, and began cranking the winch to pull the boat onto the trailer.

With the boat securely on the trailer, I got into the truck, and carefully drove up the ramp with the boat/trailer in tow. I came to rest by the garage where I proceeded to unload everything from the boat which I'll store it for the winter in the garage, and then put on the boat cover for transport into town. Before I left for Bemidji, however, I took the time to fold up the boat lift canopy and store it in the garage.

By the time I was ready to drive the boat into Bemidji, around 3:00 p.m., the wind had died down to nearly calm, the sky was clear and blue, and the temperature had warmed to 52 degrees. The weather report was correct after all, just six hours late!

I'm still very nervous, and cautious, when I tow the boat into town or back from Bemidji to the lake. Ever since I had the trailer hitch come off the ball while driving down Sucker Bay Road I'm always on edge when pulling the boat behind the truck. Luckily, the adjustments I'd made to the hitch were adequate and the trailer remained connected to the truck until I separated them purposely in the side lot of Corner Sports in Bemidji.

I spent about a half an hour inside Corner Sports talking to the woman behind the counter, Rhonda, about the things I wanted done to my boat -- winterize it, check the back running light which had been finicky during most of the season, replace the spark plugs on the Verado, and do a double check on the trailer hitch to make sure my adjustments were done correctly and in a way to ensure safety.

With the boat in safe hands for the winter I left Corner Sports and drove back to the lake, stopping briefly in Cass Lake to get some gas in the truck. Once home I had some dinner, and relaxed for the rest of the night in front of a roaring fire. I listened to some music, read a little and then went to bed. A busy and productive day at Leech Lake. I love it here.

October 19, 2011 -- On Leech Lake -- Happy Birthday Kathleen!

2011-10-19T11:36:00.007-05:00

Kathleen at our Leech Lake house this past summer. Happy Birthday!

Today is the birthday of my beautiful wife Kathleen. I'm not going to say how old she is, but I will say she's in great shape! I wish she could be here with me since Fall is her favorite time of the year at Leech Lake.

The wind finally died down a bit today, blowing at 8-12 mph out of the north. The temperature was a cool 34 degrees and the sky was overcast and grey at 9:00 a.m. It wasn't just cold outside, it looked cold outside.

I again spent the morning and into early afternoon doing consulting work, but finally at about 1:15 p.m. I pushed myself away from the PC and decided to go fishing.

I got the remaining fathead minnows, lowered the boat into the water, fired up the Mercury Verado, which had been sitting idle for more than a week, and motored out to a spot in front of Malay's cabin in 9 feet of water. I deployed the drift sock and let the wind push the boat south toward Second Duck Point.

Jigging with a fathead was my presentation and although I made two passes over areas where I was marking fish on the Lowrance I couldn't catch one fish. In fact, I didn't even get a bite. After more than an hour on the water, which was 48 degrees, I made my way to shore.

Once on shore I grabbed a quick bite to eat and then set about clearing off all of the leaves on the lake side of the house with the Toro leaf blower. As always, this particular chore takes longer than I expect, although I do have some fondness for it since I'm outside near the lake.

At 5:00 p.m. I switched off the leaf blower and went inside. I did a little more consulting work, then realized that the sun has been setting before 6:30 p.m. so it might be a good time to get in some early evening trolling.

I pulled on my heavy-duty Cabela's Guidewear rain gear, which also works great against the wind and cold, and made my way over to the boat lift at roughly 6:15 p.m. Once out on the lake I got the boat ready for some evening trolling -- I got the running lights on, put the rod holder in place, extended the landing net and set the motor on cruise control and set off south toward Second Duck Point.

I trolled out to the middle of Bass Bay without as much as a tap so I did a slow turn and headed back toward our house. I was trolling in 8-10 feet of water using a Rapala Minnow Rap in a yellow perch color.

Just off of Second Duck Point I hooked a fish. It turned out to be a northern pike so I unhooked it over the side of the boat and got it back into the water quickly. I continued trolling north to our cabin then turned the boat and began trolling south again. Once again I went past Second Duck Point without so much as a tap.

Then on my way north again I hooked into a fish. I got it up to the boat and saw that it was a walleye so I quickly grabbed the landing net and scooped the fish out of the lake and into the boat. I unhooked the fish and took a quick measurement. The walleye taped out at 22 inches. And it was a stout fish too, with shoulders, as they say. I released the beautiful walleye back into the lake.

During the time it took to unhook and measure the fish the wind had blown the boat in toward shore and south toward Second Duck Point. I engaged the motor and went back out into 8 feet of water and repositioned the boat so I was once again heading north; into the wind.

No sooner had I started trolling than I hooked another fish. This fish didn't put up as much a fight as the first fish so I could tell right away it was a smaller fish, but I still wasn't sure if it was a walleye. By this time it was dark outside so I had to get the fish right up next to the boat to see that it was walleye.

Again I unhooked the fish and took a quick measurement. This walleye was a perfect eating sized fish at 16 1/2 inches. I thought about keeping it for a minute, but then decided to put it back into the lake. I have lots of food I need to eat before my Tuesday departure so I figured that this fish would live to fight another day.

I finally came in at just before 8:00 p.m. I didn't realize how cold I was until I was inside the warm house and my hands and fingers began to tingle as they warmed up. I made some dinner, watched a DVD and called Kathleen to wish her happy birthday and to say goodnight.

If the weather reports are to be believed, it is supposed to be in the low 50s tomorrow, sunny, with a light wind of 5-10 mph from the north. If those are indeed the conditions, then I'm pulling the boat out of the water tomorrow morning. With the way the weather is here in northern Minnesota, I may not get another good day to remove the boat lift canopy and get the boat out of the water before I have to go back to California.

Stay tuned...

October 18, 2011 -- At Leech Lake

2011-10-18T12:45:00.009-05:00

This morning at 9:00 a.m. the temperature was 32 degrees, the sky was dark and overcast and the wind was strong at 17-22 mph out of the NNW. Today is the fifth straight day of windy conditions.

All morning and into early afternoon I spent doing consulting work. I took a break just after 1:00 p.m. when Henry came by to fix the Anderson Windows in our living room. Over the years the latches to lock the windows had become worn and weren't working properly and the cranks that open and close the window were also worn out. Henry had come by in August when I was here and determined what the problem was and ordered the necessary parts. The problem was I was already back in California when the parts came in. Today was the first day Henry had free on his calendar to come out and repair the windows.

Later today, just before sunset, I took a walk in our woods.

One of the many trails in our woods on Ottertail Peninsula

After dinner I got a fire going, listened to music and read the paper. I stayed up rather late before finally calling it a night. Another day of no fishing on Leech Lake.

October 17, 2011 -- At Leech Lake

2011-10-17T09:30:00.003-05:00

For the fourth day in a row I awoke to strong winds and cool temperatures. The wind by 9:30 a.m. was blowing at 18-25 mph out of the WNW with gusts up over 30 mph. The sky, for the first time in days, was a clear pale blue and the temperature (according to our thermometer on the back porch) was 32 degrees. A beautiful, if not breezy, mid-Autumn day at Leech Lake.

I spent all morning and into the afternoon doing consulting work. That had me glued to the PC and the phone for a good portion of the day. Shortly after 1:00 p.m., I drove into Cass Lake to pick up a couple of grocery items. That will probably be my last grocery run during my stay here at Leech Lake this Fall, since next Tuesday, October, 25, I fly back to San Jose.

I did a little more consulting work when I returned from Cass Lake, but finally shut things down around 4:00 p.m. I took a walk in the woods, and during my walk I thought I should check the hitch on the boat trailor since it had given me problems this Spring when I picked up the boat from Corner Sports in Bemidji.

When I got back from my walk in the woods I got out the ATV and drove it over to the cabin where the boat trailor is stored. I tried attaching the trailor to the 2" ball on the ATV but the hitch just wouldn't fit on the ball securely. I got out my socket wrench set and adjusted a nut on the underside of the trailor hitch, and after several tries got the hitch to fit snuggly and securely onto the ball on ATV.

I then pulled the trailor from its summer resting spot and positioned it at the top of the boat ramp. There was no way I could remove the boat lift canopy and trailor the boat today, however, because the wind was howling at near 30 mph out of the west. I am feeling better about the trailor hitch. If it fit well on the 2" ball on the ATV it should fit securely on the receiver hitch on the truck since the ball is the same size.

After decoupling the trailor from the ATV I took a little ride on the four-wheeler. I was making my way past Dick Schiebe's house when I spotted him standing outside, so I quickly turned around and drove up his driveway. Dick was there with his youngest daughter Lynne. While we were talking Ken Lichttennegger stopped by. Ken and his wife Terry own the property between the two Schiebe brothers, Jerry and Dick. The four of us caught up on the gossip around the peninsula and Dick's plans for the upcoming deer hunting season. Dick also showed me the remodeling he's doing in his cabin -- new oak cabinets and panelling in the kitchen and new black ash panelling on the walls and ceiling of the living room. It looked very good.

After my brief visit with my neighbors I got on the ATV and rode home. The sun is setting before 6:30 p.m. now so by 5:30 or 5:45 p.m. it's starting to get dark. Today was even darker than usual because of the dark clouds that had gathered throughout the day in the western sky. It wasn't raining, but it sure looked like it could. The temperature was hovering around 40 degrees and the wind was still strong at 22-30 mph out of the WNW.

I ate an early dinner, and then got a fire going in the fireplace. I really enjoy watching the fire. It would be infinitely better, however, if Kathleen were here to enjoy the fire with me.

I listened to some music, and followed the Sharks losing effort against the Ducks on my smartphone, before calling it a night and going to bed. Yet another windy day with no fishing. I may not have a chance to fish again before I am forced to pull the boat out of the water. Goodnight from Leech Lake.

October 16, 2011 -- At Leech Lake

2011-10-16T11:48:00.008-05:00

It was one week ago today that I was last out on the water at Leech Lake. Between the weather and my brief trip to St. Cloud, it's not been possible for me to go fishing. And today will be another day spent on shore.

The wind, for the third straight day, is howling at 22-30 mph out of the WNW creating large waves and white caps on the lake. I did not see a single boat on the water all morning long. The official temperature as posted in Federal Dam was 40 degrees at 11:00 a.m., but the thermometer on the back porch read 33 degrees at the same time. The sky was mostly sunny with a large number of billowy white clouds being blown across the sky by the high winds.

My was to finish the job of cleaning out the gutters on the house, but I managed to keep putting it off until 2:15 p.m. I took a break from following the Lions vs. 49ers football game on the PC and started where I'd left off yesterday, on the lake-side of the house.

I climbed up onto the roof and cleaned the gutters from up high rather than trying to move the ladder every 15 feet. I worked my way over the living room, around the south side of the house and finishe up at the back of the garage. By this time my hands were wet, cold and numb from the 42 degree air temperature and the 30+mph WNW wind. I made my way down the ladder, moved the ladder to the front of the house, then came inside to warm up and check on the Lions.

The Lions eventually lost their first game of the season to the San Francisco 49ers (the one time I want the Niners to lose) 25-19. Both teams are now 5-1 on the season.

With the "big" game of the day over, I went back outside and spent the better part of an hour to finish cleaning out the gutters on the house. All done, for this season. When I came back inside I immediately went straight to the crawl space under the house and put up all the insulation into the vent holes and blocked them up for the season. No need to have cold air blowing underneath the floor of the house.

With the dirty chores of cleaning out the gutters and closing up the vents under the house out of the way, I took a shower and got cleaned up myself.

I made dinner and had finished eating before 7:00 p.m., that's early for dinner here at the lake. After dinner I made a small fire in the fireplace, listened to some music and eventually decided to watch an old Hammer Productions horror movie -- The Curse of the Werewolf. Not nearly as good as the old Universal classic, but appropriate for this Halloween season.

When I went to bed 'round midnight, the wind was still blowing at more than 20 mph and the temperature was 38 degrees. Apparently, according to the weather report, there more windy conditions and cool weather in store for the next two days.

Again no fishing on Leech Lake today, although other tasks were completed. Good night.

October 15, 2011 -- At Leech Lake

2011-10-15T10:53:00.005-05:00

At 9:30 a.m. this morning the sky was mostly clear, with some big white billowy clouds hovering above, the wind was again strong at 18-22 mph out of the west, the lake was very choppy with some occasional white caps and the temperature was brisk 35degrees.

Unlike yesterday when no boats were on the water, I saw four boats out on Sucker Bay today. Three are clumped closely together in front of the Newman's and the fourth was in front of our house. With the wind blowing from the west, that means it's coming directly across the bay and straight onto shore. The boats appeared to be drifting from the middle of the bay toward shore, and then when they would get into 8 feet of water or less, they would motor back out into the bay for another drift. It's the same style of fishing I prefer -- drifting with a jig and minnow.

The fishermen out today are most likely staying at the resort, or came up specifically this weekend for some Fall walleye fishing on Leech Lake. With the weather conditions the way they are today, I would bet that not many of the residents of Leech Lake are out on the water. But I suppose if you made a long drive up here to fish, you are probably willing to brave the cold and rough conditions to spend some time fishing. For me, the conditions will have to improve significantly throughout the day if I'm to take my boat out fishing.

At 11:15 a.m. I walked out to the end of the dock at our house to get a better feel for the wind and a closer look at the boats out fishing. During my entire time outdoors yesterday I wore nothing heavier than a pair of jeans and a flannel shirt. Today that was not enough. It is pretty cold and the wind quickly striped the heat from me. I'll need to wear a sweatshirt when I work on cleaning out the gutters on the house. While standing at the end of the dock surveying the situation on the lake, two of the four boats left the area and headed back toward the resort.

By 11:30 a.m., the wind had picked up even more and was coming out of the WNW at 20-25 mph with gusts again over 30 mph. The sky was still partly sunny and the temperature had warmed a bit to 42 degrees.

After eating a sandwich for lunch I went outside with every intention of cleaning out the gutters on the house. But then I noticed several logs -- about 2 feet long and 8-10 inches in diameter -- stacked up along the outbuilding where I store the ATV and log splitter. The logs were left there by my neighbor John Newman who had cut up a tree a couple of days ago after it came down during some high winds. John had stacked about 20 logs with the request that if I had some time could I split them up with my log splitter into kindling for him. Figuring I should probably get to the splitting sooner than later, I put the gutter cleaning on hold and pulled out my Swisher, 26-tons of power, log splitter.

It took more than three dozen pulls of the cord to finally fire up the splitter which had sat inactively in storage for probably a year or more. But eventually I got it going and I started in on splitting wood. I spent more than an hour splitting about 10 logs into a pile of kindling wood. I figure John can take a good portion of it, but I'll keep some of it for my use as well.

With the wood split and stacked, I put away the log splitter and moved onto my next chore; no, not cleaning the gutters, but pruning the red- and yellow-stem dogwood plants that ring my harbor and provide erosion control. Left alone, the red- and yellow-stem dogwoods will grow to be 12-15 feet tall and very bushy. I keep them pruned to where they never get more than 3-5 feet tall.

I began my pruning on the south side of the harbor where the larger of the two groups of dogwood grow and trimmed them back significantly. I then move to the north side of the harbor and began pruning the smaller plot of dogwood. While reaching out to trim a branch, the clippers slipped out of my hand and dropped into the water of the harbor. With the wind blowing so strongly today the harbor is filled with white foam and locating the clippers visually was impossible, so I was done pruning for this year, or until I get a new set of clippers.

When I came inside I checked the computer for the score of the Michigan State vs. Michigan football game and discovered that for the fourth year in a row the Spartans had defeated the Wolverines, this time by a score of 28-14. Go Green!

After putting off cleaning the gutters all afternoon, I finally got out the 8-foot step ladder set it up on the back porch of the house and climbed up onto the roof at 3:45 p.m. I started on the north end of the house facing the lake and worked my way south toward the sliding door to the kitchen. Just as was the case at the cabin, the gutters here at the house were full of leaves, twigs, maple seed pods and gunk.

I cleaned out the gutter all the way to the point where the roof gets taller above the living room (the great room facing the lake) and called it quits. My hands were wet from the water and sludge in the gutter and the wind was howling so hard that my hands were numb. I suppose I could wear gloves, but when I've tried that in the past I had a hard time getting all of the small pieces of debris removed; so I tackle this chore with my bare hands. But now my hands were too cold to continue so I climbed onto the ladder, made my way onto the back porch, folded up the ladder, and stowed it for use tomorrow. Maybe it won't be so cold.

At 5:00 p.m. I tuned into A Prairie Home Companion on the Bose radio. I have a new Cambridge Audio Azur 650T tuner, but have yet to install a powerful FM antenna, so although I have a great new tuner, it doesn't pull in any signals. Thus the Bose provided more than adequate backup.

It was a particularly good "News from Lake Wobegon" tonight; Garrison Keilior was at the top of his game. By the time A Prairie Home Companion ended, at 7:00 p.m. CDT, it was dark outside. I remember listening to the program this summer and still having 3 hours of sunlight to enjoy after the show ended. Not now.

It was still very windy outside and the temperature was just under 40 degrees, so just as I did last night, I built a fire in the fireplace. For the remainder of the evening I listened to music and watched the fire. Periodically I would check the score of the Sharks game (they would lose to the St. Louis Blues) and the Tigers (who would be eliminated by the Texas Rangers. The Rangers return to the World Series). Eventually I shut everything down and went to bed.

A cold, but productive day at Leech Lake.

October 14, 2011 -- At Leech Lake

2011-10-14T11:01:00.008-05:00

At 8:30 a.m. this morning the temperature was a very cool 34 degrees, the sky was most overcast with just a few slivers of blue peeking through here and there and the wind was blowing even harder than it was yesterday, at 20-25 mph out of the NW. With the low temperature and high wind, I bet the wind-chill factor has to be below freezing. Now this is a typical mid-October day on the shores of Leech Lake.

A scan of Sucker Bay finds that no boats are on the water, and that's a good thing. Only a fool, or someone who had to be on the water today (a rescue worker or professional fisherman), would risk it today.

The morning was spent responding to emails and following up on a few consulting items.

Around 1:00 p.m., with the wind still howling and the temperature about 45 degrees, I went over to the cabin, got out the big 8-foot step ladder and began cleaning out the rain gutters. All of the gutters on the cabin, and on the game room/garage, were completely full of leaves and pine needles. I cleaned all of the debris out of the gutters and then used the garden hose to run water down all the gutters to make sure the down spouts were clear as well.

With the cabin gutters clean I went back to the house to clean up a bit myself. I took care of some more consulting work before going outside again. I took a long walk through our woods, clearing off the trails where branches had fallen due to the strong winds, and eventually made it back out to West Shores Rd. From there I walked to the Paulsen's and back. All together about a 4 mile hike. It felt great to be outside with crisp air and smells of the forest and lake.

I ate dinner tonight before the sunset, which is now coming at just after 6:30 p.m. With the sun down, the temperature started to drop, and at 8:00 p.m. it was 39 degrees outside. The wind was still strong at 18-22 mph out of the NW, with gusts up over 30 mph. As a result, the wind chill, or as some weather stations now call it the "feels like" temperature, must have been hovering around freezing. So I built a fire in the fireplace, the first of the season.

I stayed up pretty late watching the fire and listening to music. I checked the weather reports before going to bed and it looks like tomorrow, and even into Monday, the wind is going to remain up over 20 mph. I might not get any fishing in before I have to pull out the boat. If it is windy again tomorrow, I think I'll focus my attention on getting the gutters on the house cleaned out.

No fishing again today on Leech Lake, but it was still great to be here.

October 13, 2011 -- At Leech Lake -- Happy Birthday Melissa!!

2011-10-13T18:46:00.004-05:00

I can't believe that my little girl Melissa turned 30 years old today! I remember so well that crisp, cool, clear Autumn morning in Monterey, California when my beautiful wife Kathleen gave birth to our tiny, feisty redhead. What a wonderful day that was. And how quickly 30 years have passed. Happy birthday Melissa!!

This morning at 9:30 a.m. on the shores of Leech Lake the sky was overcast and grey, a light mist was falling, the wind was strong at 18-22 mph out of the WNW and the temperature was 42 degrees. The furnace ran off and on all day today, and is running now as I write this post.

There have been no posts to this blog the past two days because I spent them in St. Cloud visiting Kathleen's mom, Marge. At 87 years old Marge is doing relatively well health wise, but the Alzheimer's disease leaves her confused and with significant short-term memory loss. Nonetheless, we had a very nice visit and I was glad I could see her.

It's good to be back at the lake, despite the cool temperatures and high winds. I was hoping to get out fishing today, but with the lake riled and covered in white caps due to the strong winds, I stayed inside and spent most of the day doing my consulting work for Allison & Partners. I put in about four good hours of work before I stopped for a break and went for a walk down West Shores Rd. for about 2 miles.

West Shores Rd., NW on Ottertail Peninsula, Leech Lake, MN

After my walk I did a few small chores around the house then did another hour of consulting. The wind continued to howl at about 15-20 mph out of the NW. The temperature never got as high as 50 degrees today, but the sun did come out briefly later in the afternoon, as can be seen in the picture I took during my walk.

This evening was restful spent listening to music after dinner. No fishing today, but a good day at Leech Lake regardless.

October 10, 2011 -- At Leech Lake

2011-10-10T23:37:00.002-05:00

This morning at 8:30 a.m. the sky was overcast and grey, the wind was out of the SE at 8-12 mph and the temperature was 47 degrees. From the time I arose to sometime after 1:00 p.m. I was doing work for my California job, consulting with a global PR firm called Allison & Partners.

After a quick sandwich for lunch, I went across the street and took a long walk in our woods. The wind was rustling through the trees and every so often it would rain yellow leaves. I love our woods in the Fall. The smells, the beautiful colors, the entire thing. I only wish Kathleen could be here with me because she loves the Fall even more than I do.

When I emerged from the woods I walked down the dirt road to our cabin and began the chore of putting up the storm windows. I took my time and enjoyed the entire process. Just as I had put the last storm window in place and was folding up the ladder the rain came. There had been a forecast of rain throughout the day, but at 2:45 p.m. it really opened up.

Back inside my warm and dry house, I cleaned up and prepared for dinner at the Newman's cabin tonight. John and Karen invited me, as well as Tom and Elaine Malay over for dinner prior to us moving down to the Malay's house to watch Monday Night Football on ESPN. Malays have the Dish Network and get ESPN, where the Newmans don't get it with their basic plan, and we have no TV at all at our house.

I made a salad to bring, while John and Karen provided the Italian meatball sandwiches, chips and veggies. After dinner we cleaned up and then made our way down to the Malays. It was the first time the Detroit Lions had been on MNF in more than a decade, and tonight they were hosting their division rivals the Chicago Bears.

It wasn't a well-played game, but the Lions did manage to win 24-13 to improve to 5-0. It's the first time that Detroit has won five straight games to start a season since 1956, a bit before my time.

I left the Malays just after 11:00 p.m. and came home. The temperature was still a very nice 55 degrees and the sky was clear allowing the light from the 99% waxing moon to bathe the entire peninsula in its soft, white light.

Tomorrow I'm planning to drive down to St. Cloud to see Kathleen's mother, Marge. If all goes well I'll spend some time with her at St. Benedict's and then take her out to dinner. I hope to see my brother- and sister-in-law Tim and Sandy, but Tim said Sandy isn't feeling well and he may have to work tomorrow. I guess I'll have to play it by ear.

I'm planning to be back to the lake sometime later in the day on Wednesday. At that point my only other ventures from Leech Lake will be to go into town to buy groceries.

My next post to this blog will likely be on Thursday, Oct. 13, my beautiful daughter Melissa's 30th birthday. Until then...

October 9, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

2011-10-09T08:41:00.009-05:00

This morning at 8:30 a.m. the temperature was a cool 45 degrees, the wind was light at 5-8 mph out of the NW and the sky was slate grey and looked cold. I could only see one boat out in front of our house, where yesterday there was more than a half dozen. Today looked and felt like a Fall morning in the northwoods.

Duck hunting season opened in late September, so on this quiet Sunday morning I could hear the distant "pop, pop" of shotgun blasts as hunters along the shoreline and in flat-bottom duck boats shot at their prey. Last night at the OPA Pot Luck dinner/meeting, one of the attendees, the son of a OPA member, told me he'd been out duck hunting earlier in the day and had bagged several ducks. As much as I'd like to try cooking and eating a wild duck, I've never hunted for them. Nor have I hunted for grouse, pheasant, or whitetail deer. I am strictly a fisherman, at least so far.

At 9:45 a.m. a light rain started to fall, but it lasted only a few minutes; just a sprinkle really. I saw that John and Karen Newman were out fishing and had staged their attack in front of our cabin, letting the light NW wind push them south toward their cabin and Second Duck Point. It was in this location that I caught my four "keeper" perch yesterday.

As was the case yesterday, a cluster of five or six boats eventually gathered in very close proximity to one another as they fished in 10 feet of water in a spot between Giza's cabin and Second Duck Point. I get the fact that walleye often congregate in one location, but do people really need to be right on top of each other to fish? With so much water on Sucker Bay alone, there's plenty of room to -- as Moe of the Three Stooges used to say -- "spread out."

I made a hearty Sunday breakfast of eggs over medium, hash browns, bacon and toast with a big glass of orange juice. I don't eat like that every day, but on Sunday I'll occasionally splurge and have a big breakfast. As I cleaned up after breakfast I noticed that the light rain continued to fall. I stepped out onto the back porch and felt the icy cold rain fall in the 51 degree air temperature. It wasn't raining hard, just enough to make everything wet. The Newmans, as well as the other half dozen boats, remained on the water.

Right around 11:00 a.m., I happened to look out the window and saw that the Newmans were coming in off the water. They'd been out for a couple of hours in the light, cold rain so I figured they needed to come ashore, dry off and warm up.

I surprised somewhat to get a call from John Newman just before noon asking if I wanted to go out for some early afternoon angling with him. At this point the light rain had stopped, not that that would have kept me off the water, and so I agreed to meet him at my boat lift in 15 minutes. By 12:15 p.m. we were on the 60.7 degree water tipping our jigs with fatheads and slowly drifting from Poage's cabin southward in 10 feet of water.

During the next two hours I caught more than a dozen perch, including 4 big jumbos that went into the live well and later into John's bucket. He was trying to get enough fish for a fish fry for his entire family of five, so I was more than happy to chip in with my four big perch.

I also caught a medium-sized northern, which went back into the lake, as well as a 14-inch and a 16-inch walleye, both of which went back into the lake. The larger of the two fish got off on its own. I had hooked the walleye and had gotten it to the side of the boat, but rather than ask John to get the landing net and secure the fish I decided to reach over the side of the boat and land it by hand. Well, the fish turned abruptly and bit through the line and set itself free, with my jig still in the side of its mouth.

At 2:15 p.m. we came ashore so John could take his wife Karen out for some afternoon fishing. I used the time to clean up the house and eat some lunch.

Then just before 4:00 p.m. I decided to go fishing by myself. I could see John and Karen on the lake and I also spotted Tom Malay in his boat out trolling. Three of the five houses on our little stretch of Ottertail Peninsula had boats on the water at the same time. Not an entirely unusual experience, but with only five boats in sight on Sucker Bay, we represented 60% of them.

Again I used a 1/8-ounce lime-green and silver colored Bass Pro Shops XPS walleye jig tipped with big fathead minnows. I made several passes from in front of Poage's cabin southward toward Second Duck Point. During the next two hours and 15 minutes I caught a dozen or more perch, including one big jumbo, and three walleyes that measured 14-, 15- and 16-inches. Since I had two big perch in the basket at home for Sunday night dinner, all fish went back into the lake.

At 5:15 p.m. the sun came out and for the first time all day the entire area was basked in the late-Fall light of the Autumn sun. The shoreline looked particularly spectacular with the yellows, golds, oranges and reds of the leaves shimmering in the sunlight with the blue-green water in the foreground. Not that I needed it, but the beauty of Ottertail Peninsula at that particular moment, especially at Second Duck Point, reminded me of why this is where I'd rather be than any place else I've ever visited on the planet.

When 6:15 p.m. rolled around I made my way back to the boat lift and onto shore. Once the boat was secure on the lift and the minnows in the garage with aeration, I made my way to the fish cleaning house to clean the two jumbo perch which were destined to be my dinner. I was waylayed, however, when Karen Newman called to me to come over to their place and meet their new 15-week old dog, Bernard; a lab and springer spaniel mix.

I ended up spending an hour chatting with the Newmans and playing with dog before making my way back to my house to clean the perch. Eventually the perch were cleaned and I could start my dinner preperations.

In addition to beer-batterd perch (using Shore Lunch and Leinenkugel Classic Amber) I made a baked potato and steamed green beans. A tasty and relatively simple dinner.

After dinner I checked some football scores -- the 49ers won big over the Bucs 48-3, the Raiders won in Houston 25-20, and unfortunately the Packers won to go to 5-0 which means the Lions will need to beat the Bears on Monday night to keep pace -- listened to some classical music then went to bed fairly early for me, before midnight.

It was a great day fishing on Leech Lake -- two separate trips -- with two dozen perch caught in addition to five walleye. After some concentrated work time tomorrow, I hope to get out for more fishing, if the weather permits. Until then, good night from Leech Lake.

October 8, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

2011-10-08T11:50:00.001-05:00

This morning at 9:30 a.m. the temperature was 52 degrees, the sky was grey and overcast and the wind was variable at 10-20 mph out of the SW.

By 10:30 a.m. there were a half dozen boats in front of the house fishing in what I'd estimate to be 8 feet of water. According to my neighbor John Newman, who went fishing yesterday and was again on the water this morning, there are walleye out there. John caught 16-inch walleye yesterday, which he kept, and he released a huge walleye, which he estimated to be close to 28-inches.

After having a leisurely breakfast, and enjoying a couple of cups of coffee, I decided to go fishing. I took two spinning rod and reel combinations to the boat, and also brought along my baitcasting rod and reel rigged for trolling. Since I hadn't used my boat since my last visit in August, I also had to put my tackle box and other items into the boat. The last thing I brought aboard was the fathead minnows.

I lowered the boat into the water, noticing that the water level was down several inches since August, fired up the Mercury Verado (which started up first try) and slowly motored out to a spot in front of Giza's cabin in 10 feet of water. The water temperature was 60.5 degrees.

There were already eight boats in the area, so I picked a spot where I would be clear of all of them during my drift northward toward the Malay's cabin. I deployed the drift sock, tipped my lime-green colored jig with a fathead and started fishing.

My first pass I had several bites, and lost three or four minnows, but couldn't hook anything. My lack of time on the water during the past seven weeks has me rusty. During my second pass from Giza's to Malay's I caught a few small perch, which went back into the water. I also caught a small 13-inch walleye, which of course went back into the lake as well.

On my third pass I located a school of good-sized perch. I hooked two 10-inch perch, and although they weren't technically jumbos, I kept them anyway because they were stout fish.

My next pass proved even better. Directly in front of our house I caught another 10-inch perch, which I kept, followed by a 13-inch+ perch that definitely qualified as a jumbo. It was during my fight with the 13-incher that I realized I hadn't loaded the landing net in the boat. No problem, however, I was able to hoist the big boy into the boat and deposit him into the live well. Four perch in the box.

Looking from the boat toward shore on Sucker Bay, Leech Lake. Directly in front of our house.

At 3:15 p.m. I went ashore for a little lunch, prior to getting ready for the OPA Pot Luck. Once on shore I stopped by to see John Newman and to give him two of the four perch I had caught -- although I kept the big jumbo for my Sunday night dinner.

------

There were 49 people in attendance at tonight's Ottertail Peninsula Association pot luck dinner/meeting and 30 door prizes to be given away after the meeting. Pretty good odds of winning something, but I managed to beat the odds and come up empty. It's just as well since I haven't donated anything for the past two years.

The wind has died down and the lake is almost calm, the temperature at 7:30 p.m. was 62 degrees, and the sky is partly cloudy.

I wasn't feeling 100% tonight so after getting home from the pot luck I did a little reading, listened to some classical music on KCRB out of Bemidji and went to bed early. Hopefully I'll wake up feeling better tomorrow. I don't want to waste one second of my time at Leech Lake not feeling well. Until tomorrow...

What a Week!!

2011-10-08T11:21:00.000-05:00

The marvel of modern travel, and the hectic schedules people keep as a result of it, never ceases to amaze me. Take my week for instance.

On Monday, October 3, I had a meeting in San Francisco with a company for which I'm doing some consulting. They are located in the Transamercia Pyramid complex on Sansome Street. Two days later, on Wednesday, I had a meeting in Palo Alto, directly across the street from Stanford University and the football stadium where the #4 nationally-ranked Cardinal play. And on Friday, October 7, I was on the shores of Leech Lake enjoying the earthy smell of Fall leaves on the ground and the fresh, clean and unique smell of the lake.

Monday, Oct. 3 I was at the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco

On Wednesday, Oct. 5 I was at Stanford University in Palo Alto, CA

On Friday, Oct. 7 I was on the shores of Leech Lake, MN

Over the course of just five days my location and situation couldn't have been more different. Talking about business development strategy at the start of the week and closing it out by discussing just where and how deep the walleye are biting.

We live in an age of marvelous technological innovation, as we were reminded during the past few days as Silicon Valley and world mourned the loss of Apple founder Steve Jobs. But lost among the discussion of iPhones, iPads and Pixar were other more critical inventions that shape our lives daily, such as indoor plumbing, electrified houses, and air travel. It is the later that made my widely diverse week possible.

Now it's time to simplifiy. I'm going to take my cup of coffee, sit in chair and stare at the awesome beauty of Leech Lake.

October 7, 2011 -- Return to Leech Lake

2011-10-07T11:57:00.000-05:00

I'm baaaack...

I arrived at the Bemidji airport at 10:15 p.m. last night and made it out to our house on Leech Lake an hour or so later. I couldn't believe how warm it was -- 70 degrees -- at that time of night. When I left San Jose around noon Pacific Time the temperature was barely 60 degrees. Go figure.

This morning when I woke up the temperature was again near 70 degrees, the sky was grey and overcast with occasional patches of blue sky, and the wind was out of the SSE at 20 mph; but because the peninsula blocks the wind from that direction, the lake in front of the house was relatively calm, with just small waves.

Since I got in late last night I didn't have a chance to do any grocery shopping so I went into Bemidji this afternoon to buy groceries and pick up a pie at Perkin's for the OPA Pot Luck tomorrow evening.

On my drive into town the thermometer in the truck read 76 degrees. Talk about an Indian Summer! But it was extremely windy with gusts up to 50 mph. After my shopping and various errands I drove back to Leech Lake.

Rain fell intermittently during the drive, and at times came down in buckets forcing me to set my windshield wipers to full speed. But by the time I got to the house the rain had stopped and there were brief moments of sunshine. That didn't last long.

At 6:30 p.m. a storm began approaching from the south, and with it, more wind and the rumbling of thunder. The sky darkened and the whitecaps on the lake picked up. The temperature, however, remained warm at 75 degrees.

A storm approaches from the south on Sucker Bay, Leech Lake

With the groceries all stored away, I went out onto the dock to watch the storm approach. But the light left the sky by 7:00 p.m., so I went back into the house.

John Newman invited me over to his cabin for dinner tonight, so I've got to make a salad in preparation for dinner. For dinner, John had brined some chicken breasts, marinated them in a chipotle sauce then grilled them. We had them on large-sized hamburger buns with potato chips and salad. Great dinner.

After dinner the rain had finally stopped so we moved the party to the driveway where John had set up his portable fireplace. With the temperature still in the mid -60s, sitting outside was very enjoyable. And by 10:00 p.m., the wind had blown the clouds away and we could see the stars above us.

Finally around midnight I wondered home. The wind today, especially when it shifted from the SSE to the SW, made the lake too rough to go fishing. But even though I didn't get out onto the water, it was great to be back at Leech Lake.

Next Visit Set

2011-09-30T21:47:00.000-05:00

A beautiful pink and purple sunset over Sucker Bay, Leech Lake

I'm looking forward to seeing sunsets like this one on August 19, 2011 when I visit Leech Lake on October 6. I'll be spending two weeks on the Ottertail Peninsula to pull the boat out of water, winterize the house and cabin and blow tons of leaves off the yards.

I'll be very busy during my stay but will definitely take the time to post as often as possible to this blog. My first post will likely be Friday, Oct. 7. Until then...

The Golden Path

2011-09-24T17:53:00.001-05:00

A beautiful golden path is formed as the sun sinks into the western sky over Sucker Bay, Leech Lake. This picture was taken on July 18, 2011.

Autumnal Equinox

2011-09-24T01:29:00.000-05:00

This morning at 4:05 a.m. CDT the Autumnal equinox arrived at Leech Lake. Unfortunately I was not there to greet it. I was in San Jose, California where the high temperature today was 91 degrees; hardly Fall weather.

I hope to be in northern Minnesota in early- to mid-October for my next visit to Leech Lake. I have to return to winterize the house and cabin, to pull the boat out of the water, and to clear the leaves off the lawns. It's a lot of work and it doesn't happen by itself.

I will definitely report from Leech Lake on fishing conditions, weather and other activities once there. Until then...

Blaze Red

2011-09-16T15:06:00.001-05:00

Sunset over Sucker Bay, Leech Lake

It's hard to capture the spectacular beauty of the sunsets over Leech Lake, but here's one attempt. This photo was taken on July 18, 2011.

Mid-July Sunset at Leech Lake

2011-09-04T14:52:00.000-05:00

Here's a photo of the sunset on July 15, 2011 looking west over Sucker Bay, Leech Lake.

Steve and Kathleen at Itasca State Park

2011-09-03T12:48:00.000-05:00

During Kathleen's visit to Leech Lake in late-June and early-July, we took a day trip out to Lake Itasca State Park, one of the places where we had stayed during our honeymoon 30 years prior.

In this picture Kathleen and I are standing at the headwaters of the Mississippi River. The water this day was deeper, colder and swifter moving than when we've visited in the past.

We had a wonderful day at the beautiful Minnesota State Park, just days before it closed for two weeks due to the government shut down in the state.

Back In San Jose

2011-08-27T18:11:00.003-05:00

Yes, I do know the way to San Jose and am there now. It is quite a shock to be back in a metropolitan area of nearly 15 million people when for the past three months I've been in a remote area of northern Minnesota where the nearest town of 850 people was 25 miles away.

Just a quick post to say that during the next several weeks I'll be posting pictures from my recent stay at Leech Lake. Until then...

Water Level -- Labor Day, 2011

2011-08-26T07:37:00.002-05:00

The date is actually August 26, 2011, but I won't be here for Labor Day to take a measure of the Leech Lake water levels. I typically like to take measurements on Memorial Day, the 4th of July, Labor Day and then again as close to Halloween as I can.

As of today, the water is covering three (3) cement pilings at the boat ramp at the cabin. That is down from a high of seven (7) earlier this year. I suppose the Army Corps of Engineers has already started the Fall "draw down" of water in anticipation of the northern Minnesota winter snow fall.

When I return in the Fall I will report again on Leech Lake water levels.

August 26, 2011-- Leaving Leech Lake

2011-08-26T07:33:00.003-05:00

At 1:00 a.m. this morning I was still awake. I'm not sure why, but I always have trouble sleeping the night before I have to leave Leech Lake. It's not that I'm anxious about flying, since I've logged more than a million miles in the air. It must be all of the things running through my head that I must do before leaving. Because once I leave, I won't be back for several weeks, or even months.

I must of dozed off shortly after 1:00 a.m. because I woke up and looked at the clock to see it was 2:00 a.m. I woke again at 3:00 a.m., 4:00 a.m., 5:30 a.m. and 6:50 a.m. The last time I gave up trying to sleep and got out of bed.

After making the bed and straightening up the bedroom, I went next door to the cabin and began securing the boat. I took out all of the rods and reels, put away the landing net and tackle boxes, then raised the boat in the boat lift fairly high just in case there are any storms that produce high waves. I don't want the boat battered around in the waves.

From there it was back to the house where I ate a little breakfast, started gathering up the food to give to the Malays, throwing away food that was no good and collecting the garbage. Normally all of these cleaning activities are done throughout the week, but when I'm getting ready to leave for a period of time, they are all condensed into just two days or so.

Since I had gotten up so early I was actually ahead of schedule in terms of my preparations for leaving. That gave me an opportunity to lay in the hammock for 20 minutes or so and I took it. It was great laying there with the 8-12 mph WSW wind blowing through the trees. The temperature was 64 degrees, but it felt a bit humid and I wasn't cold at all, even with just a t-shirt and jeans on. The extra time also gave me a chance to post to this blog before I leave.

Well, no sooner than I thought I had extra time than the plan has changed. Instead of leaving at 11:30 or 11:45 a.m., the Malays want to leave at 11:00 a.m. so they can stop at the bank in Cass Lake to get something notarized. Luckily, most everything is complete.

I just finished taking the left over food to the Malays (that's when I learned in the change in plans), took the garbage to the community center drop-0ff site, put the truck away in the garage with the trickle charger on the battery, closed up the cabin and activated the security system and then came home and took shower and got ready for the flight to Minneapolis.

One last weather report. The wind has shifted and has picked up slightly. It's now blowing out of the north at 10-15 mph. The sky is still clear and blue, and the temperature is 70 degrees. It should be a beautiful day in the northwoods.

The Malays should be here in 10 minutes and I've still got a couple of things to wrap up, so I'll say so long. This will be the last of my "on site" posts from Leech Lake until my return in the Fall. Until then, goodbye from Leech Lake.

August 25, 2011 -- On Leech Lake (One Day and Counting)

2011-08-25T09:53:00.002-05:00

Unlike yesterday morning where the wind was howling at more than 25 mph, today at 9:00 a.m. the wind was light at 5-8 mph out of the SSW. The sky was mostly sunny, although there were a fair amount of clouds and the temperature was 70 degrees. A beautiful day on Leech Lake.

Unfortunately, today was my last full day at Leech Lake. Tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. I must make the drive into Bemidji to catch my plane to Minneapolis, and then from there it's on to San Jose. My work load today was full -- with cleaning, stowing boating and fishing gear, closing up buildings and of course, fishing.

My first order of business after breakfast and some initial cleaning was to get out onto the lake. At 11:00 a.m. I motored off the boat lift and toward Second Duck Point in 9 feet of 74 degree water. I deployed the drift sock, letting the breeze push the boat north toward the cabin, put a fathead minnow on my jig and started fishing.

I made three drifts in this area and caught a number of perch, no jumbos however, and one decent sized northern pike. At 12:15 p.m. I was back on shore doing more cleaning.

I took a break to have some lunch and soon afterward went for a bike ride. I did the entire 8-mile loop again and loved every second of the trip. When I got back home I was hot as a result of the 82 degree temperature and my bike ride, so I took a camp bath in the lake.

Thoroughly refreshed from my dip in the lake I took the opportunity to go fishing again. From 3:30 p.m. to just before 5:00 p.m. I once again jigged in an attempt to catch perch and/or walleye.

As a change of pace, I went north to the Birches and did a drift through 8 feet of water from just past Norm's cabin to just before Schiebe's. I didn't catch a single fish. I figured that there was no sense trying another pass at the Birches so I motored out into Duck Bay just past Second Duck Point.

Once again I deployed the drift sock and slowly drifted back toward the boat lift. During this drift I caught several small perch.

At 5:00 p.m. I was back on shore and back at the cleaning.

I took a short break in my cleaning to take one last ride on the ATV. I rode all the way down to the Capone house and then back up Ottertail Point Dr. to Sucker Bay Road and then West Shores Road and home.

While I was riding up by the Capone house I encountered a whitetail doe standing along side the road. I slowed down because it's been my experience that rather than run into the woods on the side of the road where the deer is standing, they prefer, for some odd reason, to dart across the road to the woods on the other side.

Sure enough the doe ran across the road and disappeared into the trees. She was immediately followed, however, by a small fawn, still wearing its white spots. I figured it was now now safe to proceed and started giving the 4-wheeler some gas. Just as I did so, a second fawn came darting out of the woods chasing after its mother and sibling. Startled by my presence, or maybe just because it was a bit clumsy, the fawn, as it ran through the ditch, tumbled and went head over heels landing on its back. It quickly bounded to its feet and retreated back into the woods from which it had come, on the other side of the road from where its mother and sibling had gone.

At this point I continued on my ride. As I came back to the point where I'd first seen the deer, I once again spotted the doe, which turned tail and ran when she heard me approach. It was quite a sight. I'd never seen a deer, or shall I say fawn, tumble like that.

Once home I began cleaning again. After more than 90 minutes of cleaning I took a break to lay in the hammock. It was so peaceful and so warm that I could have fallen asleep there. But I didn't. Instead I got up, ate a quick dinner, then gathered up my gear to go out on the lake for some evening fishing.

I hit the water at 7:45 p.m., just in time to watch the sun sink into the western sky. The sunset tonight was at 8:12 p.m. CDT. I love watching the sunset when I'm on the water.

I started jigging in front of Newman's cabin and slowly drifted to our cabin. In just one pass I caught several good sized perch, but all went back into the lake. On my next pass I caught a number of rock bass, some more perch and a 14" white crappie. It was truly a slab.

At 8:45 p.m. it was already getting dark. I had had the lights on in my boat for the past 30 minutes, and at this point figured it was time to abandon jigging and switch to trolling crankbaits -- Minnow Raps are my preferred lure for trolling.

I trolled from our house out into Duck Bay and back but didn't catch anything. At 9:30 p.m. I headed to shore. I took the minnows and transferred them to a minnow bucket in Newman's harbor. Since there is no point in wasting perfectly good bait I gave more than a full scoop to John. I then came home and commenced cleaning.

Finally at midnight I took a shower and got ready for bed. It's always tough to leave the lake and this time is no exception. I will, however, have to return in the Fall, most likely sometime in early- to mid-October, to close up the properties and pull the boat out of the lake. I'm already looking forward to my return. Until then, so long from Leech Lake.

August 24, 2011 -- At Leech Lake (Two Days and Counting)

2011-08-24T11:04:00.003-05:00

This morning at 9:00 a.m. the temperature was 58 degrees, the sky was clear blue without a cloud in sight, but it was extremely windy with the wind coming out of the WNW at 17-25 mph, with regular gusts up around 35 mph. The lake was covered in white caps and large waves crashed against the shoreline. I could see no boats on Sucker Bay.

Despite the cool weather I put on a t-shirt and a pair of shorts because I've got a lot of work to do around the properties today and I know that it'll keep me warm.

I started by doing some laundry and making Joe's bed. It sure was fun having him spend time (nearly a month) at the lake and I hope we get to do it again real soon. I think it was the longest time I've ever spent with my son just one-on-one. It was a great time for us to bond and have a good time at a place we both love -- Leech Lake.

My cleaning continued and included the bathrooms, the kitchen and more laundry. I spent several hours today cleaning. However, I did make the time to go on a bike ride. I did the complete 8-mile loop.

At 4:00 p.m. the sky had begun to cloud over and there was a possibility of a thunderstorm. The temperature was 70 degrees, but it still felt humid. The wind remained very strong and had actually increased to 25-35 mph out of the WNW with gusts up to 40 mph.

After some more cleaning, I went for an ATV ride. I rode all the way down the peninsula almost to the Capone house, then all the way on Ottertail Point Drive to Sucker Bay and then back down West Shores Road. On my way down West Shores, just before I got to Norm's, a fish fell from above and landed in the ditch in front of me. I quickly looked up and spotted an immature eagle that must have spotted me at the same time because it took flight from the branch upon which it had been perched. Obviously me driving by interrupted the bird's dinner. Hopefully it came back to retrieve the fish because much of it, a sucker, was still intact.

When I came inside I did some more cleaning, but at 7:15 p.m. I went outside and lay in the hammock. The wind had died down some, but it was still breezy at 12-17 mph out of the WNW. The temperature was a perfect 70 degrees and the sky was nearly clear blue, with just a few scattered clouds at the north end of Sucker Bay.

I eventually moved to the end of the dock and sat in one of our lounge chairs sipping a cold Wild Blue while watching the sunset. I raised my bottle to Kathleen, Joe and Melissa who all enjoy a cold malted soda at the end of the dock.

After the sun had been below the horizon for some time I went inside the house. I listened to some music while I prepared some of the food that Joe and I had left over from his stay. As is typical, I'll have more food than days to eat it and will end up giving much to my neighbors the Malays.

I still have to clean the living room, the kitchen floor, the refrigerators, my bedroom and bathroom. The boat must also have all of the gear removed (rods, reels, nets, tackle, etc.), but I'll save that for last since I may have an opportunity to go fishing tomorrow. It's been a busy day, and tomorrow will be even busier. So until then, goodnight from Leech Lake.

August 23, 2011 -- On Leech Lake (Three Days and Counting)

2011-08-23T21:16:00.003-05:00

At about 5:30 a.m. this morning there was a thunderstorm in St. Cloud. The room in which I was sleeping lit up with flashes of lightning followed quickly by the loud sound of thunder. Clearly the storm was close by.

By 8:00 a.m., the sun was out, it was already 78 degrees, air was humid with just a slight breeze. The only indication of the earlier storm were a few puddles of water here and there.

Joe and I cleaned up any minor mess we may have made at Grandma Coyle's house, I replaced some light bulbs where necessary and then it was time to go out for breakfast. I had contacted Joe's Aunt Sandy and her son Jackson to see if they wanted to join us, and as it turned out, they did.

We all met at the Perkin's right near Grandma Coyle's house off Hwy. 15 and had a nice time talking and eating breakfast. Then at noon it was time for me to take Joe down to the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport.

Getting there is easy enough, take Hwy. 15 south out of St. Cloud, then take Interstate 94 toward Minneapolis, and then 494 around the west and south sides of the Twin Cities to the airport. It took us an hour and a half to make the trip.

I pulled up to the departure area for Sun County Airlines where Joe and I said our goodbyes. It is sure hard leaving our oasis on Leech Lake, but it's also hard taking people to the airport so they can leave.

Like all good major airports it was easy to exit the airport and get back onto 494. I took it back to 35W where I then headed north through downtown Minneapolis and into St. Paul. I continued on 35W until it merged with 35E to simply form Hwy. 35. From there it was north to Moose Lake where I cut over and got onto 73 which I took north to Floodwood and Hwy. 2.

Of course Hwy. 2 took me from Floodwood to Grand Rapids to Deer River (where I stopped at Fred's Baits to buy a scoop of fatheads) to Ball Club and Bena, and eventually to Sucker Bay Road and home. The entire trip from St. Cloud to the airport and then back to Leech Lake took me 7 hours.

Once home I unpacked the truck, started some laundry, made a couple of phone calls and then went fishing.

The wind was out of the SSW at 8-15 mph, breezy, but not enough to keep me off the lake. There were some high wispy clouds, but mostly blue sky and sunshine, the temperature was 80 degrees and it felt humid and muggy.

I started fishing off Second Duck Point in 10 feet of water and let the wind push me northward toward our house. I was using a 1/8 ounce Bass Pro Shops XPS walleye jig in a green/black color tipped with a fathead minnow. I jigged from 7:20 p.m. until 8:30 p.m. -- 14 minutes after sunset -- and only caught a few small perch. I then put on the navigation lights and started trolling with a Minnow Rap.

I made one long pass from Newman's cabin south into the middle of Duck Bay and then back to the cabin but didn't catch a thing. I came ashore a little after 10:00 p.m. I had a late dinner, cleaned up and then read the paper, which I'd picked up in St. Cloud.

I spoke to Joe on the phone and it was weird thinking that he was already at our house in San Jose. Just this morning I was having breakfast with him in St. Cloud, now he's in San Jose and I'm at Leech Lake. No surprise, both of us wished the trip was just starting rather than having just ended.

As I got ready for bed I made a mental list of all of the things I need to do before I leave on Friday morning. There's so much cleaning up to do, plus closing all the buildings, storing the ATV and truck, securing the boat, etc. I'll be very busy the next two days that's for sure. But if possible, I'm going to try to get out and do as much fishing as I can fit in.

Good night from Leech Lake.

August 22, 2011 -- At Leech Lake (Four Days and Counting)

2011-08-22T12:17:00.004-05:00

This morning at 9:30 a.m. the temperature was a pleasant 72 degrees, the sky was sunny and blue, but the wind was quite strong at 15-20 mph out of the SSW.

Today I must drive Joe down to St. Cloud. He leaves from the Minneapolis airport tomorrow afternoon and rather than make the 5+ hour drive all in one day, we thought we would go down to St. Cloud so Joe could see his grandma, aunt and cousin.

We were on no specific timetable so Joe did as many things as he could before he left Leech Lake. He and I took a bike ride around the loop which is an 8-mile round trip. Joe went swimming in the lake one more time. Joe and I played a game of ping pong, and he played some pinball. Joe spent quite a bit of time just walking around the properties trying to soak in all in so he could keep the memory of the lake with him even though he'll soon be in San Jose.

Joe took a ride back into the woods on the ATV and stopped by to clean up Phantom's grave site. Then at last, it was time for us to load up the truck and drive south to St. Cloud. It is always hard to leave the lake, and there's no more difficult time than when you're driving down our driveway with the lake behind you. At least that's how it is for me.

I drove slowly down West Shores Road so Joe could take pictures as we went. We even stopped at the swamp and again on the long straight away as you approach the community center, two of Joe's favorite spots along our road. Soon we were making the turn onto Sucker Bay Road and heading north to Hwy. 2. For my money, there is no pretty road any time of the year than Sucker Bay Road. With all of its twists and turns, boardered on both sides by huge stands of trees. I noticed some of the sumac along the road was turning red.

We made our way west on Hwy. 2 to Cass Lake and then turned onto Hwy. 371 and headed south toward Walker. Once in Walker we stopped at the Dairy Queen so Joe could get a Blizzard. There's nothing like getting a DQ when you're up north in Minnesota.

We took our time driving to St. Cloud and didn't get into the city limits until just after 7:00 p.m. The temperature in St. Cloud was still 88 degrees and it was very humid. Every time I've visited St. Cloud this summer it seems to be hot and humid.

Our first stop was St. Benedict's Center where Joe's Grandma Coyle lives. We spent more than an hour there visiting with her, but around 8:30 p.m. it was time for us to leave. We were getting hungry for dinner and the residents at St. Ben's needed to get ready for bed. Joe and I stopped at Bravo Burrito's for dinner, but had it take-out. We went back to Grandma Coyle's house where we were going to spend the night.

We ate our dinner while watching the Coen brother's classic, The Big Lebowski. I think it's the third time we've watched the movie since Joe's been in Minnesota, but it's one of our very favorites.

At last it was time for bed. It's always tough to get a good night's sleep before leaving Minnesota for California. I know it is for me, and from Joe told me it was for him too. But nonetheless, it was time to turn off the lights and get ready for the trip to Minneapolis tomorrow.

Good night from St. Cloud.

August 21, 2011 -- On Leech Lake (Five Days and Counting)

2011-08-21T12:04:00.003-05:00

This morning at 9:30 a.m. the temperature was a very chilly 50 degrees. I've kept the windows open pretty much all the time since early June, but not today. I shut all the windows and turned on the furnace since the temperature inside the house had fallen to 65 degrees. Plus, I just wanted to make sure the new furnace would fire up after sitting in the off position for several months.

The sky was mostly cloudy with just a bit of blue here and there and the wind was calm to light at 5 mph out of the north.

Since it was Joe's last day at the lake, I wanted him to do whatever he wanted. We started by going on bike ride around the loop -- from our house to the community center, up the dirt portion of Sucker Bay Road to Ottertail Point Drive to 26th Ave. and then back to our house on West Shores Road. An 8-mile round trip. We had a wonderful ride and I noticed that some of the sumac is starting to turn red.

After our bike ride, Joe did some yoga and then went swimming in the lake. Then it was time for some fishing.

We started our fishing adventure by jigging fathead minnows in front of our house in 10 feet of water. The water temperature has dropped a bit to 74 degrees. We caught a couple of rock bass, but that was about it.

I then moved the boat to Second Duck Point and had us drift back toward our house. During the drift Joe caught a totally chunky 10-inch perch, which we normally would have kept, but since we were leaving for St. Cloud on Monday it made no sense to keep the fish so it went back into Leech Lake. The was true for the 12-inch perch I caught during the same drift.

We then decided to go try jigging off Ottertail Point since we had marked fish on the Lowrance then other day when we were muskie fishing. Once there we caught a few small perch, although I caught a giant jumbo perch that was nearly 14-inches long. But like the other fish, this true jumbo went back into the lake.

After several drifts around Ottertail Point without much luck we decided to move again. I throttled up the motor and we sped quickly to Duck Point. Just past Duck Point, inside Duck Bay, we dropped Minnow Raps into the water and began trolling in 9-11 feet of water. About half way across Duck Bay Joe hooked into a nice fish. When we got to the side of the boat we could see it was a walleye, so I got the landing net ready and got the fish into the boat. The fish measured a perfect eating size -- 16 inches. But as was the case with the perch, this lucky walleye went back into the lake.

After nearly four hours on the lake we came ashore. Joe got the grill ready because we had decided to have a steak dinner for Joe's last night at the lake; this trip anyway.

Our meal of steak, sauteed mushrooms and onions, grilled potatoes and green beans was delicious. We finished dinner just in time to watch the sunset, which is setting now at just after 8:15 p.m. CDT. With the sun behind the western horizon it was time to get a fire going in the fire pit at the cabin and finish off our dinner with some s'mores.

For the next several hours, Joe and I hung out around the fire, played some ping pong in the game room, talked and of course, made the s'mores. Finally, well after midnight we made our way home. Joe wasn't quite ready to end his final day at the lake, so he made some malted chocolate milks for us as we started to watch a movie on DVD. Unfortunately, the time of day, coupled with the great meal and all the fresh air from being outside for nearly 10 hours was too much for both of us and we needed to go to sleep.

It was a fun, activity packed day and I hope Joe enjoyed it. Tomorrow we are going to drive south to St. Cloud so Joe can see his Grandma Coyle before he leaves for San Jose on Tuesday. I'm going to miss Joe being at the lake. Heck, I'm going to miss being at the lake myself, but life marches onward.

Good night.

[Note: Since Sunday was such a busy day, and we had another busy day on Monday before leaving for St. Cloud, and because I was on the road for nearly 7 hours on Tuesday, I'm a bit behind on my posts to this blog. I will attempt to catch up on Wednesday.]

August 20, 2011 -- On Leech Lake (Six Days and Counting)

2011-08-20T17:49:00.003-05:00

This morning the sky was mostly cloudy, the wind was out of the west at 8-15 mph and the temperature was a mere 60 degrees. Mornings are starting to feel like Fall here in the northwoods.

After breakfast and some chores around the house, Joe and I decided to take the entire afternoon and go muskie fishing. Leech Lake has a reputation for being one of the best muskie lakes in Minnesota, if not the entire country, although I've never caught a muskie while targeting them. I did catch a tiger muskie once -- which is a hybrid of a Leech Lake muskie and a northern pike -- while fishing for walleye.

We made sandwiches, packed the cooler with lots of drinks, and set out on our way. The waves and chop on the lake weren't too bad until we cleared Second Duck Point, then the waves got so big that the boat was really getting pounded. I slowed way down, but kept heading south to Ottertail Point, our first stop on our muskie adventure.

Years ago, Joe, my friend Rick and I had fished for muskie off Ottertail Point and Joe had a very large muskie follow his lure all the way to the boat before it turned tail and swam away. Therefore, we thought Ottertail Point would be a good place to start.

We took our time getting to the Point because of the waves, but eventually we made it to our designated destination. I started by throwing a large swim bait while Joe used a inline spinnerbait. After no more than 3 or 4 casts, the braided wire leader I was using snapped during a cast and I lost my swim bait. I'm glad it snapped when it did, because I would have been much more upset if the leader had given out with a muskie on the other end of my line.

I tied on another leader, attached a Bucher top water bait and began fishing again. Joe and I made three passes past the tip of Ottertail Point but didn't get so much as a follow. We decided to switch tactics and locations.

It had been our plan to fish Oak Point/Joe's Landing, which is on the north of the Narrows (and the location that my friend Rick hooked into a 50 1/2-inch muskie several years back) but rather than just motor over there directly, we decided to troll over there since we would be going over a large expanse of 20+ foot water, which has been known to hold a few muskie. I put on a large Rapala Shad Rap while Joe used a jointed Bucher crankbait.

We trolled from Ottertail Point all the way to Goose Island, but never once got a hit.

Once we hit Goose Island we reeled in our lures and I motored over to Oak Point at 25 mph ground speed. We made it to our next destination in a matter of minutes.

The shoreline around Oak Point/Joe's Landing is covered in reeds and wild rice in 6 feet of water and is home to many muskie. Since the weeds are quite thick in this area, the best way to fish them is with a large safety pin style spinnerbait, such as the Northland Tackle Bionic Bucktail Spinnerbait.

We spent nearly an hour meticulously working our way from Oak Point north along the shoreline to Joe's Landing. I had the MinnKota electric trolling motor in the water -- which was set at a slow, constant speed -- and we made cast after cast into the reeds and rice with no luck. When we came to the end of the reeds and wild rice, where the shoreline clears up, I pulled up the electric trolling motor and sped northward to a spot called the Meadows, between Little Hardwood Point and Big Hardwood Point.

As we motored north to the Meadows, both Joe and I kept an eye on the dark clouds that had been moving slowly all afternoon to the northeast, which would eventually put them right over our heads. When we arrived at the Meadows we thought the weather was looking a bit too ominous and decided to move a little closer to home.

I piloted the boat around Big Hardwood Point into Deadhead Bay where Joe continued to throw his spinnerbait while I switched back to my Bucher top water. We made about two dozens casts when I felt that familiar temperature drop that proceeds a storm. I suggested that we high tail it for home ASAP.

We stowed our gear, took our seats and I throttled up the motor and headed across Sucker Bay from Deadhead to Second Duck Point -- a distance of roughly two miles. About half way across Sucker Bay the wind began to pick up significantly and the temperature continued to fall. When we got to the boat lift the waves were quite choppy and getting the boat onto the lift was a bit tricky, but both Joe and I have experience it doing it so we managed to get the boat securely on the lift in short order.

No sooner had we raised the boat out of the water than the rain began to fall. My the time we got on shore and into the house a full-blown storm let loose. The west winds were gusting to nearly 50 mph. The lake was covered in white caps and the waves broke over the end of the dock. Sheets of rain fell from the sky. The temperature was still dropping. We checked the NOAA weather station and found out what we already knew, that a severe thunderstorm was directly over our area. But not to worry, we were safely at home; albeit without a minute to spare.

As the rain fell, Joe and I listened to A Prairie Home Companion on Minnesota Public Radio and just enjoyed being in our dry, warm house. Within an hour the storm had passed and the sun came out. The wind was initially light at 5-8 mph out of the south, but swirled and picked up to 8-15 mph out of the NW.

Around 8:00 p.m., I got the grill going while Joe made some hamburger patties. Then Joe went over the cabin and grilled the burgers while I got the onion rings, baked beans, Cole slaw and condiments out. We had a very tasty dinner and then stayed inside playing poker before watching a movie on DVD.

Although we didn't catch a muskie, it was wonderful spending the day on Leech Lake with Joe. We both love being at the lake so much that it's going to be very hard for both of us to transition back to the hectic pace of San Jose -- which I must do in six days, Joe in just three. I hope we can handle it.

Good night from Leech Lake.

August 19, 2011 -- On Leech Lake (One Week Left)

2011-08-19T15:35:00.004-05:00

I was up at 7:15 a.m. this morning in preparation of the window repair guy stopping by at 8:00 a.m. The temperature was 59 degrees, the sky was mostly sunny and the wind was blowing hard at 17-25 mph out of the NW. White caps and big waves rolled across the lake.

One week from today I leave "our oasis on Leech Lake" and make the journey back to San Jose. I hate to leave here, but I must. I have much to do in the Bay Area and my first week back will be a busy one. Joe leaves next Tuesday, from Minneapolis, so I will be driving him down to St. Cloud on Monday so he can see his Grandma Coyle one more time before going back to California. Then on Tuesday I'll drop him off at the airport, drive back to Leech Lake and begin preparations for my own departure.

Henry from Anderson Windows showed up at 8:10 a.m., fixed part of the problem, but in doing so discovered that other parts had worn out and that they needed to be replaced. Unfortunately, he didn't have the parts with him and it'll take him 10 days or more to get them. By then I'll be in California. I told him to go ahead and order the parts, then when I've got my Fall trip to Leech Lake planned I'll give him a call and schedule a time for him to finish the job.

No sooner had Henry left than Dave stopped by. Dave is a local carpenter who is doing some major remodel work at the Malay's and I asked him to stop by because I noticed a sag in the kitchen floor. Dave took a look at it and determined that when the previous owners of our house remodeled the kitchen, and put in the island, the floor was never reinforced. Over time, the weight of the island has caused the floor to sag. It must be repaired before the weight does some serious damaged. Dave said he could do the work over the winter and we agreed to stay in touch to schedule that work. It's always something.

In the early afternoon Joe and I took a bike ride to the community center and back, a nice 6-mile ride. Then we spent the afternoon just hanging out doing our own thing. Since it was Friday I went into Cass Lake to the Great River Pizzeria to get the Mission Road pizza, which is basically a taco on a pizza -- Mexican flavored taco meat, onions, black olives, jalapeno peppers, and lots of cheese. Then after it's baked we add fresh chopped lettuce, sour cream and salsa. It is unlike any pizza we've ever had and it tastes great!

Nature Update: On my way back from Cass Lake while driving down Sucker Bay Road to our house I counted five small maple trees that had changed into their Fall colors of pinkish red, orange, golden yellow and red. I've noticed that the smaller, younger maple trees change earlier than their more mature relatives. I think there's a children's story book that might come from that observation.

After our pizza, Joe and I decided to go fishing. The wind had calmed down to about 8-12 mph out of the NW, the sky was clear and the temperature was a cool 62 degrees. We motored out to 10 feet of water in front of Giza's cabin and started trolling our Minnow Raps. During our first pass south into Duck Bay I hooked into a fish as we passed Second Duck Point. I reeled it in and found it to be a good-sized fish that measured a full 21 inches; a Leech Lake slot fish. I immediately released it back into the water.

We made several more passes from Second Duck Point into Duck Bay, but neither Joe nor I could hook another fish. We came ashore at 10:30 p.m., watched a movie on DVD (Albert Brook's Mother) then called it a night.

Tomorrow if the weather permits, we're going to try to get in some muskie fishing. Good night from Leech Lake.

August 18, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

2011-08-18T18:12:00.002-05:00

This morning at 8:00 a.m. the temperature was a chilly 54 degrees, the wind was out of the SSW at 8-12 mph, and the sky was perfectly clear, not a cloud in sight.

I ate breakfast and waited for the electrician to show up. During a recent storm some lightning that flashed directly overhead had played havoc with one of our circuit breakers rendering our back porch lights inoperative and also destroying the GFI switch in the bathroom. I also wanted to switch out the circuit breaker on the security system because it was had a GFI component to it and throughout the winter it has a habit of tripping the circuit off which requires my neighbor Tom Malay to drop by and reset the switch. With a non-GFI breaker in place that problem should be eliminated.

At 10:30 a.m., Brian from Todavich Electric showed up. At first, he thought he would have to climb into the attic to fix the problem, but he discovered a faulty circuit breaker was the culprit and was able to fix it at the electrical panel in the kitchen. He then quickly replaced the damaged GFI outlet in the bathroom, before moving next door to the cabin. Once there, it took him only 10 minutes or so to swap out the GFI circuit breaker with one that didn't have the GFI switch. By 11:30 a.m. he was on his way.

Joe and I were hungry, and so we made a classic northwoods breakfast of eggs, bacon, hash browns and coffee. And for good measure, Joe had a couple of buckwheat pancakes to boot!

Despite a fairly stiff 12-17 mph WSW wind, Joe and I decided to try to go muskie fishing. The plan was to motor south to Oak Point/Joe's Landing then head north along the western shore of Sucker Bay to Star Point, Little Hardwood Point, Big Hardwood Point and end up in Deadhead Bay. We got about half way between Second Duck Point and Big Hardwood point on our way south, but the waves kept getting bigger and bigger. I had to motor the boat down to just about 7 mph ground speed to keep from bashing the boat in the large swells. At that point Joe suggested we abandon our muskie fishing plans and instead use the wind to drift and jig for perch and walleye.

Since I had planned to focus our angling efforts on muskie I'd left the minnows back at the boat lift. After a brief stop to pick up the fatheads we were once again motoring -- slowly -- back to Second Duck Point. The wind was still blowing at 12-17 mph, with gusts, which came at fairly regular intervals, up over 25 mph. The temperature was 72 degrees and the sky was nearly devoid of all cloud cover. We could just see a few clouds in the extreme northwest. The water temperature was 74.5 degrees.

I deployed the drift sock and took up position in the bow of the boat. Joe took a seat in the stern and we dropped in our jigs tipped with fathead minnows. Joe hooked into something very early into our first pass and whatever it was snapped his line and took his jig. After retying a new jig onto his line Joe got back to fishing.

We caught several small to medium sized perch and I caught a small walleye, that couldn't have measured more than 10- or 11-inches. Joe hooked into something that gave him a bit of battle and when he got it into the boat I saw that he'd caught a nice 12-inch black crappie. Crappie are a very tasty fish, so we put it in the live well and planned to eat it with the jumbo perch that we were going to cook tonight as part of our "man feast."

We made a total of four passes from Duck Bay north toward Malay's. Then we came ashore, with just the one crappie.

Once on shore I cleaned the crappie and got it ready for the beer-batter coating I used it and the jumbo perch. In addition to the fish, we had slow-cooked oven-baked pork spare ribs (with my own dry rub recipe), Cole slaw, and French fries. It was simply delicious!

The wind continued to howl all evening so we didn't go out fishing. Plus, I need to get up early on Friday morning because the Anderson Window repair guy is coming out to fix the latches and cranking mechanism on a couple of the windows in our living room. I called it an early night.

Today was another great day on Leech Lake.

August 17, 2011 -- At Leech Lake

2011-08-17T12:38:00.007-05:00

This morning at 8:30 a.m. the temperature was 64 degrees, the sky was mostly sunny with just a few clouds, but it was very windy. The wind was out of the west at 12-17 mph with gusts up over 25 mph. The lake was roiled with white caps and large swells. The flag stood straight out from the flag pole.

I made Joe and I omelets for breakfast and they were very tasty. After we cleaned up, Joe and I went out onto the dock and marveled at how strong the wind was blowing. White caps continued to roll across the lake as a result of the 17-25 mph west wind.

Unable to go out onto the lake to fish, Joe and I instead went on a bike ride. We did the loop, going down West Shores Road to 26th Ave., then left on Ottertail Point Drive, then left onto the unpaved part of Sucker Bay Road up to the community center and then left again onto West Shores Road and home. It's about an 8 mile round trip.

Joe went for a swim/camp bath in the lake when we got back from our bike ride, while I took a more traditional shower later in the day.

Nature Update: I noticed during the bike ride that nearly all of the ferns along side the road have turned yellow and brown. The ferns are usually one of the first plants to burst onto the scene in the Spring, and one of the first to end their season, thus signally the earliest onset of Autumn. We may be more than a month away from the official coming of Fall, but here in the northwoods, that transitional season comes sooner than in other parts of the country.

As the day progressed, the wind continued to blow at more than 20 mph, so we looked for other activities on shore. We read. Took turns resting in the hammock. I got a fire started in the fire pit at the cabin. We played ping pong. I put fresh linens on the beds at the cabin. Those type of activites.

An afternoon campfire at the cabin on Leech Lake

I also got the grill going for a beer-can chicken. I had brined a chicken over night in my own mixture of spices and herbs. Then once the grill was ready, I put a can of beer inside the chicken, put the chicken on the grill, and the result was a golden brown taste treat. Mashed potatoes and salad completed the meal.

The wind continued to blow hard after dark as well, so there was no trolling for walleye tonight.

August 16, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

2011-08-16T12:21:00.008-05:00

At 9:00 a.m. this morning the sky was mostly cloudy, with some very threatening clouds to the south, the wind was out of the SSW at 10-15 mph, with gusts up over 20 mph, and the temperature was 68 degrees.

The forecast called for thunderstorms throughout the day, so the plan was that I'd go into Cass Lake sometime today to pick up some groceries and other supplies since it was unlikely that we'd be able to go fishing; the waves were simply too big and the water too rough.

I left for Cass Lake at 1:30 p.m. and made several stops -- groceries, hardware, post office, and bait. I got back to the lake around 3:30 p.m., and despite the strong breeze, Joe and I decided to go fishing.

Joe helped hold the boat in place as I lowered the boat lift since the strong 15-20 mph SSW wind created a lot of chop in the water. With the boat in the water safely, I motored us out to Second Duck Point in 11 feet of water, deployed the drift sock, put a fresh, lively fathead minnow on my jig and started fishing for perch and walleye.

The Drift Control drift sock in the waters off Second Duck Point, Sucker Bay, Leech Lake

We caught and released several small- to medium-sized perch, and Joe hooked into something that broke his line.

We made several passes from Second Duck Point to in front of the Malays, but never caught anything big enough to keep. At 5:45 p.m. we got the boat back on the boat lift, and went back to the house.

I brined a chicken for tomorrow night's dinner, then Joe and I went out onto the dock to watch the sunset. While the sunset itself wasn't all that spectacular, the cloud formations made an interesting sky prior to the sun dropping below the horizon.

The sun behind clouds over Sucker Bay, Leech Lake

We didn't go trolling tonight because the wind was still fairly strong at 12-15 mph out of the SSW and I didn't feel like battling the heavy chop to troll for walleye. Especially since the past few times we've been out trolling we haven't hooked anything.

Good night from Leech Lake.

August 15, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

2011-08-15T12:02:00.010-05:00

At 9:00 a.m. this morning the sky was gray and overcast, the humidity was high at more than 80%, the temperature was 72 degrees and the wind was out of the SE at 5-10 mph. As a result of the overcast sky and the light ripples from the wind, the water looked an odd gray-green color.

I was up for quite some time before Joe finally got up. We had our coffee, ate breakfast, then decided to go bass fishing.

It took us a while to finally get out onto the water, but at 12:30 p.m. we pushed off the boat lift and motored down to the reeds in front of Norm's cabin to begin fishing for largemouth bass. I put the MinnKota electric trolling motor into the water, and began fishing with a spinnerbait. Joe used a 5" Senko rigged Texas style, with no additional weight, on a 3/0 offset hook.

We fished from Norm's all the way north into Bass Bay past the old Hancock place. Joe caught three nice sized largemouth bass and a rock bass, I caught two largemouth but had two more get away. I had one bass all the way to the boat when it leaped into the air and spit the hook. Later, I hooked another bass and it too leaped into the air but this time my line snapped and I not only lost the fish but my spinnerbait as well.

Joe with a nice Leech Lake largemouth bass from Sucker Bay

Two hours after we hit the water we returned home. I got some lunch while Joe did a few things on his own.

By 3:00 p.m. the wind had picked up a bit and was blowing at 8-12 mph out of the SSE. The temperature was 75 degrees and the humidity remained well over 80%. The sky was mostly cloudy with just occasional patches of blue here and there.

I still had a few fatheads left so I decided to go jigging for perch and walleye at 4:45 p.m. Joe elected to stay on shore.

The wind had picked up and was blowing at 10-15 mph out of the SE, but the way we're situated on Sucker Bay, the water at the boat lift was calm, so getting the boat into the water went without a hitch. I motored out toward Second Duck Point in 8 feet of water, deployed the drift sock and let the wind push the boat northward toward our house and outward into deeper water on the bay.

I caught numerous perch, although none big enough to keep, and a small "hammerhandle" sized pike. When I ran out of minnows I came home.

After dinner Joe and I decided to go trolling for walleye, my third time on the water today. We got on the water around 9:00 p.m., about a half an hour after sunset, and began trolling from Second Duck Point southward across Duck Bay.

We watched as the 96% waning moon, just a little less than a full moon, rose in the east and moved up over the lake. We trolled for a full 90 minutes, but other than a couple of "bumps and misses" we were unable to hook any walleye. At last we motored back to the lift and came ashore.

I was pretty tired, so soon after coming in from fishing I called it a night. Tomorrow the forecast is calling for stiff winds and thunderstorms throughout the day. We probably won't go fishing tomorrow, but our plan is to go on an all-day muskie fishing adventure on Wednesday. Until tomorrow...

August 14, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

2011-08-14T11:22:00.008-05:00

At 9:30 a.m. this morning the temperature was just under 70 degrees, the sky was mostly clear and blue and the wind was light at 5-8 mph out of the SSW.

I walked out to the end of the dock and that brief walk across the lawn got my sandals completely wet. Last night the humidity was 88% because the dew point was at 54 degrees and the low temperature overnight was 58 degrees. Thus, the dew on the grass this morning was very heavy.

I counted eight boats in our general vicinity including one boat directly in front of our cabin where the two guys were throwing muskie lures. Figuring it would be a great day to spend some serious time on the water, I got out my two 6-gallon gas cans, filled them up, lugged them down to the boat, and gassed up the boat, just in case we decided to do any long runs on the water. I also plugged in the onboard battery charger to make sure the MinnKota electric trolling motor had full power should we work the reeds for bass.

With my boat maintenance complete, I went inside, washed the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen. When Joe got up he wanted to make buckwheat pancakes and bacon for breakfast, and I wasn't about to dissuade him. The maple syrup we used on our pancakes was made by our neighbor Jerry Schiebe from maple trees right here on Ottertail Peninsula. There's no syrup that's better than locally made maple syrup.

When we were done with breakfast, Joe and I decided to go fishing. We planned to be on the water for some time, so we packed a number of cold drinks, sandwiches and chips for lunch on the water. We started fishing right off Second Duck Point using jigs and fatheads. Joe had the hot stick and caught numerous perch, although no jumbos.

From Second Duck Point we moved south around Ottertail Point and up into Portage Bay where we stopped at Ivan's Bay. A few months ago Rick and I fished Ivan's Bay and I caught several nice sized perch and a keeper 17" walleye, so I figured Joe and I would give it a try. We jigged fathead minnows for about 30 minutes but didn't get so much as a bite.

Joe had been asking to go exploring in other parts of Leech Lake for several days now, and since the weather was good, the wind relatively light at 5-8 mph out of the SSW, we decided to motor up Portage Bay to the mouth of the Leech Lake River, and then into the river itself to the end where boats have to stop because of the dam at Federal Dam.

With three-quarters of a tank of gas in my Lund ProV 1800 Tournament boat we had more than enough fuel to make such a run, so we decided to do it. I throttled up the 150hp Mercury Verado, got the boat on plane and made the 20 minute ride to the mouth of the Leech Lake River.

The river is clearly marked with buoys -- green on the starboard side as you enter the river and red on the port side. The buoys are also numbered starting with 45 and counting down to 1 when you reach the end of the navigable portion of the river about mile later at Federal Dam.

The Leech Lake River is flanked by reeds and wild rice and varies in depth from 3 feet to as deep as 13 feet in some holes. In fact, during a recent professional walleye tournament on Leech Lake the winner -- who took home $65,000 -- caught all of his fish in a 10-foot deep hole on the river.

Joe and I took our time motoring toward Federal Dam since we had never been on the river before. We encountered several boats coming the other way on the river as well as heading toward the dam. There are two boat landings at the river at Federal Dam and apparently it's a popular place for people to launch their boats and pontoons.

The dam at Federal Dam, the end of the Leech Lake River from Leech Lake

Once we reached marker buoy #1, we took a few pictures and then turned around and headed back to the lake. It took us about 40 minutes to go from the mouth of the river to the dam and back again, but we were going slow and enjoying the beauty of the Leech Lake River.

At last we entered Portage Bay again and I throttled up and took us south to Two Points, which is on the east side of Ottertail Peninsula. Once there, Joe and I tipped our jigs with fatheads and did a little fishing. Unfortunately, all we caught were some rock bass.

A small rocky island off Two Points, Portage Bay, Leech Lake

After leaving Two Points we continued south to the tip of the peninsula, Ottertail Point. We again tried jigging minnows for perch and walleye, but again came up empty. I then took us north into Sucker Bay up to Duck Point where we slowed down and began trolling for walleye with Minnow Raps.

We made a long, slow trip across Duck Bay but didn't catch anything. We finally got back to the boat lift around 6:00 p.m., after more than 5 hours on the water. I figured it was more than a 20 mile trip from our house to Federal Dam, one way. I estimated that we traveled close to 50 miles on lake today; probably the most we've done in the 10+ years we've been fishing Leech Lake.

Joe and I spent a lot of time on the water today so we didn't go trolling for walleye this evening, instead we enjoyed watching the sunset, had dinner, and then watched a movie on DVD.

It was a wonderful day of fishing and exploring the big water of Leech Lake. Good night.

August 13, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

2011-08-13T14:11:00.004-05:00

This morning was another beautiful day at Leech Lake. The temperature was in the low 70s, the wind was out of the NNW at 8-12 mph, and the sky was mostly cloudy, but with enough open sky to let the sun shine through.

Joe and I drank our coffee on the back porch and took in the beauty of Leech Lake. I never, ever get tired of looking at it. After a light breakfast Joe and I decided to go on a bike ride. Went over the cabin garage, got the bikes, then took off down West Shores Road.

Joe wanted to ride to the end of Ottertail Peninsula, so we turned off at 26th Ave. then took a quick right onto Ottertail Point Drive and began the long part of our ride. When we reached the new Duck Point Woods development we turned in, rode to the end of the road and then rode out onto the wooden boardwalk and took that all the way to the end, where the developers have several floating dock slips.

When we exited Duck Point Woods we went to the end of Ottertail Point Road, turned around and rode back. The temperature, which was still in the low 70s, was perfect for riding, and unlike the last time Kathleen and I rode this route, there were no deer flies harassing us.

After we put the bikes away in the garage, I went for a brief ATV ride while Joe did yoga and took a swim in the lake. When I got back from the ride on the ATV I grabbed a couple of cold drinks, the fathead minnows and went fishing.

With the wind out of the NNW I motored out in front of Malay's cabin into 12 feet of water, deployed the drift sock and let the wind push the boat to a spot right in front of our house in 8-9 feet of water. I caught several small perch and hooked into something big that I fought for a few seconds before it snapped my line and took my jig. I figured it was a northern pike by the way it battled.

I tied on a new jig, tipped it with another fathead, and got back to fishing. I made a total of three drifts, and while I was catching small perch, I couldn't land another jumbo to go with the one in the basket back at the dock. I finally gave up, fired up the motor and got the boat back on the lift.

Once ashore, I cleaned the jumbo perch I'd caught the other day and got the fillets into the refrigerator. I'm hoping that Joe and I can catch another jumbo perch, or maybe a 16-inch walleye to go with this one lone jumbo.

Joe grilled burgers for dinner, but for some reason both he and I got hit with some heartburn before we could even begin eating, which delayed our dinner by an hour or so while we waited for the unease to pass.

After dinner we decided not to go fishing since it was already 10:00 p.m., so instead we stayed inside and watched a movie on DVD.

According to the weather forecast, the next three or four should be beautiful here at Leech Lake, so we're planning to get out on the water as much as possible. Good night from Leech Lake.

August 12, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

2011-08-12T11:45:00.006-05:00

I slept well last night and didn't get up until 9:00 a.m. this morning. The temperature at that time was 59 degrees, there was virtually no wind, the sky was gray and overcast and a light rain was falling.

For most of the morning and into early afternoon the rain continued to fall. But by 1:00 p.m. the rain had stopped, although the sky was still overcast and gray and looked like it could rain again any time soon. Joe and I decided to take advantage of the break in the rain to go fishing. Joe especially wanted to do some bass fishing.

As is our usual plan for bass fishing, we start at the edge of the reeds in front of Norm's cabin and then work our way north using the MinnKota trolling motor until we reach Schiebe's place. On this outing Joe was throwing a 5" Senko rigged Texas style on a 3/0 offset hook with a spinning reel and rod. I was using a classic spinnerbait rigged on baitcasting rod and reel.

Within the first few minutes of fishing, Joe caught the usual "welcome bass" at Norm's. It was a nice sized fish about 15 inches long. About 20 minutes later I caught a similar sized fish at the halfway point in our journey. And just before we reached the end of the long expanse of reeds Joe hooked another nice bass. This one fought particularly hard, which Joe enjoys.

When we'd reached the end of the reeds, we stowed our bass fishing gear and took a boat ride to the end of Ottertail Point. Joe hadn't been that far down Sucker Bay yet, so he wanted to check it out.

On our way back north to our house, we slowed way down, got out the trolling rods and reels, and began trolling for walleye in Duck Bay, very near Duck Point.

I set the Mercury SmartCraft controls for 570 rpm because there was only a slight SE breeze at 5 mph. The lower rpms meant we could troll at a ground speed of just more than 2.0 mph. I noted that the water temperature was 75 degrees.

We trolled in 10 feet of water across Duck Bay and about halfway across the bay I hooked into a fish. I could tell it was a walleye because of the fish's lack of a fight. Sure enough, we got it into the boat and found it to be a nice 15-inch walleye. Now a lot of folks up here would have kept that fish, but to me, it was just a little too small. I'll keep a walleye between 16-18 inches, but below 16", it goes back into the lake. Any walleye between 18-26 inches has to go back into Leech Lake per Minnesota Dept. of Natural Resources regulations.

Once the walleye was back into the lake, Joe and I again set out our Minnow Raps and began trolling. About 15 minutes later I again hooked a fish. When I got it to the boat I found it to be an even smaller walleye, about 13 inches. Again, it went back into the water.

We set out trolling yet again and before we got to Second Duck Point Joe hooked into something big. It was fighting hard and pulling line off Joe's reel. Joe played it perfectly and eventually brought a very good sized northern pike to the boat. I estimated the fish to be 26" at least. I unhooked the pike over the side of the boat, to keep the slime and smell of the northern out of the boat, and then released it back into the lake.

I piloted the boat back toward our house and Joe and I trolled from Second Duck Point to our house, but didn't boat another fish. I did have a fish hooked, but it came unbuttoned on the way to the boat; probably a walleye that was just barely hooked.

We came ashore at 3:45 p.m. and ate lunch.

Tonight is Friday night, so naturally it's pizza night. I left our house at 4:15 p.m. and drove into Cass Lake where I ordered an unbaked large pizza from Great River Pizzeria, ran some other "in town" errands and got home at 6:30 p.m.

After dinner we checked the weather and while there were storm clouds in every direction, the lake was calm, it wasn't raining nor storming, so we decided to go fishing.

I took the boat out into 10 feet of water, Joe and I put our Minnow Raps into the watr and we started troling in the 75 degree water under a full moon.

We made one long pass heading south across Duck Bay toward Duck Point, turned, and then headed north toward our house. The entire time we saw lightning all around us, with the most concentrated in the south and west. But we heard no thunder which led me to believe that the storms were a long way off.

On the northern pass of our trolling session, Joe hooked into a fish. He reeled up to the boat and I scooped it out with the landing net. I was a stout walleye that measured 21 inches long. The was in the Leech Lake slot limit which meant it had to go back into the lake; which it did.

We finished trolling back to our house and then came ashore. We watched a movie on DVD and then went to bed.

We had a great day of multi-species angling on Leech Lake.

August 11, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

2011-08-11T12:10:00.005-05:00

Despite going to bed after 2:00 a.m. last night I awoke at 6:30 a.m. this morning and was unable to go back to sleep. I got out of bed 15 minutes later, got dressed and then went fishing.

The wind was coming out of the SW at 10-15 mph which created a strong chop on the lake including some white caps. The temperature was 59 degrees, although it felt muggy, and sky was clear.

When I got out onto the water the sun was just rising above the tree line so I watched it climb into the sky from the lake. I always like watching the sun rise from the water.

I took the boat out in front of Giza's cabin in 11 feet of water, put the drift sock in the lake, tipped my jig with a fathead and started fishing. I made three passes from Giza's to Malay's during the 70 minutes I was on the water during which time I caught several perch, including one 11-inch jumbo that went into the livewell, a couple of rock bass and I had a hit from something that bit clean through my minnow leaving just the head; most likely a northern, but it could have been a walleye.

By 8:20 a.m. I was on shore and feeling tired from the little sleep I'd had. I tried laying in bed and resting, but to no avail. I finally got up and got on with the day.

At noon the temperature had risen to the low 70s and wind had calmed a bit and was blowing out of the SW at 7-10 mph.

From 1:00 p.m. until just before 2:00 p.m., Joe and I went on a bike ride. We rode down to the Ottertail Peninsula Community Center then decided to keep going and did the "loop." We rode down Sucker Bay Road to Ottertail Peninsula Drive and then on to 26th Ave and finally back onto West Shores Road and home; a total round trip of just under 8 miles.

After our bike ride both Joe and I were hungry so we had some lunch. Then I went out fishing while Joe stayed on shore and enjoyed the peace and quiet.

With the wind coming out of the SSW at 8-12 mph I was able to motor the boat down to Giza's cabin in 10 feet of water, deploy the drift sock and the drift at 2/3 mph parallel to the shoreline. From 2:30 p.m. to 3:40 p.m. I made three passess from Giza's to Malay's in 12 feet of water, 10 feet of water and in 9 feet. I caught numerous small perch and a small northern pike, but no walleye or jumbos.

At 3:40 p.m. I saw that the storm cloud I'd been following was getting very close. I could feel the temperature drop, the wind pick up and I could sense that the storm was very close. I quickly got the drift sock in the boat and motored back to the boat lift.

On my way to the boat lift the rain started to fall. By the time I got on shore it was raining pretty hard, and in a matter of 15 minutes the rain was coming down in sheets. For the next two hours it rained, there was flashes of lightning and loud claps of thunder, some sounded like they were directly overhead.

By 5:30 p.m., the wind had died down so the flag hung limp and the water was without a ripple. The rain had stopped, but the sky dark and stormy and the lake was an eerie light green color. The temperature was 64 degrees. The forecast called for more thunderstorms until midnight. But we'll see. Joe and I plan to go trolling tonight, weather permitting.

At 6:15 p.m. the wind started to pick up and another storm blew in. We had more lightning and thunder and lots of rain. The rain and poor weather continued right up to sunset, so Joe and I made the decision not to trolling tonight.

Instead, we had an early dinner (for us at the lake it was early anyway) and watched a DVD. I was exhausted having had only 4 hours of sleep last night, and after a bike ride and the fresh air from being out fishing I was ready for bed earlier than usual. We closed things down for the night shortly after 10:00 p.m.

Good night from Leech Lake.

Three Months at Leech Lake

2011-08-10T12:19:00.004-05:00

On the evening of May 10, I arrived at Leech Lake. I still remember that initial rush of joy when I first walked into our lake front house and smelled that familiar smell of the lake. There's nothing like it.

Today is August 10, meaning that I've been at the lake for three months now. It doesn't seem like I've been here three weeks, let alone three months. I've been fortunate enough to have many visitors here this summer. Kathleen has made two visits, once in late May/early June and again in late June/early July. My parents have been here, as have Tim and Sandy Coyle and their boys on two occasions. My friend Rick visited from Australia for several weeks in June. My granddaugther Ashley was here with Kathleen and I for nearly a week. And right now my son Joe is here at the lake with me.

I've also made three trips down to St. Cloud, each for several days. So my time at the lake has simply flown by.

During my stay the harbor restoration work was started and completed. All three of the out buildings at the house were painted. And too many other various maintenance chores and projects were done to even recall them all.

Of course some serious fishing was done as well. Numerous walleye were caught, most of which were released back into the lake, but several also graced our dinner table. Bass, northern pike, perch, rock bass and even a bullhead were hooked.

I visited with many of my neighbors, although most of my time with other "Leech Lakers" was spent with the Malays and Newmans.

I've taken many rides on the ATV all over Ottertail Peninsula, including one long ride up to Birch Ridge Resort to buy bait.

I've been blessed to encounter much of the wildlife that surrounds Leech Lake. I've seen eagles, loons, merganser ducks, mallards, Canadian geese, pelicans, herons, kingfishers, cormorants, orioles, finches, redwing black birds, hummingbirds, numerous types of woodpeckers, cedar waxwings, and dozens of other types of birds. I've seen mink, otters, squirrels, woodchucks, and deer. I've seen turtles, frogs, toads and snakes. The variety of wild flowers I've had the pleasure to see are too numerous to name. And of course the back drop for all of it is Leech Lake. The life source for all of the wild life in the area.

Now I'm just two weeks from returning to San Jose, a city of a million people in a region that is home to nearly 15 million. Here at Leech Lake, it's a 30 minute drive into Cass Lake, a small town of barely 800 people. It's just under an hour's drive to Bemidji, the closest "city" to Leech Lake, with it's 12,000 residents, many of which are college students at Bemidji State University.

The contrast from the remote, peaceful and relatively uninhabited area of Leech Lake to the megatropolis of the San Francisco Bay Area will be shocking. But that's one of the reasons all visitors to our "oasis on Leech Lake" love it here so much -- it's so quiet, so peaceful, so sparsely populated that one can literally go days without seeing or hearing another person. When people are here they are able to put the rest of the "real world" behind them, to let go and find an inner peace that is hard to attain when in the midst of a city. That is the true beauty of Leech Lake.

I've been very fortunate, blessed really, to have had the opportunity to be at Leech Lake for three months now. I try very hard not to take a minute of my time here for granted, or to fail to recognize the beauty that surrounds me. It will be hard to leave here, but I will forever be grateful for my time at Leech Lake.

August 10, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

2011-08-10T12:12:00.007-05:00

Your host motoring the boat back to the boat lift after muskie fishing on Leech Lake

This morning was much warmer than yesterday. The temperature at 10:00 a.m. 68 degrees, the humidity was 70% (so it felt warmer than 68), the sky was mostly cloudy with some sun and blue sky visible, and the wind was 8-15 mph out of the SW. The lake had some occasional white caps, but it is no where near as rough as it was yesterday.

Joe and I had a slow morning, and then just after noon took a bike ride down to the Ottertail Peninsula Community Center, a 6-mile round trip. I hadn't taken a bike ride in several weeks so it felt great to be out peddling on West Shores Road, one of the prettiest roads anywhere in the country.

Once home, Joe wanted to do yoga and just hang out, so I took a brief ride on the ATV and then went fishing. Joe said he didn't want to go fishing since I was going to be doing some drifting and jigging and that's not a fishing method he particularly enjoys.

I took the boat out between the house and cabin in 13 feet of water, deployed the drift sock and let the west wind push the boat toward shore and into shallower water. The water temperature was 76 degrees.

As usual I tipped my jig with a fathead minnow and got to work. I caught a few small perch, a rock bass and then a smallish northern pike. When I reached down to pick up the pike and remove the jig, it thrashed hard in the water and bit through the line taking my jig with it.

I retied a new jig on and was ready to fish, but the dark cloud that I'd been eyeing for the past 30 minutes was moving closer and I could see it was about to rain, and hard. I quickly stowed my rod and reel, put away the other gear on the deck of the boat, pulled in the drift sock and then motored back to shore. No sooner than I stepped onto the dock than it started raining. I ran back to the house to avoid getting drenched in what was a hard rain, although it lasted only 10 minutes or so.

Once the brief rain storm had passed, the sun came out, the wind died down a bit to around 5-10 mph, although it seemed to be swirling, coming out of the SW one moment and then out of the NW the next.

Joe had been wanted to try some muskie fishing so we thought we give it a try this afternoon. During the past several weeks I've seen numerous boats with muskie fishermen in them throwing heavy lures. Those boats have been positioned from in front of our house and as far north as Schiebe's cabin. With the wind periodically blowing from the SW, I thought we could start by fishing in front of the cabin and letting the wind blow us north toward Schiebe's place.

I took the boat out to 10-12 feet of water and positioned us over an expansive weed bed and stretches the entire length from our house to Schiebe's. Both Joe and I threw inline spinner baits. We fished for more than an hour and didn't get so much as a follow. Pretty typical for muskie fishing, even here on Leech Lake.

We came ashore just before 6:00 p.m. and we got dinner going. I had been slow cooking ribs all day so all we had to make is the grilled corn and Cole slaw. We took our time both preparing the meal and eating it, so were weren't done with dinner until sunset.

We watched the sun sink into the western horizon and the beautiful glow it left behind, then went inside where is played dominoes, listened to music and then finally watched a DVD. No fishing tonight for us.

Before I knew it it was already 2:00 a.m. and I hurried off to bed. Another wonderful day at Leech Lake.

August 9, 2011 -- At Leech Lake (Painting Complete)

2011-08-09T11:47:00.005-05:00

I woke up at just before 7:00 a.m. this morning and the house was actually cold. The temperature outside was 55 degrees and the wind was howling at more than 20 mph out of the north. The sky was mostly cloudy, with just a few patches of blue sky here and there. The temperature in the house was a cool 66 degrees. After all of the hot and humid weather of the past month, it felt good to have to put on a sweatshirt.

As the morning approached noon the wind continued to blow at more than 20 mph out of the NNW and white caps rolled across the lake. I went to the boat lift and raised the boat up a little higher because the waves were hitting the bottom of the hull. The flag is standing straight out and the flag pole is bending against the wind.

The forecast called for a thunderstorm this afternoon but it actually cleared as the day moved on. As a result of the weather, it turned out to be a perfect day for me and Joe to complete the painting of the fish-cleaning house and then to the green trim on all three buildings.

The "ATV garage" with new paint

The "bunkhouse" with its new paint job

The "fish-cleaning house" with its new paint

After we were done painting, Joe and I cleaned up, grilled chicken wings for dinner and then just hung out at home. The wind had died down a bit, but was still blowing at 12-17 mph out of the NNW making it too rough to go out trolling tonight. Maybe tomorrow.

A good day's work at Leech Lake.

August 8, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

2011-08-08T18:26:00.009-05:00

This morning was cooler than the past several weeks with temperatures in the high 60s most of the morning. It was also breezy with winds out of the west at 8-15 mph, with gusts up over 20 mph. The sky was overcast and gray and it rained on and off. It was the perfect day for Joe and I to go into Bemidji.

We need to get more paint so we can finishing painting the fish-cleaning house and since we're going into town to get more paint I decided we should get another gallon of the green paint we use for the fascia board and trim on the out buildings. I have one gallon left over when we painted the cabin, but I'd hate to run out of it and need more.

While we were in town, Joe and I saw a movie, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and then had lunch at Mi Rancho. We picked up the paint, got some groceries and then came home.

Once home Joe and I went out onto the dock to survey the weather conditions. It was clear that a storm was on the way and would arrive within the hour. Sure enough, less than 30 minutes later a storm hit. The rain was coming down in sheets, the wind was blowing hard and there was occasional lightning.

A ray of sun shines through the clouds before a storm hit Sucker Bay, Leech Lake

The passed quickly, however, and in an hour the wind had calmed to 5-8 mph out of the west, the skies cleared, although the temperature had dropped to the low 60s.

Joe and I finished dinner, watched the sunset, then decided to go trolling for walleye. Last night Joe piloted the boat, but with the wind a little stronger tonight and the possible threat of another storm blowing through, I took the controls.

I motored the boat off the lift and out into 9 feet of water where we dropped our Minnow Raps into the water. I warned Joe that since a storm had just passed through we were likely to hook big clumps of weeds which had been torn loose from the wind and waves.

Sure enough, we both caught weeds within minutes of starting our troll. But we kept at it and eventually Joe hooked into a fish. At first he thought he'd hooked more weeds, but then he felt that familiar "wiggle" of a fish at the end of the line. Unfortunately, it wasn't a walleye, but a decent sized northern pike. I don't like bringing pike into the boat because of the slime on their bodies and the smell they leave behind, so I unhooked this northern over the side of the boat and immediately released it back into the lake.

We then made one final pass through Duck Bay but all we hooked were more weeds.

We came ashore around 10:00 p.m., watched a DVD then called it a night. We didn't have much time on the water today, but it was still to be out on Leech Lake.

August 7, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

2011-08-07T13:31:00.007-05:00

At 10:00 a.m. this morning the temperature was hovering just above 60 degrees, but with the humidity at 80% and virtually no wind, it felt much hotter. The sky was overcast and gray, but as the day went on the clouds parted a bit and some blue sky could be seen.

I checked the walleye that I'd caught the other night to see how healthy it was, and discovered it wasn't doing real well and needed to be filleted immediately. So one of my first chores of the morning was cleaning a nice walleye which Joe and I will eat for dinner tonight.

After getting the fish cleaned, and then cleaning up the fish-cleaning house, I went next door to check on the Coyles. They were already in the process of packing up their car and cleaning up the cabin.

I helped strip the beds and get the laundry going while Sandy swept the floor and Connor vacuumed the carpets.

At 1:15 p.m. Tim, Sandy, Connor and Jackson got into the car and drove off, ending their six day visit. It was nice having them here, Joe and I both enjoy their company, but Joe and I are looking forward to having it just be the two of us up here for the next couple of weeks so we can concentrate on finishing the painting, and on doing some serious fishing. We've got plans to do some bass fishing, trolling for walleye, and doing a full-day trip of muskie fishing.

Shortly before 2:00 p.m. I decided to go fishing. I checked the fatheads only to discover that they had all died. Without fatheads to use as bait on my jig, I switched gears and went bass fishing. I asked Joe if he wanted to accompany me, but he wasn't ready to go out on the water and elected to stay on shore.

I motored over the the reeds just out in front of Norm's cabin, dropped the MinnKota trolling motor into the water, grabbed my Shimano Calcutta reel on the St. Croix Triumph rod rigged with a spinnerbait and started fishing.

I slowly worked my way from Norm's north toward Schiebe's along the edge of the large expanse of reeds that come out of the water. About half way between Norm's and Schiebe's I hooked into a bass. The fish immediately began fighting back in a manner bass fishermen can appreciate and made two leaps into the air before I could boat it. I'm guessing it was a 15-inch fish and had to weigh at least two pounds.

After releasing the beautiful bass back into Leech Lake I continued moving north at a very slow pace. I made numerous casts along the way and had one decent-sized northern pike follow my spinnerbait right up to the boat before turning tail and diving into the algae stained water.

Just before I reached Schiebe's cabin, which I had designated as my end point, I hooked into another bass. This one felt a little bigger than the first one, and like the one I'd caught earlier, this one too made two airborne leaps before I could get it into the boat. Once the largemouth was in the boat I did a quick measurement and found out it was a 16-inch bass, which weighed an estimated 2 1/2 to 3 pounds. A nice fish by any measure.

I continued down to Schiebe's but didn't catch another fish. I slowly motored back to the cabin, got the boat onto the lift, came ashore and had some lunch. At this point in the day, approximately 3:00 p.m., the temperature had warmed to 73 degrees, the wind had shifted and was now blowing out of the SSE at 5-10 mph and the sky remained partly cloudy with some blue to be seen.

Joe was interested in getting a fire started in the fire pit at the cabin, but not in the traditional manner. He wanted to use his magnesium strip, knife and flint to get a small spark of a fire going and then use a smoldering ember to start a bigger fire. Joe likes to practice his wilderness survival skills when he's here at the lake.

While Joe was at the cabin working on his fire, I took a ride on the ATV. When I reached the point on Sucker Bay Road where it's a dirt road I passed by the area where people shoot their guns. It's a plot of land that is kept mowed with a high dirt bank at one end where targets can be set up. Today, my neighbors Marty and his son Anthony were there shooting skeet and taking some target practice with their deer rifles and a revolver.

I stopped the ATV and talked with them for a few minutes when Marty asked me if I'd like to shoot the revolver. I took him up on the opportunity and squeezed off 15 rounds. I only hit the target 6 times because the sight was misaligned and so the gun shot high and to the left. I only figured out how to compensate for it with my last few shots. It was fun, and something I had never done.

I then got on the ATV and rode home. Once home I checked in on Joe and then got dinner going -- the walleye from the other night. We enjoyed a tasty meal of beer-battered walleye fillets, French Fries and salad.

Just as the sun was setting into the western horizon, Joe and I went fishing. Since the wind was calm I had Joe take us out. He lowered the boat lift, got the motor positioned correctly, backed the boat off the lift and then piloted the boat while we trolled Minnow Raps for walleye.

As is usual we focused most of our attention in Duck Bay, but since Joe was driving the boat we tended to fish in slightly deeper water than typical. About an hour into fishing I hooked onto something. Initially it was hard to discern if it was a fish or just a large clump of weeds (many large clumps of weeds have been floating throughout Sucker Bay this summer).

I continued to reel into whatever was on the end of my line and soon it became clear it was fish. Joe put the motor in neutral and got the landing net ready while I continued to reel in the fish. When it was close enough to the boat Joe got the net underneath just as it spit the lure.

We got the fish into the boat and measured it to be a 23-inch walleye, roughly a 4 1/2 pound fish. We admired the beauty of the big fish for a moment or two then I gently released it back into the lake.

That was the only fish we boated, and after nearly two hours on the water we headed home.

We watched a DVD and then called it a night. Another good day of fishing on Leech Lake.

August 6, 2011 -- At Leech Lake

2011-08-06T12:35:00.003-05:00

This morning was gray, cool and wet. The temperature at 10:00 a.m. was 65 degrees, the sky was gray with intermittent rain falling, the wind was out of the NNE at 5-10 mph. Every now and then the low rumble of thunder could be heard.

As the day progressed, the wind picked up to 10-15 mph out of the north and at times gusted to more than 20 mph. Rain fell for most of the day, and at times quite hard. With the weather less than ideal to take Tim and Jackson out fishing, we elected to stay inside and play liar's dice and watch a movie on DVD.

Then at about 7:00 p.m. everyone fell asleep. Joe was in his room resting. Tim fell asleep on the couch at the house, while Sandy and the boys were next door at the cabin resting. I was the only one who didn't take an early evening siesta.

Eventually everyone woke up and they were all hungry, so we decided to grill some hamburgers. I also made some French fries. The burgers tasted great, even if we were eating them after 10:00 p.m. After we cleaned up we sat around the table and talked for several hours. The Coyles went back to the cabin around 1:00 a.m. and shortly there after I showered and went to bed myself.

We didn't get any fishing in today, but it was still a nice day at Leech Lake.

August 5, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

2011-08-05T19:04:00.008-05:00

This morning was another beautiful day at Leech Lake. The temperature at 10:00 a.m. 76 degrees, the sky was mostly sunny with some big billowy white clouds, the wind was relatively light at 5-8 mph out of the SSE.

The Coyles had planned on heading home sometime midday today but are having so much fun that they've decided to extend their stay through early Sunday. As a result, Jackson and Tim were anxious to get out on the water and do some fishing.

The clouds today were of particular interest. The were gigantic, bright white and very billowy. They almost looked unreal, like someone had painted them against the blue backdrop of the sky.

Big, white billowy cloud over Sucker Bay, Leech Lake. Big Hardwood Point on the left.

With a cooler full of drinks and sandwiches, Tim, Jackson and I lowered the boat into the water and motored to a spot in 12-feet of water off Second Duck Point; the spot where we'd been catching perch the past few days.

We spent maybe a half an hour jigging fatheads in this previously good spot without so much as a bite. The water was relatively calm, with just small ripples on it from the breeze out of the SSE, so we decided to take a run south of Big Hardwood Point; a spot which in the past has produced good walleye fishing.

The run to that spot took about 10 minutes at 35 mph and soon we were again jigging fatheads in search of walleye or perch. We fished in 17 feet of water, and although we saw huge schools of baitfish, most likely shiners, we couldn't produce one bite. So after 30 minutes of unproductive fishing we motored north to Big Hardwood Point.

I've caught several big walleye and perch off Big Hardwood, including a few walleye in the 25-inch range and jumbo perch over 11 inches. But not today. We fished for probably 45 minutes with only a couple of bites and no boated fish. It was time to move again.

This time I motored the boat to the tip of Ottertail Peninsula, which has in the past been home to big walleye, perch and muskie. The three of us again jigged fathead minnows. About 15 minutes into fishing this spot Jackson caught a small perch; our first fish of the day. Unfortunately, it would be the only fish we could coax into the boat in more than a half an hour at the spot.

Off we went toward Sandy Beach, south of Two Points in Portage Bay. Back in June when Rick was visiting from Australia he and I fished this spot and I caught several perch and a very nice walleye so I had high hopes that this spot would produce something today. We fished for about 40 minutes and had only a couple of nibbles, but no hooked fish.

As our last effort of the day we headed back into Sucker Bay and made our way to Second Duck Point, the first spot we'd fished today some 3 hours previous. We gave our "home" spot about 20 minutes and when it produced no fish, or even bites, we finally gave up and went ashore.

While we had been out fishing, Sandy had driven into Cass Lake and had picked up pizzas at Great River Pizzeria. Since we had plenty of food we invited John Newman to join us. During our dinner of pizza and salad, John told us he'd been out fishing all afternoon as well, in spots we didn't fish such as Submarine Island and other spots on the main part of Leech Lake, and didn't have any success either. He didn't catch one fish. The fish must have taken today off.

As the afternoon wore on, those big white billowy clouds darkened and grew more menacing and by 6:30 p.m. a thunderstorm had developed and moved right over us. It rained extremely hard for about 20 minutes and was accompanied by strong winds, lightning and thunder. Within an hour, however, the storm had passed, the skies cleared and all signs of the treacherous weather were gone.

The storm clouds as they moved south over Sucker Bay, Leech Lake

With the lake again relatively calm and the weather stable, we decided to go out trolling in Duck Bay. Tonight, Joe joined Tim, Jackson and I in the boat. Jackson fished the port side of the boat while Joe and I traded off fishing the starboard side. During a southward pass off Second Duck Point I felt that familiar tug of a fish on the line. I quickly gave the rod to Joe who reeled in a very nice 17-inch walleye, which went into the livewell for a future meal.

That one walleye was the only fish we caught during our nighttime troll, and only one of two fish caught all day. Although the fishing wasn't the greatest, we all still had a great time on Leech Lake.

August 4, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

2011-08-04T18:05:00.006-05:00

Today was another beautiful day at Leech Lake. This morning at 9:00 a.m. the temperature was 74 degrees, the sky was blue and the sun was shining and there was a good wind blowing at 12-15 mph out of the SSW.

Since I was the only one awake, I decided to start painting the fish-cleaning house. I had found a gallon of paint over at the cabin so I thought I'd use that since I only had about a third of gallon from the five gallons I'd purchased earlier in the week.

I got the front part of the fish-cleaning house with the remaining third of a gallon of paint and went to use the unopened can of paint when I realized it was an oil-based stain rather than the latex paint I had been using; although the same color. Rather than mix oil-based and latex on the same building, I decided to wait and buy some more latex-based paint. So the fish-cleaning house will have to sit unpainted until our next trip into Bemidji.

Once the Coyles were up, Tim, Jackson and I decided to go fishing. Joe, Connor and Sandy elected to stay on shore.

We got out onto the water just after 2:00 p.m. and I found that the SW wind to be stronger than I originally expected, blowing at 12-18 mph with gusts up over 20 mph. The sky was sunny and the temperature was close to 80 degrees. The water temperature was 80 degrees.

With swell of 18" to 2 feet I keep the boat moving slowly as we motored out past Second Duck Point into Duck Bay in 10-12 feet of water.

We deployed the drift sock, tipped our jigs with fathead minnows and began fishing. We caught numerous perch during our three hours on the water, but only one 10-inch keeper. Together with the 6 perch caught from the other day, we'll have 7 filleted perch to eat for dinner tonight.

We came back to shore shortly after 5:00 p.m. I cleaned the perch, and then jumped into the lake to cool off and to clean off.

I got the grill started at 7:30 p.m. and then went home to prep the fish for beer-battering. Joe and Sandy prepped the "danger dogs" and brats. We had a very tasty and filling meal of beer-battered perch, brats, danger dogs, salad and fruit.

We decided to stay on shore tonight and play games rather than go trolling. We played several rounds of liar's dice, the set Rick brought over from Australia, which was a lot of fun. Eventually Tim and Sandy made their way back to the cabin while Joe, Connor, Jackson and I watched the new remake of True Grit on DVD.

It was another fun day at Leech Lake. Good night.

August 3, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

2011-08-03T19:24:00.002-05:00

I woke up this morning at 9:00 a.m. to a perfectly clear blue sky, a light breeze from the SW at 5 mph, a temperature of 76 degrees and humidity at 80%. A wonderful Leech Lake morning.

I walked over to the cabin and moved the fatheads from the aerated bucket by the garage to a minnow bucket I could put in the lake. With the fatheads recharging in lake water I started back to the garage when I encountered Tim Coyle coming out of the cabin. The rest of his family was still sleeping, as was Joe back at the house, so I suggested that the two of us go fishing.

We got the minnows into the boat, lowered the boat into the water and slowly motored out past Second Duck Point to a spot in 12 feet of water. I got the drift sock in the water just to keep the boat from turning in the breeze, Tim and I tipped our jigs with minnows and began fishing.

It wasn't too long before I caught a perch. Then Tim caught one. And soon we'd caught numerous perch including three jumbo perch which we kept and added to the live well.

After about 1 1/2 hours on the water we came ashore. Tim went to the cabin to get something to eat and see his family, while I went home, where I cooked Joe and I a hearty breakfast.

At 1:30 p.m., Joe, Jackson, Tim and I went out fishing for perch. Again I motored the boat out past Second Duck Point in 12 feet of water and deployed the drift sock. All four of us put a fathead minnow on a jig and began fishing. During the next 2 1/2 hours we made several drifts and caught numerous perch, but only three jumbos big enough to keep; bringing our total to six perch for the day.

When we got back on shore we found that Sandy had prepared a wonderful lasagna dinner, complete with fresh garden salad and garlic bread. It was very tasty.

Just before sunset, Jackson, Tim and I went out onto the water to do some trolling for walleye. While we were on the water, Joe was to clean the perch that we caught earlier in the day.

The water temperature was 80 degrees, the air temperature was around 70 degrees, the wind was out of the SSW at 8-10 mph and the sky was almost completely clear, with just a few wispy clouds on the western horizon. It was so clear, in fact, that after sunset when the sky was dark enough, we could easily see the Milky Way while on the water trolling.

Jackson used my trolling rod while I set up Tim with Joe's. Both were pulling #9 Rapala Minnow Raps -- Jackson had a perch colored lure while Tim's was purpledescent.

There is a lot of new weed growth in Sucker Bay, so to avoid getting hung up on the weeds, we trolled from Second Duck Point south toward Duck Point in 10-12 feet of water.

On our second pass through Duck Bay Jackson hooked into a very nice 22 1/2 walleye. We took a picture of it on his phone since it was the biggest walleye he'd ever caught. On the very next pass Jackson hooked an 18-inch walleye that was just a tad too big to keep since it clearly measured 18 inches which put it in the Leech Lake slot limit. So like the 22 1/2-inch walleye before, the 18-inch fish went back into the lake.

We came ashore at 10:30 p.m. and I checked with Joe to see if he'd cleaned the perch. Unfortunately he had an accident with my custom-made Leech Lake fillet knife, and had broken off the tip of the knife. Luckily Joe didn't cut himself, but it was unfortunate that the knife was damaged since it was not only a very nice knife, but a gift to me from Kathleen.

The knife wasn't damaged enough to where I couldn't use it, however, so I ended up cleaning five of the perch. I'm hoping we can add another few perch or a small, eater walleye to the mix so we can have a nice fish dinner tomorrow night.

After cleaning the fish, I cleaned myself --in the shower. Being on the water three different times throughout the day, as well as handled dozens of fish and bait fish, and cleaning the perch, required that I clean off. It felt great.

Joe and I then talked to Kathleen on the phone for a while, listened to some music and watched a DVD before heading off to bed. It was day spent mostly fishing on Leech Lake, which meant it was a great day.

Good night from Leech Lake.

August 2, 2011 -- At Leech Lake

2011-08-02T13:55:00.004-05:00

It obviously had rained during the night because when I got up this morning everything outside was wet and there were still puddles in the driveway. The temperature at 9:30 a.m. was 74 degrees, the humidity was 94%, the sky was mostly cloudy and the wind was very strong at 15-22 mph out of the north.

It was perfect weather in which to paint because the paint set up quickly in the wind, despite the high humidity.

I talked to the Coyles around 11:30 a.m. and they confirmed that they are coming up to Leech Lake today. I'm not sure how long they'll be staying, but I think they'll be here until sometime on Friday afternoon.

By noon I was out painting the bunkhouse and shortly thereafter Joe joined me. He was painting the side of the bunkhouse where there had been a wasps' nest, and sure enough, one stung him in the neck. We applied ice to it and he got the stinger out, but it still caused him some significant discomfort.

We continued to paint the bunkhouse all afternoon, and finally wrapped up around 4:30 p.m.

The Coyles arrived at just after 5:00 p.m. and we quickly got pizzas in the oven since everyone was hungry. After dinner we went next door to the cabin where we got a fire going in the fire pit and spent the next several hours just talking and enjoying the cool breeze off the lake.

We all headed inside to read and get ready for bed around midnight. We plan to do some fishing tomorrow weather permitting, and Joe and I also want to try to wrap up our painting project.

Until tomorrow, good night from Leech Lake.

August 1, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

2011-08-01T11:01:00.011-05:00

I awoke this morning to gray overcast skies, a light wind of 5-8 mph out of the SE, a temperature of 70 degrees, with the humidity at 84%. The ground, and everything else outside, was wet from an early morning rain.

I checked the paint on the ATV garage to see if the rain had caused it to run, since it is a water-based latex paint, but it appears to have set up before the rain did any damage. The threat of more rain this morning, and thunderstorms this afternoon and evening, kept Joe and I from doing any painting today. Instead, we may try to dodge the precipitation and get out on the lake for a little fishing.

Nature Update: This year there have been dozens upon dozens of leopard frogs in the area. Every time I walk around the properties numerous frogs are jumping here and there. For years I hadn't seen even one leopard frog (their population in Minnesota has been on the decline for decades) but this year they're everywhere. I don't know if it's because of the large amount of rain we've had, which has kept the swamps full all summer long, or because of the high water level in the lake, or some other reason altogether, but it's good to see the return of the northern leopard frog on the shores of Leech Lake.

Just before noon I decided to go fishing. Joe elected to stay on shore. The wind was out of the south at 15-20 mph, which meant that it was fairly calm at the boat lift, but windy once I motored the boat out into 10 feet of water. Since all of the leeches I had had died, I opted for trolling rather than drifting.

The wind was so strong that when I was headed south I had to set the Mercury SmartCraft control speed at 700 rpm just to keep the boat moving at 2.0 mph ground speed. The water temperature was 78 degrees and the swells on the lake were 18" to 2 feet. I pulled a yellow perch-colored #9 Rapala Minnow Rap behind the boat out into Duck Bay with no bites.

On the return trip, heading north, I had to adjust the speed down to 550 rpm because the boat was being pushed so quickly by the wind. I had a couple of taps while heading north, most likely small perch hitting the lure, but I hooked no fish.

After an hour on the water I came ashore. It still wasn't raining and I was half tempted to start painting, but every weather forecast I checked called for mid-afternoon rain followed by thunderstorms starting around 5:00 p.m. and getting severe after 9:00 p.m.

The Coyles called from St. Cloud and said they were postponing their trip up to the lake until Tuesday because of the severe storms in that part of the state. While I was on the phone with Tim I could hear loud claps of thunder on his end, and he added that that wasn't even a loud one compared to those that were so strong that they were shaking the house. It looked like that storm was heading north, which put it on the path to hit Leech Lake later in the afternoon.

A light rain fell for a few minutes right around 3:00 p.m. then stopped almost as soon as it had started. A similar rain fell for a few minutes just before 4:00 p.m. The humidity was 82%, the temperature was at 80 degrees and the wind was around 10-15 mph out of the SSE. Every now and then the low rumble of thunder could be heard in the distance. The air was heavy and muggy.

As an appetizer before dinner Joe made Leech Lake crayfish. He boiled up about 30 crayfish and then we dipped the meat from their little tails in garlic butter and they were very tasty. We then ate our dinner and then watched a movie.

We kept waiting for the storm to arrive, but we had already headed off to bed before it hit.

Good night from Leech Lake.

July 31, 2011 -- At Leech Lake

2011-07-31T18:19:00.006-05:00

The sunset as viewed from the dock at the cabin. Sucker Bay, Leech Lake.

I can't believe today is the last day of July. The summer is flying by way too fast.

Today was another beautiful day at Leech Lake. The temperature at midday was right around 80 degrees, the sky was clear and blue and the wind was light at 5-8 mph out of the SW, or calm altogether.

Joe slept in late, but I started in on some chores first thing this morning. I moved several wheelbarrow loads of rocks from the pile at the cabin to along the harbor walls. I could probably move another dozen loads and still have more to do.

When Joe did arise he and I set out to start painting the out buildings at the house. We started with the ATV garage. We spent nearly 5 hours painting the entire building, although the green trim still needs to be applied. I think we'll wait until we paint the bunkhouse too, and then apply the trim paint to both buildings.

We ate a light dinner, watched the sunset, then decided to go to bed early. Both Joe and I are tired from painting for most of the day. And tomorrow, we have more another building to paint.

Also tomorrow Tim and Sandy Coyle (Kathleen's brother) and their two sons (Connor and Jackson) are coming up to the lake for a visit. They'll be here through Friday. Their presence should be a great excuse to do less around the properties and do more fishing!

Good night from Leech Lake.

July 30, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

2011-07-30T14:03:00.004-05:00

This morning both Joe and I slept in a little later than usual. When I got up about 10:00 a.m. the sky was clear and bright blue, the temperature was 74 degrees, the wind was light at 5-8 mph out of the SW and the humidity was at 75%.

After a quick cup of yogurt, I went outside to waterproof the other set of stairs by the harbor. That chore took a little over an hour and when I was done I had some lunch before setting out on the next set of chores -- power-washing the out buildings in preparation for painting them.

Joe and I spent all afternoon, from 1:00 p.m. until 5:00 p.m., power washing the fish cleaning house, the bunk house (which is where we store all of our lawn tools) and the ATV garage (which is where the ATV is stored, among other things). I took a shower and listened to a rebroadcast of A Prairie Home Companion, which aired last Fall, a show I remember listening to when I was here last year.

Just 20 minutes before an 8:54 p.m. CDT sunset, and right around moon set, I left shore to troll for walleye. Joe elected to stay on shore and cast off the dock for bass; apparently with no success.

The water temperature was 79 degrees, the moon was 0% waning (a new moon), and the wind was nearly calm. The surface of the lake was like a mirror reflecting the orange, purple, blue and other colored parts of the sky. With no "walleye chop" I wondered how the bite would be.

I set out into Duck Bay while trolling at 2.5 mph ground speed and pulling my Rapala #9 Minnow Rap in Tennessee shad color at a depth of 11 feet, just above the sand-covered bottom of the lake.

On my first pass heading north, I felt that familiar pull on the line and watched the tip of the rod shot toward the back of the boat. I held fast and set the hook. The fish felt like a decent size and the two things I needed to determine were "is it a walleye?" and if so "how big is it?"

As I reeled the fish toward the boat, it gave up and began "water skiing." A sure sign of a walleye. But when it was close to the boat, but not close enough to where I could see it, the fish dove deep peeling off some line. At this point I figured it was a northern.

When I finally got the fish back to the boat I saw that it was indeed a walleye so I grabbed the net and landed the fish. A quick measurement showed that it was a 19-inch walleye, a slot fish, so it immediately went back into the lake.

On my next pass through the same spot I again felt a pull on my line, but this time the rod and line didn't hook the fish, instead the line snapped. It was as if my lure just stopped dead in the water. Whatever took my favorite lure was definitely big. I'm guessing a muskie.

I decided not to retie a new lure onto my line and instead opted to come ashore.

Joe and I watched a DVD, then called it a night. We're going to start painting the out buildings a the house tomorrow. I'm not going to push the job however. We'll work at a steady pace, but if the weather is right for fishing, we will be on Leech Lake again tomorrow.

Until Sunday, good night.

July 29, 2011 -- At Leech Lake

2011-07-29T10:23:00.005-05:00

This morning was absolutely gorgeous. The temperature was 68 degrees, the sky was sunny, blue with just a few scattered clouds, the wind was light at 5-8 mph out of the west although the humidity was already 80%. As a result, it felt warm and comfortable outside. I'm sure as the day heats up, and if the humidity stays steady, it will feel hot and sticky.

Joe and I had a hearty breakfast before driving into Bemidji. We took care of several chores -- such as picking up the paint for the out buildings -- and dropping of the truck at Dondelinger GM where they waxed and buffed out my truck as promised; for free. While that was being done Joe and I went to the movies and saw Cowboys & Aliens, which just came out today. It was a fun movie, certain to not win any awards, but for a summer movie it was fine.

At 3:00 p.m. we went back to the dealership to get the truck, but it was still not ready, they needed another 30 minutes. We took advantage of that time to walk to Target and take care of shop of the shopping we needed to there.

After we got the truck we stopped for an early dinner at the Mexican restaurant Mi Rancho, which is actually pretty good. Then it was on to the grocery store and home.

This evening at 9:00 p.m., the wind was nearly calm, the temperature was right around 70 degrees, the humidity was a comfortable 60% and there wasn't a single cloud in the sky for as far as I could see. Since my arrival in mid-May, there hasn't been an evening as clear as it was tonight. The only downside, if you can call it that, is that with no clouds the sunset is fairly common.

Joe didn't want to go out on the boat and fish tonight, although he did throw a lure off the dock at the cabin. He caught a 14-inch bass, and something hit his lure hard and took off the plastic body on it. He got a few more bites, but didn't catch anything else. After he came inside we spent most of the evening just hanging out. We listened to music, talked and then watched a little TV.

July 28, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

2011-07-28T11:13:00.006-05:00

This morning at 9:30 a.m. the sky was mostly sunny, the wind was out of the SW at 7-10 mph, the temperature was 70 degrees and the humidity was 76%. I'm not sure what the forecast calls for today, but I can tell it's going to be pretty warm and humid.

On a sad note, our neighbors and friends, the Newmans, had to put down their dog Merle today because he was suffering from cancer. It is a hard thing to say goodbye to a friend and family member, even it is a pet.

Just after noon I waterproofed one set of the stairs near the harbor while Joe threw a lure (a top water plastic frog) off the dock at the cabin. And he had some luck, catching a couple of nice bass. The temperature didn't go up that much, up to only 74 degrees, and the humidity held constant at 76%, but it sure felt hot.

At 2:30 p.m. Joe and I went fishing. It felt great out on the water with the wind blowing at 8-15 mph out of the west. The water temperature was 78 degrees.

We started out in 15 feet of water off Second Duck Point and drifted toward the shores of Ottertail Peninsula with the west wind. Both Joe and I used jigs tipped with leeches. We made several passes in this spot without any success before relocating in front of our house in 18 feet of water and drifting toward shore. Again, we had no success, except for the rock bass which Joe caught. We did have several bites throughout the day, but couldn't hook or boat any fish.

We came ashore just before 5:00 p.m. It was obvious that the humidity was lower, and in fact in registered at 60%. Joe has been trying to catch crayfish, for a crayfish feed, and added 8 more to the 4 he caught earlier. He still needs dozens more to make a decent meal. After tending to his crayfish, Joe jumped in the lake to cool off, while I got the grill ready to BBQ our chicken wings.

After a very tasty dinner, we showered and settled in for a night at the movies, Leech Lake style. Joe and I watched Iron Man 2 then called it a night. Tomorrow we're going into Bemidji to run a variety of errands. More on our adventures in tomorrow's post.

Good night from Leech Lake.

July 27, 2011 -- On/In Leech Lake

2011-07-27T11:28:00.007-05:00

Well, I'm back at Leech Lake. I went to St. Cloud on Sunday in advance of picking up my son Joe from the airport on Monday. Actually, Joe flew into Minneapolis then took a shuttle bus up to St. Cloud where I met him at the Holiday Inn.

Joe had taken the redeye flight from San Francisco was understandably tired upon his arrival. He was also hungry, so we had breakfast at Perkin's. We spent Monday at Marge Coyle's house (Kathleen's mom) visiting with her as well as Kathleen's brother's family. We took care of various chores for people (such as hauling some old junk to the dump), but mainly we just hung out and talked with family.

On Tuesday, July 26, Joe and I packed up our stuff, said our goodbyes, and headed up to Leech Lake. We arrived sometime around 7:00 p.m. and spent the rest of the evening quietly, having dinner and just hanging out.

This morning we awoke to gray, overcast skies, a temperature of 70 degrees and light winds out of the SW at 7-10 mph. It rained last night so the ground, and everything else, was wet. The humidity is not nearly as bad as it was last week, but it's at 82%, so it was a little sticky. The temperature is supposed to reach 80 today, and with that humidity, it might get a bit uncomfortable.

After breakfast and a little work around the house, Joe and I went fishing. It was the first chance I had to use the new Drift Control drift sock, which I had bought at Scheel's in St. Cloud. I took the boat past Second Duck Point in 11 feet of water, which was at 77 degrees, and deployed the new drift sock; which worked wonderfully.

Both Joe and I used jigs tipped with leeches, but after two passes the only fish boated were a couple of small perch that I caught. We then realized that we had forgotten to get Joe a Minnesota fishing license, so we immediately came in off the water, drove to Birch Ridge Resort and got him an annual fishing license.

We came back to the house, had some lunch, and then set in on some yard work that included planting some lilies of the valley that we had brought back from Marge Coyle's house. I asked her if we could transplant some of her plants and she was more than happy to have them live on in another location.

By the time we were done working around the yard, both Joe and I were hot and dripping with sweat. The temperature had climbed to 82 degrees and the humidity was up over 90%. It was time to "cool the core," so both of us jumped in the lake. We swam around for 10 minutes or so and then got out. For the rest of the evening we remained fairly cool as a result of our plunge into Leech Lake.

Joe and I had a tasty dinner of pulled BBQ pork, Cole slaw and fries. We ended the night by watching a movie, a favorite of ours, a Coen brothers movie, The Big Lebowski.

Good night from Leech Lake.

July 24, 2011 -- At Leech Lake

2011-07-24T09:42:00.003-05:00

Again I woke up early this morning, but not to storms, but to the sound of the furnace running. That's right the furnace. While most of the country -- including here a Leech Lake for the past week -- has suffered unbearable heat, the furnace was actually running.

I immediately turned it off since I wasn't about to close all the windows. The temperature outside was 55 degrees, and the temperature in the house was at 68 degrees, which is where the furnace is set to kick on.

It had obviously rained during the night because everything outside was wet. The sky was clear with only a few high billowy clouds and the wind was out of the WNW at 8-12 mph. It appeared to be a beautiful day, if not a bit chilly.

By 9:00 a.m. the temperature had warmed only slightly to 56 degrees and all other conditions remained consistent as earlier.

I grabbed a quick breakfast, loaded some things into the truck and was ready to set off for St. Cloud by just after 10:30 a.m.

I won't be back to Leech Lake until sometime on Tuesday, July 26, so there will be no post tomorrow.

Until my arrival back at Leech Lake, so long...

July 23, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

2011-07-23T00:53:00.009-05:00

"Red sky at night, sailors delight. Red sky in morning, sailors take warning."

For the second time in recent days I'm reminded of that old mariner's adage. I had trouble sleeping last night and for some reason awoke at 5:30 a.m. to the sound of a strong wind. I took a look outside, and the sky to the east was bright red. As I stood marveling at the sky a flash of lightening appeared over head and within seconds was followed with a loud clap of thunder. Take warning indeed.

The thunderstorm brought wind, rain, lightening and thunder. At 8:30 a.m. the sky was gray and overcast, the wind was variable -- 8-15 mph swinging from the north to the ENE -- and the temperature was a cool 60 degrees. The humidity, most likely because of the rain, was at 70%.

Today I had planned to apply waterproofing to the wood stairs that are on either side of the harbor, but if it's going to rain all day I'll have to wait.

The National Weather Service has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for the north-central part of Minnesota, including Leech Lake, from 5:00 to 8:00 p.m.

I wasn't going to go fishing today, in part because I didn't have a drift sock and in part because it was supposed to storm, but at Kathleen's urging -- "go fishing whenever you can..." -- I hit the water at around 3:30 p.m. The wind was out of the east at 10-12 mph, and without a drift sock, it meant that the boat would be pushed rather quickly from our shoreline out into Sucker Bay. The further out into the bay I got, the stronger the wind and the faster the boat was propelled.

Given that scenario, I started relatively close to shore in 8 1/2 feet of water and let the wind move me out into deeper water. The wind also moved the boat slightly south as it moved out into the bay so I could start in front of the cabin and by the time I got out into the middle of the bay I had moved a south enough to where I was in front of the house.

As usual when drifting, I used a jig tipped with a leech. I caught a few rock bass, including some good sized ones, and a small perch but no walleye. On two occasions, I did feel that familiar "walleye tap" and when I checked my bait the leech had been bitten in half; meaning something with teeth, either a walleye or a pike, was checking out my lure. At 4:30 p.m. I went ashore to listen to A Prairie Home Companion, and later get dinner started.

The storm which had been predicted never showed up. Instead, the sky actually started to show a little blue. The sunset was of the type where the sun was a big orange ball, which looked amazing, but once it dropped below the horizon there was virtually no color of any sort which made for a rather unspectacular sunset.

I ate dinner, watched a movie, and talked with Kathleen and Joe on the phone. Tomorrow morning I'm driving to St. Cloud and will see Kathleen's mom and sister. Then on Monday morning I'll pick Joe up from where the shuttle from the Minneapolis airport will drop him off in St. Cloud. We'll spend Monday in St. Cloud visiting family before making our way up to Leech Lake on Tuesday.

Good night from Leech Lake.

July 22, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

2011-07-22T10:21:00.009-05:00

This morning was a perfect summer morning. Bright blue sky, a light breeze that barely rippled the flag or lake, a temperature of 72 degrees and the humidity at 70%. Absolutely perfect.

After taking care of various chores around the house and properties, I decided to go fishing at 12:30 p.m. There was only a slight breeze and it was the hottest part of the day, not exactly ideal fishing conditions, but what the heck.

I took the boat out to 10 feet of water off Second Duck Point and began jigging. At that spot on the lake the wind, which was coming out of the SE was strong enough to where I had to deploy the drift sock to keep the boat from turning in the wind. The wind gently pushed the boat out into the bay at about .35 mph ground speed.

I had a few bites, but could never hook into anything. After about an hour or so I decided to relocate to a deeper hole I know over by the old Bay Shore Resort at the north end of Sucker Bay. I figured that the warm water, which was now at 81 degrees, may have forced the fish to go a little deeper than they've been the past few weeks.

Once at the spot marked by a waypoint I dropped in the drift sock, put a fresh leech onto the jig and began fishing. After about 30 minutes or so, the wind died down completely and the heat from the overhead midday sun was really baking me, so I decided to call it quits.

I stowed my jigging rod in the rod locker, got the boat ready to go then applied the throttle to get me home. I immediately experienced a drag on the boat and wondered what was up. I put the boat in neutral and everything seemed to be OK so once again I throttled up and got the boat moving quickly. That's when I felt the drag again, followed by a loud snap. Again I backed off on the throttle and quickly checked the motor to see if I had snapped a linkage or cable.

That, fortunately, wasn't the problem. What was the issue was that I had left the drift sock in the water, and that the rope snapped when I accelerated. My drift sock was now slowly sinking some 25 yards behind the boat. I quickly turned the boat around and went after my slowly descending drift sock. But by the time I got there it was out of sight; gone beneath the algae bloom of Leech Lake.

I wasn't about to give up that easily, so I got out my trolling rod and made several passes over the spot hoping to snag the drift sock with my lure and reuse it. Unfortunately, after numerous passes over the location where I last saw the sock, I had come up empty. My drift sock was gone.

The wind had died down and as a result I had completely forgotten that the sock was still in the water. It's particularly disappointing for me because that drift sock had been a Father's Day present from my son Joe several years back. I liked it so much that when it tore earlier this season rather than get a new one I had this one repaired. Now it was lurking somewhere in the depths of north Sucker Bay. Now I'll have to get a new one at Scheel's when I'm in St. Cloud on Sunday.

Since it was Friday night, I had pizza. Lately, when I've been getting pizza here at the lake, I've been picking up an unbaked pie from Great River Pizzeria in Cass Lake. Yesterday when I was driving home from Bemidji I stopped in and picked up a pizza in anticipation of "Friday night pizza," a tradition that goes back more than two decades in our family. I know for sure that those of my family in California will be ordering pizza tonight.

After my pizza dinner, I read some Sir Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes, and then watched a 1962 Hammer Production movie starring Peter Cushing, Night Creatures.

I could tell that the wind had picked up a little by the sound of it blowing through the trees. Tonight there's a good chance of thunderstorm, and tomorrow there's a 50% chance of thunderstorms all day long.

I guess it's probably because I'm still fretting over the loss of my drift sock earlier today, but I decided against going fishing until I've got the boat outfitted with a new drift sock. So no fishing tonight.

Good night from Leech Lake.

July 21, 2011 -- At Leech Lake

2011-07-21T09:39:00.005-05:00

For the first time in more than a week I awoke to weather that wasn't hot, humid and stifling. The humidity was at 70%, and that's 20% lower than it's been many days this past week. The temperature was 68 degrees and the wind was at 8-15 mph out of the WSW. I could actually wear pants, shoes and socks when I went into town and I wasn't too hot.

Of course I spoke too soon. Once in Bemidji, I dropped my truck off for service at Dondelinger GM and walked about 2 miles to the Perkin's for breakfast. It wasn't yet noon and the temperature in Bemidji was 85 degrees, and while I have no idea what the humidity was, it was significant enough to where I was definitely hot when I arrived at the restaurant.

After breakfast I walked back to the shop to pick up my truck. The service guy met me and had a troubled look about him. He started to apologize for the "little problem" that they caused and I started to worry. He then went on to tell me that after the truck was fully serviced (which cost all of $42) they washed my truck and accidently left the de-greaser on too long which caused some streaking. I told him it was no big deal, but he insisted that the next time I come into town that I leave the truck with them for 2-3 hours and they'll do a complete wax job on my truck and buff out all of the marks -- for free. This is the type of small-town, Northwoods service you never get in a big city such as San Jose.

I ordered some paint at Sherwin Williams -- so Joe and I can paint the out buildings when he's here -- got some groceries, and then drove back to the lake.

When I arrived it was still very windy with the wind out of the SW at 12-20 mph. There were white caps rolling across the lake. The temperature was 80 degrees and the humidity varied for the rest of the day between 64-70%. The lower humidity made it very comfortable, and the wind kept the deer flies and mosquitoes at bay, so I was actually able to lay in the hammock for about an hour. What a wonderful gift; not just the hammock (which Kathleen did get me for a gift) but for the time to be able to lay in it.

As the evening moved toward sunset the wind slowed a little, but not enough to where I felt like taking the boat out fishing, so I spent the evening reading the newspapers I bought in town, and working the various puzzles (Sudoku and crosswords), while listening to music. I only wish Kathleen could have been here with me. That would have made it a perfect night.

Tomorrow I have various chores to attend to around the property. I hope the lower humidity holds. Until then...

July 20, 2011 -- At Leech Lake

2011-07-20T08:43:00.012-05:00

This morning it was once again hot and humid; gone was the cool air from last evening.

At 8:30 a.m. the temperature was 75 degrees, the humidity was at 92% and the wind was at 8-12 mph out of the SSE. There was a mist emanating from the ground as if the wet grass was creating its own low-level cloud.

Just an hour and a half later, at 10:00 a.m., the temperature had climbed to 80 degrees and the humidity hadn't backed off a bit, still registering at 90%. It was already uncomfortable and it was still two hours shy of noon.

The guy from T&K was out this morning, in the sweltering heat and humidity, to mow the lawns at the house and cabin. For the first time since the harbor work was completed back in late June, the grass was mowed in the section that had been torn up by the heavy machinery that was necessary for the harbor restoration. While there are still some spots where the grass hasn't grown in thick quite yet, overall the lawn is coming back nicely.

I know I'm obsessing about the humidity, but here's a snippet from a CNN news story on the heat wave that's enveloping much of the US:

"Minneapolis, Minnesota, recorded its highest dew point ever, 82 degrees, on Tuesday. The dew point temperature is a measure of atmospheric moisture."

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I ran out of leeches last night on the water so I took the ATV for a spin up to Birch Ridge. I took the ATV rather than the truck since the ATV provides an open-air, and thus cooler, ride. Ann, the wife half of the husband and wife team that runs the resort, was behind the counter in the bar/office/lounge and told me A.J., the dock hand, was down in the live bait area of the fish-cleaning house and could help me.

I picked up two containers, two dozen, leeches, paid Ann and then rode back to the cabin to get the leeches into some fresh water. I decided to check on the jumbo perch that I caught last evening (and which was on the menu for today's dinner) and I'm glad I did. The combination of being in captivity and in warm water had the fish looking rather "fatigued." Immediately I set about filleting the 12-inch jumbo perch and got the fresh fillets into the refrigerator. A beer-batter coating will be the perfect compliment to the pure white meat of the perch.

After filleting the perch, and cleaning up, I was hot and covered in sweat (or was it just the air?). Not wasting any time, I gathered up the bottle of Dr. Bronner's soap and took a refreshing camp bath in the relatively cool waters of Leech Lake.

At about 5:30 p.m. I took the ATV down to the Malays to say hi to their son Sean who is visiting from Colorado. Sean, and my son Joe, have become friends over the years, and I've gotten to like Sean and have spent several hours with him in the boat fishing. It was good to see him again.

While sitting at the Malays the wind began to pick up, and by the time I left it was blowing at 17-25 mph out of the WSW. The wind blew hard for most of the rest of the night. And maybe it was the wind, or the cold front that followed it in from Montana, but the humidity dropped to 64%. It was the first time in nearly a week that the humidity has dipped below 80%. Although the temperature at midnight was 70 degrees, it felt cool and sleep should come easily tonight.

Tomorrow I'm going into Bemidji to get the truck serviced, to pick up paint so I can paint the out-buildings at the house and run several other errands. If the weather permits, upon my return I'll try to get out fishing. Tonight it was simply to windy to go out onto the water. I love fishing, but I'm not going to battle 3-foot waves and white caps to do so.

Until tomorrow...

July 19, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

2011-07-19T09:53:00.009-05:00

I happened to wake up at 5:30 a.m. this morning and look outside to see what the weather was like, and was surprised to see the entire sky a cantaloupe orange color. The wind was calm and the temperature was 70 degrees. The humidity, which has been very high the past few days, was already at 87%.

As I lay back in bed I could hear rumbling thunder in the distance, and soon the rain started to fall. "Red sky at night, sailors delight. Red sky in the morn, sailors take warn." As the old saying goes. With the sky the color it was I wasn't surprised that we had a storm.

By 10:00 a.m. the storm had passed for the most part, with just occasional rumbles of thunder, the wind was 6-10 mph out of the ESE, the temperature in the house registered 77 degrees while outside the thermometer read barely 70 degrees, and the sky was mostly cloudy and still retained a slight glow of red and orange.

Just before noon, the wind shifted and started blowing from the north at 15-20 mph. I always find it interesting to watch the lake when the wind shifts. For hours the wind was blowing out of the ESE so the water in the lake was moving in one direction. Then when the wind shifted to a different direction, and picked up in intensity, the water in the lake, for a short period of time, maybe 10 minutes, was going in all directions at once as it caught the new wind.

At this same time the sky darkened, and actually required me turning on the lights in the house to see. The temperature held steady at 70 degrees as did the humidity, which stood at 90%. But it sure looked and felt like a storm was coming.

Finally at 12:50 p.m. the rain came. A hard, steady rain fell for about 30 minutes. There were a few flashes of lightening directly over head followed by loud claps of thunder. The storm was directly on top of the house. But within an hour the storm passed, although the sky remained overcast and gray.

As the day went on I did some work and some various chores around the house, but the humidity made it unpleasant even if the temperature wasn't all that hot.

By 4:45 p.m., the wind had shifted to the ESE again and was blowing at about 8-15 mph. The wind blew most of the clouds away and the sky was partly sunny. So, I decided that with the temperature not as hot and the water near our shore fairly calm, that I would go fishing.

I motored out to spot not too far from shore right in front of the boat lift because I knew the wind would blow me out into the middle of Sucker Bay. I deployed the drift sock, tipped my jig with a leech and began fishing. The water temperature was 75.8 degrees.

I caught a few rock bass, including one that was actually quite big. Twice I had something pull hard on my line and bite right through the 8-lb test Fireline Crystal, taking my jig and bait. I figured it might have been a pike, but I've seen several boats in the past week fishing for muskie in this location so I wouldn't rule out that a muskie is what took my jig.

With yet another jig tied on and with another leech hooked just below its "sucker," I continued to fish. I hooked into what I thought was either another big rock bass or maybe a small walleye. When I got it to the boat I saw that it was a jumbo perch; and truly a jumbo.

I've often said that in my opinion a jumbo perch is one that is between 11-14 inches. Over 14" a perch becomes a monster and is approaching record size. I decided to keep this 12-inch jumbo perch because I thought it would be the perfect size for a meal for one. A 17-inch or even a 16-inch walleye once filleted is a perfect amount of meat for a meal for two, but for one person there is just too much there. I think a 12-inch perch will provide the right amount of fish for my dinner tomorrow evening.

I finally came ashore around 7:00 p.m., not because the fish stopped biting (they hadn't) or because the bugs were bad (they weren't) but because I ran out of leeches. I fished with a Mimic Minnow for awhile and then a Northland Slurpie Grub, but the fish seemed to be active on live bait, specifically leeches. Tomorrow I'll run up to Birch Ridge Resort and pick up a couple of dozen leeches, if they still have them. Sometimes as the summer progresses leeches are a hard bait to find.

Out on the lake the wind felt good and kept me cool. But once back on shore even in shorts and short-sleeved shirt it felt hot. Even after midnight the temperature was 72 degrees and the humidity was 84%. But if the weather service forecasts are correct, then tomorrow should be the last day of this prolonged heat wave.

Until tomorrow, good night from Leech Lake.

July 18, 2011 -- In Leech Lake

2011-07-18T09:10:00.007-05:00

Another beautiful sunset over Sucker Bay, Leech Lake

For the third day in a row now I awoke to find myself inside a cloud. Heavy fog and mist extended from the ground up into the grayish-white of the sky. At 8:30 a.m. the wind was blowing out of the north at 8-12 mph, the temperature was 72 degrees and the humidity registered at 95%, but I don't see how any more water could be infused into the air since I can actually see water in the air.

Nature Update: I've talked a lot about the humidity the past few days but I'd like to give a couple of concrete examples of just how humid it is. Last night I made popcorn. Knowing how humid it was I put most of it in a plastic bag and sealed it up. I left a small bowl of popcorn out for me to eat. Within two hours of me making it, the popcorn was soggy and chewy, not exactly the characteristics of good popcorn. Then this morning when I got up, I looked at the big metal mixing bowl I used to put the popcorn in when it comes out of the pan. The bowl was empty (since the popcorn was in a bag) but what was in the bowl was water. Not a ton, but a significant amount. Apparently the dew point was so high last night that dew actually formed in the bowl and then collected at the bottom of it. That's how doggone wet the air has been the past few days.

---------------

Here's a Heat Warning from the National Weather Service issued for the North Central part of Minnesota (home to Leech Lake):

Mon, Jul 18, 2011, 9:00 AM CDT

... EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT UNTIL 10 PM CDT WEDNESDAY... ... DENSE FOG ADVISORY IS CANCELLED...

* HEAT INDEX VALUES: A PROLONGED PERIOD OF HEAT INDICES FROM 95 TO NEAR 110 DEGREES OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS HAS PROMPTED THIS WARNING.

* IMPACTS: DEHYDRATION... MUSCLE CRAMPS... SEVERE HEADACHES AND HEAT EXHAUSTION ARE POSSIBLE WITH PROLONGED EXPOSURE AND OR PHYSICAL ACTIVITY. THERE IS EVEN A THREAT OF HEAT STROKE.

PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS...

AN EXCESSIVE HEAT WARNING MEANS THAT A PROLONGED PERIOD OF DANGEROUSLY HOT TEMPERATURES WILL OCCUR. THE COMBINATION OF HOT TEMPERATURES AND HIGH HUMIDITY WILL COMBINE TO CREATE A DANGEROUS SITUATION IN WHICH HEAT ILLNESSES ARE LIKELY.

----------------

It's days like these that make me wish we had air conditioning here at the lake. But when the temperature is sub zero for so many months, air conditioning seems like such an extravagant waste.

But today, air conditioning would be most welcome. By 11:30 a.m. the temperature was at 80 degrees, and the forecast called for the mercury to hit 91. The humidity hadn't backed off any, so simple movements inside or out, led to immediate sweat and exhaustion. I'm sure glad I'm not out tarring a road or re-roofing the cabin, like I was doing last year. Wind was blowing lazily out of the NNE at 5-8 mph and the sky was mostly sunny and blue.

Nature Update Two: I took a ride on the ATV to cool off and as I rounded a bend on West Shores Road I spotted an auburn-colored doe standing in the road. I slowed to a stop and watched her. She stood motionless for a few seconds then turned her head and looked back toward the woods. A small fawn, no bigger than a large dog, stepped out onto the road behind its mother. Then the two of the trotted gracefully across the road and immediately disappeared into the woods. Its amazing how quickly whitetail deer can blend into a forest.

Midday I couldn't take the humidity any longer and jumped into the lake. Its cool waters were refreshing, although the deer flies buzzing around my head weren't making the experience all that enjoyable. I remained cool for all of about 15 minutes.

By 5:00 p.m. the temperature was at 82 degrees and the humidity had actually dropped to 84%. Still, it felt very hot, and sitting still was about the only activity that didn't raise a sweat.

No fishing tonight. Instead I stayed inside and tried to stay cool. More tomorrow.

July 17, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

2011-07-17T09:12:00.015-05:00

A family of merganser ducks slices its way through the fog on Sucker Bay, Leech Lake

Much like yesterday, this morning was hot, humid and foggy. At 8:30 a.m. the temperature was 76 degrees, the humidity was more than 90%, the air was still, wet and heavy and there hung a dense fog over everything. It was as if I had awoke inside a cloud.

I spotted a pelican casually swimming off the end of the dock around 9:15 a.m., and an occasional boat motored by, but for the most part the lake was quiet and enveloped in fog.

I took a quick walk over to the cabin to give the leeches some fresh water, and in just that little distance I was sweating and wet from the humidity. Plus with absolutely no wind, or even a slight breeze, the deer flies were out in full force and were instantly buzzing around my head, landing on me and biting. Normally here at the lake I could step outside to cool off, but not today. Quite the opposite -- step outside and things heat up.

By 2:00 p.m. the temperature stopped rising at 80 degrees, the fog, which I thought would have lifted by now, clung stubbornly to the sky making it look like it might storm. There was a whisper of breeze every now and then, but not enough to clear the air of the 90% humidity that dampened everything. The lonely call of the loon echoed across the afternoon stillness, competing occasionally with the clatter of a 2-stroke motor from some determined fisherman.

By 3:00 p.m. the temperature had cooled a little to 76 degrees, the sky was getting a little darker and thunder rumbled across the horizon. The humidity was still up over 90%, however, so I took a refreshing camp bath in the lake. It cooled me off while I was in the water, but as soon as I got back up to the house I was hot again. Maybe a storm will show itself and with it cleanse the air of this infernal dampness.

Just before 4:00 p.m. the slight breeze that had occasionally made its presence felt out of the south, shifted to the north and actually started to blow. Lightening bolts were now visible across the bay and the lake began to rile. By 4:15 p.m. there were white caps on the lake behind the force of 15-20 mph north winds. Thinking that a storm would descend upon the lake at any minute, I raced outside to fold up the lounge chairs and lay them flat on the dock. I then came inside and began shutting windows so the rain wouldn't soak the floors.

I then sat back in my chair in the living room, book in hand (Truman Capote's In Cold Blood) and watched for the storm. For more than 45 minutes the wind howled, the lake rolled with waves, but little rain fell. A few sprinkles freckled the back porch and windows, but no humidity-relieving rain fell. As the wind blew hard from the north the sky actually started to clear and get brighter. The dark, ominous clouds blew by and a cantaloupe-colored sky appeared on the horizon.

Every now and again a lightening bolt would show itself over Sucker Bay, and the rumble of thunder would follow, but no storm appeared. At 5:30 p.m. rain fell for a short time before disapearing. The wind, too, had left the area and once again the flag hung limp against the pole. The storm blew by without really unleashing any of its fury.

The humidity, however, had dipped to below 90% for the first time in two days, and at 84% actually felt cool. The wind, I noticed, had shifted again, and was now blowing lightly at 5-8 mph from the south. I thought about going fishing, but everything was wet and damp and I just didn't feel like slipping on rain gear in this hot, humid weather. So rather, I stayed inside, tried to stay cool, and read.

By 9:00 p.m. the humidity had started to rise again, even though the temperature hovered around 75 degrees. The wind was out of the north at 6-10 mph and the sky was mostly cloudy. It was in these fairly favorable conditions that I decided to go fishing.

I got the boat off the lift, motored out to 9 feet of water, got the lights on, and the dropped my Rapala Minnow Rap (in Tennessee Shad color) into the water. I trolled south past Second Duck Point well into Duck Bay and then headed north toward our house.

In addition to the swarms of big, hungry mosquitoes I was forced to battle out on the water, I encountered another foe that eventually drove me back on shore -- weeds.

For years I've known that as I troll north of the Malays the weeds get very thick thus making it difficult to pull a lure through the lake without getting snagged. But in the past year or two, the weed seem to be migrating south, and are now common in fairly large patches all the way to Second Duck Point. While the weeds make for great habitat for rock bass, they make trolling for walleye very difficult.

Ever since its introduction seven or eight years ago, the #9 Rapala Minnow Rap has been one of my "go-to" baits, a confidence lure. In addition to flat out attracting and catching walleye, the lure has a very distinctive action in the water than enables me to "feel" if it's running true. If the bait is clean and running properly I feel a consistent "tap, tap, tap, tap" in the tip of the rod. But if it hooks a weed, even a 1/2 inch ribbon-sized piece of cabbage, the action of the Minnow Rap changes completely and feels as if it's "dead;" no wobble or tapping.

Tonight, I felt the Minnow Rap hook onto a weed nearly every time I dropped in the water and let it out behind the boat. In more than a half dozen cases I thought I'd actually hooked a fish only to reel in a two-pound, football-sized clump of weeds. After "catching" two such balls of weeds I decided to go ashore in frustration. It didn't help that I was fighting off hundreds of mosquitoes while trying to clean the weeds from my lure.

Needless to say, it was not my best outing on Leech Lake this year. In fact, it's one of the few times on the water in the past couple of months where I was completely skunked; not a pike nor a rock bass. I came ashore at 10:30 p.m. and sat up and read for a couple of hours before deciding it was time to call it a night.

I did hear from Kathleen and Joe earlier in the evening that Joe was able to get an airline ticket to come to Minnesota and that he'll be arriving in Minneapolis next Monday morning. I'll have to figure out if I'll meet him in Minneapolis at the airport or if I'll meet up with him in St. Cloud should he decide to take the shuttle. Either way, we'll be able to spend some time together at the lake -- just father and son. We haven't been able to do that in more than three years. I'm looking forward to it.

Good night from Leech Lake.

July 16, 2011 -- In Leech Lake

2011-07-16T09:02:00.008-05:00

Heavy morning fog on Sucker Bay, Leech Lake

This morning at 8:30 a.m. the fog was very heavy over the bay, the temperature was 72 degrees, the air was still and the entire sky -- from horizon to directly overhead -- was a grayish-white color. The humidity was over 90% and there were no boats on the lake; I'm hoping because visibility is so low.

Many fishermen, however, have been kept off the lake the past two weeks because the Minnesota state government shutdown has prevented them from purchasing fishing licenses and the DNR has stated that it will ticket any fisherman without a licence, despite the shutdown.

The National Weather Service has issued heat and humidity warnings for most of Minnesota, but apparently Cass County, home of Leech Lake, is not among those areas under the warning. It will be hot today, in the high 80s to low 90s, and the humidity will be at or above 90%, but I guess that's not as bad as it's going to be elsewhere around the state.

By 11:15 a.m. the temperature had risen to 74 degrees, it was still densely humid, the wind was at 5-8 mph out of the SSW and the fog had begun to burn off a bit. Within a couple of hours it is supposed to be sunny.

Just past 12:30 p.m. I got so hot I couldn't take it any more so I took a plunge in the lake. I'm guessing the water temperature to be around 75 degrees, so it's much cooler than the air temp and as a result it felt really refreshing. I swam around a bit before getting out and walking up to the house. I'm sure I'll have to do it again later today if the heat and humidity persist.

Nature Update: This evening I noticed a female merganser duck with five little chicks swimming near the mouth of our harbor. I don't know if this duck bred late or if this may be a second brood for her. Either way, it was nice to see the little ducklings swimming around.

By 4:45 p.m., before I listened to A Prairie Home Companion on Minnesota Public Radio, I had jumped in the lake an additional three times; making four total so far. The temperature is 83 degrees and the humidity has climbed to 92%, which makes cooling off the lake very refreshing.

Nature Update Two: I saw two bald eagles perched in a tree just behind the fish-cleaning house on our property. Seeing bald eagles so close, so up and personal is a blessing.

The evening didn't cool off much but it did sap my energy. Rather than stay up late and fight the heat and humidity I decided to call it a night early and go to bed. The state-wide heat advisory is to continue for the next four days.

July 15, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

2011-07-15T09:32:00.011-05:00

A hot and humid, yet beautiful, sunset over Sucker Bay, Leech Lake

There was a bright flash of lightening and the a deafening clap of thunder right over the house this morning at 7:36 a.m. I happened to be laying in bed ready to get up when the thunderstorm that been off in the distance moved directly on top of me here at Leech Lake.

The temperature at the time was 60 degrees, the sky was full of heavy rain clouds, but the wind was light at 5-8 mph out of the ESE. The rain, however, fell in sheets and was heavy for about 30 minutes.

By 9:30 a.m. the rain had stopped, the temperature had risen slightly to 64 degrees and the wind was still very slight. The lake, in fact, had barely a ripple on it.

At noon, the wind had shifted and was blowing out of the south at 5-10 mph, the sky was mostly cloudy, but there was some sun starting to peek through and the temperature was steady at 65 degrees.

I hit the water at 12:30 p.m. and realized the wind was stronger than I had originally thought. It was probably blowing at 12-15 mph from the south. The air temperature was 68 degrees, the water temperature was 73.5 degrees, and the sky was mostly cloudy.

My fishing began at Second Duck Point in 11 feet of water using a VMC jig tipped with a leech. I immediately caught a medium-sized northern pike which I released back into the lake. For the next two plus hours I made several drifts in various parts of Sucker Bay from Second Duck Point to in front of our house north to Malays. I caught a few small perch, another northern and numerous rock bass but no walleye.

By 2:00 p.m. the clouds had disappeared and the sky was clear blue. The temperature started to climb and eventually hit 83 degrees. When I got back on shore at just after 3:00 p.m., it felt like I was walking into a sauna as I left the dock and stepped on land. The humidity had risen to an uncomfortable 85% and I was literally dripping wet by the time I got back to the house.

The rest of the afternoon and evening remained hot and humid. The wind died down to maybe 5-8 mph out of the south, making it feel even hotter. As I write this at just after 8:00 p.m. it is still unbearably humid at 90% or more; the air is hot and damp.

I ate my grilled marinated pork chop dinner and it was awesome. I'm going to have to remember this recipe and use it again.

The sunset was beautiful tonight as usual, but the humidity took away some of the enjoyment because it's just so hot and sticky.

I stayed up listening to music, reading the newspapers from the past couple of days that the Malays gave me, and tried to stay cool. All in all, despite the humidity, I'd rather be here than anywhere else I can imagine.

Good night to all, and a pleasant tomorrow.

Odyssey

2011-07-14T17:26:00.002-05:00

Many millions of people throughout the ages have marveled at the poetic masterpiece Odyssey, by the ancient Greek Homer. But for all of my reading, I had never consumed this treasure before finishing it today.

What a wondrous tale of war, separation, determination and finally redemption. It is as beautiful and passionate as any modern love story, as exciting and thrilling as any Spielberg spectacle and as brutal and violent as anything Hollywood could conjure. No doubt its these very merits that have kept it in our human conscientiousness for so many millennia.

I was fortunate enough to read a fantastic translation by Stanley Lombardo, who is a professor of Classics at the University of Kansas. His treatment of the Odyssey retained the poetic cadence that I would imagine the original Greek verse to possess while using language that is consistent with the modern vernacular.

That I read it while at the shores of Leech Lake make it all that much more memorable for me.

July 14, 2011 -- At Leech Lake

2011-07-14T09:06:00.012-05:00

It must have rained last night because at 8:00 a.m. this morning everything outside was wet. The sky was still grey and overcast, the wind light at 5-8 mph out of the ENE and the temperature was 54 degrees.

As the morning moved along the wind shifted a bit and seemed to be coming from the ESE, still at only 5-8 mph. The sky in the south looked like it might contain a storm but one wasn't predicted until sometime after 5:00 p.m.

Nature Update: I was sitting in the living room quietly reading when I spotted a large bald eagle swoop across our yard and land in a tree just behind the fishing-cleaning house. I quickly grabbed the binoculars and as quietly as possible crept out onto the back porch. I was unable to spot the enormous raptor so I stealthily walked across the yard toward the dock, the whole while scanning the trees for the big bird. Eagles, despite their size, have a way of using leaves and branches to conceal themselves quite effectively. Slowly and quietly I tread onto the dock. I moved my field glasses from tree to tree trying to spy the eagle. As if it could feel my gaze coming closer, the gigantic national bird sprung from its hiding place and with a couple of loud flaps of its wings soared over the lake, not more than 25 yards from me, took a quick right turn and landed in another tree near Poage's cabin. A magnificent sight on a cool July morning.

By noon the temperature has risen to a paltry 58 degrees. The wind was still at 5-8 mph out of the east, but seemed to be swirling a bit between ESE and ENE. The sky was grey and overcast and there was a light mist in the air. This is mid-July in the northwoods of Minnesota.

At 2:00 p.m., I thought about going fishing, but the heavy mist still embraced the air and I knew that sitting on a boat for very long would require rain gear to guard against the damp. I just didn't feel like putting on rain gear, so instead I remained inside. The temperature had fallen a couple of degrees to 56 and the wind still couldn't decide which way to blow, and at times seemed to blow from all directions at once; although not very hard at 5-10 mph.

The light, grey mist permeated the air still at 3:30 p.m. All day the air itself has seemed sad. The temperature clung to 56 degrees as the wind picked up to 10-12 mph as if to finally bring with it the rain. But at 4:00 p.m., still no rain fell.

I thought again about going out onto the water to fish for walleye, but with an east wind blowing and a cold front moving into the area I figured that the already difficult walleye bite would probably be even worse. So I remained inside and continued reading the classics.

Unable to sit inside any longer, I took a brisk 2-mile walk down past Paulson's and back. The temperature was still a cool 56 degrees, but the humidity was clearly 100% since I could literally see water in the air. I arrived home damp from the experience, but happy to have gotten in some exercise and the opportunity to take in the beauty of Ottertail Peninsula. And yes, the deer, horse or yellow flies, whichever you choose to call them, were as annoying as ever, buzzing around my head and occasionally biting my neck and ears.

Just before 6:00 p.m. I made my way to the cabin to prep the grill. I planned to make BBQed marinaded pork chops tonight with a side of fried potatoes, peppers, garlic and onions and a big bowl of fruit salad, complete with watermelon, cantaloupe, raspberries, and honeydew melon.

But by 7:30 p.m., my enthusiasm for preparing such a feast waned and I decided instead to finish off the beer-battered walleye, Cole slaw and French fries that were left over from last night. I hate to waste good food. I'll prepare my pork-infused meal tomorrow to celebrate the end of the week.

I had a very nice conversation on the phone with my son Joe. He is a great guy and I hope he has a chance to visit Minnesota and Leech Lake before the summer is over.

The evening passed quietly with me doing some reading, writing and watching a bit of TV. The rain never did come, although the ground and everything outside is wet. The mist is as heavy as it's been all day. I'm going to enjoy the cool weather, however, because the forecast is for hot temperatures, in the 90s, and very humid this weekend. So for now, I'll sleep in the coolness of my bed.

Until tomorrow...

Northwoods Proverb

2011-07-13T18:21:00.001-05:00

There are two kinds of jobs.

One, you shower before you go to work.

The other, you shower when you come home from work.

July 13, 2011 -- In Leech Lake

2011-07-13T11:09:00.006-05:00

This morning at 9:00 a.m. the temperature was a cool 54 degrees, the sky was mostly sunny and the wind was light at 5-8 mph out of the NNE.

I think later today I'm finally going to get some wood chips from Tom Malay from the 3 trees he had taken down a couple of weeks back. The outfit that cut down the trees also ground up the stumps creating a good sized pile of small wood chips which I plan to lay on the low spots on the access road at the cabin. With all the rain we've had recently, the low area of the access road has been under water and is very soggy. I'm hoping the wood chips will help fill in the low spots and reduce the mud on the road.

I was just about to settle down to a sandwich I had made for lunch when I was interrupted with an hour-long work call. No sooner than I hung up the phone and Tom was knocking at my door wondering if I was ready to get started on the wood chips. I told him I'd be down right after eating lunch.

I took enough time to enjoy my sandwich -- and Kathleen is right, sandwiches do taste better at the lake -- and then I went down to the Malays. We spent about 45 minutes loading the two piles of wood chips into the back of a trailer that I had hooked to my ATV. Once the chips were all loaded I took them down to the cabin access road and filled in the low spots. That was fun work battling the heat, the mosquitoes and the biting deer flies. But at last the trailer was empty and cleaned out so I returned it to Tom's.

I then took an ATV ride to cool off. On Ottertail Point Road, which is commonly referred to as the "upper road," I spotted an ash tree that was hanging over the road ready to come down at any minute. I went back to Tom's so I could show him the tree. We agreed that it was only a matter of time before it came down and would thus block the road, so we decided that in the next day or two we'd come back with Ron Newstrand and take it down ourselves.

I took the ATV back home, walked over to the cabin and filleted the walleye I caught last night. I'll eat it later for dinner. Once I was done with my various chores I cooled off in the lake with a "camp bath." I was refreshed and ready to tackle some additional business issues.

Since I was going to be enjoying the bounty of Leech Lake for dinner tonight, I decided not to go fishing, opting instead to stay inside, listen to music and read. It was a pleasant evening even if I didn't get out on the water. Maybe tomorrow.

July 12, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

2011-07-12T09:40:00.009-05:00

Kathleen leaves for California today.

The weather didn't even seem to try this morning, as if it and Leech Lake knew of Kathleen's impending departure. At 9:00 a.m. the sky was grey and overcast, the temperature was a chilly 54 degrees and the wind was blowing out of the NW at 8-12 mph. The lake was slate grey and looked uninviting. It looked more like a late-October morning than one in mid-July; save for the green of the leaves.

It's strange, the weather was poor, cool, grey and rainy the week leading up to Kathleen's arrival, and then suddenly, as if she brought it with her herself from California, the clouds parted, the sun came out and the temperature warmed by at least 15 degrees as soon as her plane landed in Bemidji. And now that she is preparing to leave, the weather seems to have once again given up.

We tried to make the morning last by savoring our coffee, lingering over breakfast, reading Billy Collins and just enjoying the peace of the northwoods. But time relentlessly moved forward and at last it was time for Kathleen to get ready for her trip.

The drive to Bemidji is always difficult when someone is leaving. Once at the airport, I helped Kathleen get her things inside the terminal and watched her go through security. Then it was time for me and her to go our separate ways.

I took care of a number of errands in Bemidji including getting Kathleen's bike serviced, taking care of some banking issues, getting groceries, etc. I drove back to the lake by 4:30 p.m., where the temperature had warmed to 70 degrees, the wind was still out of the NW but had slowed somewhat to 8-10 mph, and the sky was still full of big white clouds with only small patches of blue.

I took care of various business issues for a couple of hours before having some dinner. As the hour approached 9:00 p.m., I noticed that the sky had cleared and the wind had calmed to 5-8 mph from the NW. Leech Lake was inviting me to go fishing.

------

Fishing Report

I motored my Lund Pro V 1800 Verado Limited Edition out onto the water at just after 9:00 p.m. The water temperature was just under 76 degrees, cooler than it's been the past few days, and the moon had already risen and was 93% waxing. The sunset was at 9:12 p.m., so I put the lights on the boat immediately after getting her off the boat lift. I watched as the cantaloupe colored sky turned darker and finally morphed into a color of concord grapes.

I was the only boat on Sucker Bay as far as I could see. I piloted my Lund out into 10 feet of water and began trolling between the cabin and the middle of Duck Bay. On my first pass south I hooked into a small hammer handle, which I released over the side of the boat.

On my next pass I hooked another fish and this one felt more like a walleye -- an initial hit then no resistance at all. When the fish got up next to the boat I saw it was indeed a walleye so I quickly slid the landing net underneath it and scooped it into the boat. I unhooked the Minnow Rap (Tennessee Shad color) from the fish and measured it on "The Judge." The fish measured a perfect 16 1/2 inches, a fine eating fish, so into the live well it went.

I made one more half-hearted pass, but since I already had tomorrow night's dinner in the box I wasn't too concerned if I caught anything or not. I didn't, by the way.

I put the boat on the lift right around 10:15 p.m., and was back inside the house by 10:30 p.m.

I listened to some music, read the newspaper, said goodnight to Kathleen in California and then called it a night myself. Good night from Leech Lake.

July 11, 2011 -- In Leech Lake

2011-07-11T11:44:00.007-05:00

Last night's storm really cooled things off and greatly reduced the humidity. At 10:00 a.m. this morning the temperature was 69 degrees, the sky was partly cloudy and filled with big, white billowy clouds, and the wind was very strong at 15-20 mph out of the WNW.

Kathleen and I took it pretty slow this morning. We had coffee on the back porch, Kathleen spent quite a bit of time on the phone with AT&T trying to sort out some cell phone troubles, while I took the opportunity to read some of the newspapers Kathleen brought back from St. Cloud, make some work calls and send some emails.

At 2:30 p.m. the temperature was a very pleasant 73 degrees, the wind was still strong at 12-17 mph out of the NNW, and the sky was mostly covered with big white billowy clouds so that the sun cast shadows only occasionally.

Kathleen had finished doing yoga so we thought we'd take advantage of the relatively cooler temperatures and go for a bike ride. So it was off to the cabin to get our bikes out of the garage.

Our plan was to ride down to Duck Point Woods and back, about an 8-mile ride. We almost made it to Duck Point but the black and brown biting flies were so bad, especially around Kathleen, that we had to turn tail and ride home as quickly as possible.

Once home we had a late lunch on the back porch and laid in the hammock for a while. Then Kathleen decided to go running, but a series of calls from her work and sister-in-law delayed that until almost 6:30 p.m.

At that point the temperature had dropped to right around 70 degrees, the wind was still stiff at 10-15 mph out of the NNW with gusts up over 20 mph, and the sky was still filled with big billowy clouds that blocked the sun most of the time.

When Kathleen returned from her 6-mile run, and had completed her lunges and stretching, she and I went for a swim in the lake. Even though the air temperature was cool, the water was warm and felt great.

We had a simple, quiet dinner, played some cribbage and dominoes, then called it a night.

Kathleen has to leave for California tomorrow so we need to be on the road to Bemidji by 11:30 a.m. Tomorrow night, Kathleen will be in our San Jose house with Joe, Melissa and Jayden, and our dogs. I'm sure it'll be quite an adjustment from Leech Lake to a city of more than 1 million people, but being with our family will make for a welcome homecoming for her.

No fishing again today. Maybe tomorrow, depending on the weather and how I feel.

500th Post!

2011-07-11T10:50:00.007-05:00

According to Blogger.com's dashboard for my blog -- Fishing Leech Lake -- this is my 500th post. That may not be such a huge milestone for many blogs, especially those that have multiple writers cranking out numerous posts per day, or for the blog maintained by some social media guru who churns out posts in his sleep. But for my humble little blog, 500 posts is a milestone worth noting.

I started Fishing Leech Lake back on February 20, 2005 as a way to capture various information about Leech Lake, such as weather conditions, fishing reports, and general news about the area of Leech Lake where my wife Kathleen and I have some property, i.e., Ottertail Peninsula.

True to the original name of "blog", weblog, my blog was a personal web log of my time at Leech Lake. Over the years I've added other components to my blog, and as the subhead of my blog now reads, "Musings, Observations and Fishing Reports from Minnesota's Leech Lake."

On occasion I will post something that has absolutely nothing to do with Leech Lake, other than it somehow reminds me of the time I've spent in the Northwoods of Minnesota.

So this is it. My 500th post. I look forward to the next 500 because that will mean I'll be spending more time at the place I enjoy the most -- Leech Lake.

July 10, 2011 -- In Leech Lake

2011-07-10T10:56:00.012-05:00

At 10:00 a.m. the temperature was 70 degrees, the sky was blue and clear, the wind was light at 5-8 mph out of the SSE, the lake was nearly calm, and the humidity was in the high 60s, which isn't too bad; certainly it's not as humid as it was yesterday (at least not yet!).

Kathleen sent me a text saying that she awoke early this morning, had already packed and is most definitely ready to leave St. Cloud and come back to Leech Lake. She's been gone since Thursday afternoon.

With the Newmans back at home and the group that's staying at the Poage's cabin set to leave today, it should be a quiet couple of days here at the lake; Kathleen's final few until a possible return this Fall.

Kathleen called me from Walker at 2:15 p.m. She had stopped at the DQ for an ice cream cone and then was going to do a little grocery shopping before driving home.

At 4:30 p.m. Kathleen finally arrived at Leech Lake. We unpacked the truck and put away the groceries and that little bit of activity had us dripping with sweat because of the high humidity. So we grabbed some cold drinks, got on our swimsuits and went out to the end of the dock. We talked for a little while then jumped into the lake to cool off.

The 80 degree water of Leech Lake felt refreshing and it definitely cooled our cores. After swimming for a while, we got out and Kathleen wanted to go for run down the dirt road; something she really loves. So off she went.

Just before 8:00 p.m., with Kathleen still out running, the sky turned a sickly color green-grey, the air was very still and it started to lightening directly overhead. I jumped on the ATV and drove down the road to find Kathleen. Luckily she was already past Paulson's and nearing Schiebe's so she wasn't very far from home. She climbed onto the back of the ATV and we raced home just as the rain started to fall.

The temperature was falling and the wind was now very strong at 20+ mph out of the SSE and the lake roiled with waves and whitecaps. And one of the strangest parts of this summer thunderstorm was that the sun was shining below the big storm clouds and yet it was raining. This produced some amazing sites, such as the pictures below.

A huge rainbow stretched across the eastern sky over our woods

A small gap opened up between the giant layer of clouds and the horizon

Looking south on Sucker Bay as the storm rolled toward us

The craziness of the evening extended south to St. Cloud as well. Our daughter Liz was waiting in the car with Kathleen's mom when a large tree fell across the front of the car smashing out the windshield. Luckily, no one was hurt, but emergency crews including firefighters and police were dispatched to assist in removing the many fallen trees that littered the area.
A wild night of storms in Minnesota.

Water Level -- July 4th Holiday

2011-07-10T10:37:00.003-05:00

I know it's nearly a week after July 4th, but I try to post an update on or near three holidays throughout the year -- Memorial Day, the 4th of July and Labor Day.

This is by no means a scientific measure of the water levels of Leech Lake, only gauge I can use against other similar measurements I take.

This year, just after July 4, 2011, the water level was up to and covering the 7th cement piling of my boat ramp with water lapping at the 8th piling. This is the same water level as in late May of this year.

The highest I've ever seen it was covering 9 pilings, while the lowest level didn't even reach the first piling.

My conclusion, therefore, is the lake is among its highest water level for this time of year.

July 9, 2011 -- At Leech Lake

2011-07-09T10:15:00.018-05:00

For some reason sleep did not come easily last night. My mind raced in a million different directions before it finally calmed. As a result, I know we did not have a thunderstorm until sometime after 3:00 a.m., and maybe not even then.

It did rain here at Leech Lake sometime between 3:00 a.m. and 8:00 a.m. because the ground was wet when I arose. The temperature this morning was 66 degrees, the wind was 12-18 mph out of the SSW, the sky was overcast and grey and there hung in the air a heavy blanket of humidity that made everything from the floor to the trees damp.

By 10:30 a.m. I had not yet heard from Kathleen, either voice mail or text, if she was still in Minneapolis or on her way back to St. Cloud. Ashley's plane left MSP at 6:00 a.m. this morning, so it is probable that Kathleen dropped her off at the airport and then went back to the hotel to get some additional sleep. I'll wait until after noon before contacting her.

The rain and gloomy weather have put a damper on the "White Goods Clean Up" event at the Ottertail Peninsula Community Center. Each year, usually the Saturday after the 4th of July, several dumpsters are brought to the parking lot and surrounding lawn of the community center and residents are encouraged to bring in their various junk for disposal.

It's an exciting time for many of the locals who show up with trailers attached to their trucks and ATVs in preparation for hauling away treasures that other will throw out. It's funny to see these guys load up on old garden hose, pieces of metal pipe, old coils of electrical wire and other similar items.

And I have no idea why they call it the "White Goods Clean Up." Most of the junk that is tossed out is neither white nor all that good. But it's a fun day for many of the local hoarders.

Kathleen did send me a text just before noon saying that she didn't get much sleep last night, so after dropping off Ashley at the airport she did indeed go back to the hotel for some additional sleep. She needed to vacate the room by 12:30 p.m., however, so she will be in St. Cloud this afternoon.

The wind has picked up here at Leech Lake a bit, blowing at a consistent 15+ mph out of the SSW creating some decent waves, if not the occasional white cap. The flag is flying straight out from its mast. The temperature, according to the thermometer on our back porch, is 70 degrees; but it feels hotter than that.

At 12:20 p.m. the sun peaked out from behind the clouds for the first time today. It is supposed to be partly sunny later this afternoon with high temps in the mid 80s. And by 8:00 p.m., the wind is supposed to calm to under 10 mph, which might make it a nice night for trolling for walleye.

The humidity continued to rise and the stickiness of the air made me want to take a ride on the ATV to cool off. I decided to ride down to the "White Goods Clean Up" to see what treasures the local guys had found.

When I arrived at the community center, I saw Jerry Schiebe, Ron Geppart, Duane Paulson and Warren Snyder. Warren was just leaving, however, so I was left with the other three to chat about the hauls they'd made. Jerry had snagged a still usable patio furniture set, Duane had a truckload of odds and ends including an old computer table which he planned to use for cleaning fish, and Ron claimed the find of a still working lawn mower, among other sundries.

While we chatted a couple of trucks and car pulled in loaded with junk for disposal. Not wanting to sit around and watch, I put on my gloves and helped the guys unload the vehicles and throw mountains of junk into various dumpsters. The humidity was unbearable and soon I was soaked through my clothes.

Once things settled down a bit, I made leave after a 45 minute visit and once again sought the rushing air on the ATV to cool me.

When I got home I stopped by to see what the Newmans were doing and caught them loading their Suburban and just minutes from driving south to their home in Mahtomedi, near White Bear Lake. We bid each other goodbye and looked forward to our next meeting, whenever that may be. And with that I went home and they got into the truck and drove off.

By 3:00 p.m. the temperature had climbed to just over 80 degrees, the humidity reading was at 80% and the wind continued to blow at 12-15 mph out of the SW. The sky was mostly cloudy, but sun did shine through every few minutes.

Kathleen called me while I was outside, thus I missed talking with her, but she did leave a message. She said that as of 2:00 p.m. she was on her way from Minneapolis to St. Cloud and that she planned to see her mother, spend the night and drive back up to Leech Lake sometime on Sunday. That won't leave her much time here, since she is scheduled to fly back to San Jose on Tuesday afternoon out of Bemidji.

I finally did talk live with Kathleen just before 5:00 p.m. and she was planning on taking her mom to Saturday evening mass at St. Benedict's Church. I then listened to a Prairie Home Companion with Garrison Keillor on the radio, and even though it was a rebroadcast, it was a wonderful show. Not only was the News From Lake Wobegon very heartfelt, but they had as a guest poet Billy Collins, whose work both Kathleen and I really enjoy.

At nearly 1:00 a.m. the temperature is 70 degrees, but the humidity is at 91%, which makes it almost unbearable to lay down in bed. It feels like I'm laying down on soggy sheets. But alas, I'm weary from lake of sleep last night, so no matter how humid and wet the air is, I'm going to have to call it a night.

No fishing tonight, maybe tomorrow. Too hot. Too humid to do anything but sit around and read the classics. Good night from Leech Lake.

July 8, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

2011-07-08T10:38:00.007-05:00

At 9:30 a.m. it was a comfortable 68 degrees, the wind was light at 5-8 mph out of the NNW and the sky was mostly sunny with just some high, hazy clouds.

As is typically here on the shores of Leech Lake there was a full orchestra of birds singing this morning. I have not yet been able to identify all of the birds' individual songs, but I do recognize the oriole and the kingfisher, both of which were singing brightly this morning.

It is odd knowing that Kathleen is in Minnesota, but not here with me at the lake. She is in St. Cloud visiting her mother, and will driving Ashley down to Minneapolis later today.

This has been a busy week here on Ottertail Peninsula, and more specifically on our little stretch of West Shores Road. Of course Norm and the Malays are here, they're here all year, but in addition to the "locals" I'm here, as are the Newmans, various groups at the Poages, Burgesons, Gizas and even Gunnufsons. There wasn't an empty cabin during the July 4th weekend. About half have gone home now, but the other half remain, so it's not as quiet here as it typically is during the week.

I spoke with Kathleen just before noon and she was in St. Cloud dealing with some troubling issues with her HTC Droid phone, and more specifically, with the service from AT&T. She was going to go to an AT&T store in St. Cloud to try to straighten out the problems. Once she gets that figured out she was going to pick up Ashley and take her to Minneapolis.

By 1:00 p.m. the temperature had climbed to 74 degrees and it felt hot and humid. The wind had also shifted and was blowing out of the SSW at a calm 5-8 mph. After a quick bite to eat I decided to fishing, but not for walleye. I thought since it's relatively calm and hot that it would be interesting to do some bass fishing.

Using the classic Palomar knot, I tied on a 3/0 offset hook and Texas rigged it with an original 5-inch Senko with no additional weight. I started by tossing the Senko into 3-5 feet of water near the reeds off the end of Norm's dock. As usual I caught a nice medium-sized "welcome bass." I fished in and around the reeds by Norm's for about 10 minutes but didn't catch another largemouth.

I then used the MinnKota electric trolling motor to work my way north along the edge of the reeds. The water temperature in this location was a hot 81 degrees. I made dozens of casts into the reeds as I moved toward Schiebe's cabin. But still I caught no more bass.

I finally gave up on bass fishing and decided to try a little slip bobber fishing with a small walleye hook tipped with a leech. I motored to a spot in 10 feet of water between our house and cabin and got to work. I spent about 45 minutes slip-bobber fishing, but again struck out.

I came ashore at 3:30 p.m. and had some lunch.

Since the fishing has been so poor, I decided to stay off the lake tonight and instead enjoy the beauty of the lake during sunset from our back porch. Unfortunately as the evening progressed storm clouds moved in and the sunset was more like grey turning to darker grey turning to black.

The forecast calls for storms after midnight, but as of 12:10 a.m. the only sign of a storm was some distant rumbling of thunder every so often. It's also supposed to be storming tomorrow morning and continue to rain until early afternoon. We'll see...

July 7, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

2011-07-07T11:39:00.012-05:00

At 10:00 a.m. the temperature was 70 degrees, it already felt humid, the wind was 8-12 mph out of the SSW and sky was alternately cloudy or partly sunny.

Unfortunately, Ashley needs to go back to St. Cloud today because she has some plans to meet up with friends for dinner tonight before heading to Minneapolis on Friday. On Friday Ashley will stay with her aunt and uncle in Eden Prairie and then go to the airport very early Saturday morning so she can catch her 6:00 a.m. flight back to the West Coast.

I thought about going with Kathleen and Ashley to St. Cloud, but decided against it. This will allow Kathleen to focus her attention on her Mom, while Ashley can hang out with her friends and cousins. Plus, I just don't like St. Cloud all that much. I'd rather be at Leech Lake.

At 1:20 p.m. Ashley and Kathleen left Leech Lake bound for St. Cloud, with a stop in Walker because both of them like walking around the little downtown. Ashley was behind the wheel of the truck for the first time ever, and it was strange watching her drive the big Chevy Silverado 2500 HD down the driveway and onto West Shores Road.

Kathleen called me just before 6:00 p.m. to say she was in St. Cloud, had dropped off Ashley at dinner and was now on her way to see her mother. The way it looks, Kathleen will drive Ashley to the airport on Friday sometime, see her off first thing Saturday morning, then return to the lake either late Saturday or sometime on Sunday. Given that she wants to spend as much time with her Mom as is possible, I'm guessing I won't see Kathleen at Leech Lake again until mid- to late-Sunday.

At 7:30 p.m., with the temperature still 73 degrees, I decided to go fishing. The wind was relatively light at 5-8 mph out of the west. The water temperature was a very warm 78 degrees.

I motored out to a spot just past Second Duck Point in 13 feet of water and deployed the drift sock. I tipped my 1/8 VMC jig with a leech and started jigging for walleye. I made a couple of passes near Second Duck Point, but gradually moved north toward our properties. My final drift was made just north of Poage's cabin. During my several drifts, I caught only one rock bass. I did, however, hook a crayfish, which I hadn't done in years. And the thing was almost a mini-lobster at 4-inches long.

With the temperature cooling off as the sun dropped to just above the horizon, I pulled in the drift sock for the final time tonight, stowed it and my jigging rod/reel, and got ready to do some trolling. I got the lights on, got the rod holder in place, and set the SmartCraft controls to troll at a steady 560 rpm.

I trolled deep into Duck Bay and out into Sucker Bay. I watched as big anvil-shaped thunderstorm clouds gathered in the northeast. To the northwest there were dark clouds and I could see rain falling along the western shore of Sucker Bay. I kept an eye on the two storm fronts in case either started threatening the area where I was fishing.

The thunderhead at the northeast end of Sucker Bay

One by one the seven other boats in the area left, leaving just two or three of us still fishing. Unfortunately, I wasn't having any better luck trolling than I'd had jigging; just one rock bass hooked.

With the northeastern storm front flashing lightening and the northwestern front dropping rain on the north end of Sucker Bay, and with the onslaught of blood-thirsty mosquitoes, I decided to head ashore just before 10:00 p.m.

Once on shore I settled into a comfortable chair, picked up the book I'm reading, and had a quiet peaceful rest of the night on Leech Lake.

July 6, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

2011-07-06T12:09:00.012-05:00

Kathleen is planning to drive Ashley down to St. Cloud on Thursday morning so this morning I drove into Cass Lake to pick up some supplies since I'll be at the lake alone without transportation for a couple of days.

The temperature at 10:00 a.m. was 73 degrees on its way to a high of 80 degrees. The was almost calm, at maybe 5 mph out of the NNW, so the lake was like glass. The clouds were the mixed -- some big, white and billowy, while others were very high and wispy.

When I got home, at just after 11:30 a.m., Kathleen and Ashley were just going out to the dock. I poured a cup of coffee for myself and joined them.

Since the water was still fairly calm at 1:30 p.m., and since it was a hot and humid 81 degrees, we decided to go tubing on the Hot Dog. Ashley asked if the neighbor boy Blake, who like Ashley is sixteen years old, could go with us. It was fine with us so Blake joined Ashley riding the tube in the 78 degree waters of Leech Lake.

I pulled them all over Sucker Bay -- from in front of our house into Duck Bay past Second Duck Point then north toward the resorts and finally back to our place. I probably did three or four loops during the 45 minutes we were out tubing. We had to come ashore because Blake and his family had plans to drive into Cass Lake for the farmer's market and craft fair.

Kathleen, Ashley and I, however, were not done with our time on the water and decided to go fishing. But first we made sandwiches, got some cold drinks and other snacks so we could spend as much time on the water as we wanted.

I got the leeches and fatheads into the boat and off we went. Fish started down in Bass Bay because Kathleen wanted to some fishing for "sunnies" (sunfish), but we didn't have any success. We then moved to the Birches, where we each caught some rock bass. Finally, we moved in front of our properties and drifted past Second Duck Point, but again all we could catch were some rock bass.

With our fill of fishing, Kathleen and Ashley wanted to go for a boat ride. Since the water was still fairly calm we could go quite a ways. We went past Ottertail Point and into Portage Bay and then south out onto the big part of the lake. From there we motored west toward Goose Island. We went around the island and headed north toward Big Hardwood Point and into the heart of Sucker Bay. And finally we motored home.

Just before sunset Ashley and Blake went for an ATV ride while Kathleen relaxed and meditated on the end of the dock. After a light dinner we all went over to the game room where we played ping pong and listened to oldies on the jukebox.

All in all a fun-filled day at Leech Lake.

July 5, 2011 -- In/On Leech Lake

2011-07-06T12:09:00.009-05:00

By 10:00 a.m. the temperature was already 74 degrees on its way to a high of 82. The wind was brisk at 12-15 mph out of the NNW with gusts up over 20 mph. There were white caps on the top of good-sized waves rolling across the lake. The sky was mostly sunny, with some big billowy white clouds, which are typical for a Minnesota summer day.

It was too windy to go out on the lake, so Kathleen, Ashley and I had fun doing things on shore. After just hanging out on the dock and enjoying the beauty of the lake, we got on our bikes and went for a ride. We only made it to a point between Harbor Drive and the community center before we were forced to turn around and ride back because the black flies were biting us. Still, we managed to get in a 5 mile ride.

When we got home we were hot from the bike ride so we jumped into the lake and swam. The water was probably 74 degrees, but we were so hot from riding our bikes that it felt wonderfully refreshing. We played and swam for about a 1/2 hour or so when we noticed that the wind was starting to die down a little and the waves were no longer as big.

Taking advantage of the respite from the wind we got the Hot Dog tube ready by filling it with air and attaching the tow rope. Then we got it loaded into the boat, got the boat onto the water, and the Hot Dog tube into the water.

This the same 3-person Hot Dog Tube that Ashley and Kathleen rode on in Leech Lake.

Ashley went on the tube first and had a blast. Kathleen then joined her on the tube (it is made to hold three adults) and I pulled the on it all over Sucker Bay. We had a great time, but the wind picked up a little so we came ashore.

We had a wonderful dinner as we watched the sun drop into the western sky on the other side of Sucker Bay. Ashley really wanted to have a fire at the cabin fire pit, so I went next door and got it going. Ashley also wanted to invite the Newman's over for the fire and to share in some S'mores.

Just after dark John, Karen and Johnny Newman joined Ashley, Kathleen and I around the fire for some fun conversation and some tasty northwoods S'mores. Finally after midnight we called it a night and all went home.

We were all tired from the biking, swimming, tubing and playing at the lake. Another wonderful summer day at Leech Lake. The only thing missing was fishing. Maybe tomorrow...

The St. Cloud Adventure

2011-07-04T13:54:00.006-05:00

Kathleen and I made the 2 1/2 hour drive from Leech Lake south to St. Cloud on Friday afternoon July 1. Since it was the start of the 4th of July weekend, the traffic heading north was very heavy, and in some places, such as through Brainerd/Baxter, it was actually bumper to bumper for nearly a mile.

We were on our way to a Coyle family reunion/picnic at Kathleen's mom's house. Not all of Kathleen's siblings would be there, but there were still more than 15 people planning to attend.

Apparently I'm the only one of the group that barbecues on a regular basis, so I agreed to bring my Weber grill to the picnic and be the one to do the BBQing. Once we arrived in St. Cloud, around 4:45 p.m., I unloaded the grill, got the grates into place and put the charcoal into the chimney in preparation for the grilling once everyone arrived.

By 5:30 p.m. most people had arrived. At right around 6:00 p.m. we all went to the end of my mother-in-law's driveway to watch the humongous black storm cloud move our way. The temperature for most of the day in St. Cloud had been in the mid- to high-90s, and just before the storm hit the temperature peaked at 97 degrees.

We could see some slight rotation in the storm clouds and thought that a tornado might be brewing. Within minutes, the storm had descended upon us bringing with it high winds, heavy rain and pea-sized hail.

I quickly moved the grill into the gazebo which is in the back of my mother-in-law's house to get it out of the rain. Surprisingly, the charcoal, which I had started just before the storm hit, was still burning. Quite a testimony to Kingsford charcoal.

As I began putting burgers, hot dogs, and brats onto the grill, the sirens started to sound warning of an impending tornado. At this point the backyard was littered with branches and leaves from the many oak trees in the yard.

The sky had darkened and looked an eerie color green. The wind was blowing so hard that even though I was inside the gazebo, with its walls of screen mesh, there was nary a place that was dry.

At one point I needed to run into the house, not more than a 20 foot distance, and got soaking wet before I could get inside. The rain was coming down so hard, and blowing from seemingly every direction, that I was completely wet as I entered the house.

Once inside I was told that water was seeping into the house from the utility room, underneath the stairs and from the bathroom. Just as we were checking to see if my mother-in-law had a sump pump which we could use to remove the flood of water, the power went off. Quickly candles were lit and flashlights located. Everyone was told to refrain from using the bathroom since her water supply is via a well, and with the power off, the well pump wouldn't be able to replenish the water in the toilets.

We ate our BBQ dinner and then before dark everyone got into their cars and headed elsewhere. Marge went back to St. Benedict's. The various other family memebers went back to their homes, while Kathleen and I went to a local hotel. Our plan was to leave the next day for the lake, so we had planned on spending only one night in St. Cloud.

On Saturday, once the power was restored, we spent hours using a Wet-Dry vacuum sucking up water from Marge's swamped carpet and running fans and a dehumidifier in an attempt to dry up the hallway, bathroom and dining floor. We actually made good progress and by evening the carpet was only damp.

Then came another wrinkle in our visit. The plan was for me, Kathleen and Ashley to go back up to Leech Lake on Saturday evening, but Ashley had an offer from her aunt and uncle to go see a Minnesota Twins baseball game on Sunday afternoon. So we all agreed to spend another night in St. Cloud (not our favorite place) and head north when Ashley got back from the game.

Finally at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday we were in the truck heading to Leech Lake. Marge's carpet was nearly dry, the power was on, and everything seemed to be in good shape.

We got to the lake just before 11:00 p.m. and were looking forward to some summer fun at Leech Lake.

July 4, 2011 -- Independence Day -- In Leech Lake

2011-07-04T13:25:00.005-05:00

We're finally back at Leech Lake.

We left for an overnight picnic/BBQ/reunion at Kathleen's mom's house in St. Cloud on Friday and ended up staying until Sunday, not arriving at Leech Lake until after 11:00 p.m. I'll recap the mishaps of that trip in a separate post.

Today at 8:30 a.m. it was already 74 degrees, humid, with sunny skies and a 8-12 mph wind out of the SSW. It's supposed to be a beautiful summer day here at Leech Lake on this the 235th anniversary of America's independence.

By mid-afternoon the temperature had risen to 82 degrees, the humidity increased and it was a hot sticky 4th of July. So hot, in fact, that Kathleen, Ashley and I jumped in the lake and spent more than 1/2 hour swimming in the relatively cooler water of Leech Lake.

The wind, which blew at 12-15 mph out of the SSW all day, kept us from going tubing. There is no way I'm pulling someone in a tube across the lake when the waves are of a certain size.

We had a nice BBQ rib dinner, complete with grilled corn on the cob, potato salad and Caprese salad. We then sat on the dock and watched as a powerful thunderstorm moved our way. Just after sunset, the storm finally hit bringing with it strong winds, heavy rain and a wild lightening and thunder display.

The storm subsided around midnight, just as we were getting ready for bed. No fishing today, but hopefully tomorrow Ashley and I will get a chance to do some walleye hunting.

July 1, 2011 -- At Leech Lake (and St. Cloud)

2011-07-01T11:01:00.004-05:00

This morning at 10:00 a.m. the temperature was 76 degrees, it was already humid, the sky was overcast and mostly grey with the wind out of the west at 8-12 mph.

We are going drive down to St. Cloud a little later today for a Coyle family reunion picnic at Kathleen's Mom's house. Not all of Kathleen siblings will be there, but there should be somewhere around 15 people at the picnic just the same.

I have already loaded the grill, charcoal and other grilling equipment into the truck because it seems that I'm the only one at the picnic that grills on a regular basis. I guess I'll be wed to the hot coals this afternoon.

The plan is for us to leave the lake sometime around noon and arrive in St. Cloud by 3:00 p.m. That will give us time to do some last minute shopping, get the grill going, and begin the BBQ picnic by 5:00 p.m. It should be a nice time.

Obviously I will not be fishing today, and may not get out tomorrow evening either if we don't get back to the lake at a decent hour. At any rate, my next post will be on Saturday, July 2.

June 30, 2011 -- On/In Leech Lake

2011-06-30T10:11:00.005-05:00

This morning at 9:30 a.m. the temperature was 72 degrees, the air felt heavy with humidity, the wind was at 10-15 mph out of the SSE and the sky was overcast and grey.

As the day went on the temperature kept going up, finally resting at 87 degrees by midday. The humidity was at a crazy 90 percent with the dew point in the mid 70s. It was hot, wet and sticky.

Kathleen wanted some time alone to read so I went out fishing. The wind was 8-12 mph out of the SSE and the water temperature had warmed to 70 degrees. I used an 1/8 ounce VMC Mooneye jig tipped with a leech and made numerous drifts from about 8 feet of water out to 14 feet. I caught several rock bass, but no walleye. I did have something hit my jig hard, and bite off my jig and bait, but I couldn't hook whatever it was; most likely a big northern pike.

After a couple of hours on the water I went ashore. It was still very hot and humid. Kathleen had finished her book and was ready to cool off by jumping into the lake. I joined her in the waters of Leech Lake, and I have to say, the 70 degree water definitely cooled my core.

The sky remained overcast and hazy most of the day which meant that the sunset tonight was unspectacular. By 10:00 p.m. it finally started to cool off, and it was cool enough that sleeping tonight shouldn't be too uncomfortable.

June 29, 2011 -- In Leech Lake

2011-06-29T11:58:00.006-05:00

This morning's weather was even nicer than yesterday. The temperature was in the mid-60s, and would hit 70 by noon. The wind was fairly strong at 10-15 mph out of the SSE, but the water in front of our properties was calm. The sky was sunny with only a few clouds on the horizon.

After breakfast and a couple of cups of coffee, I set out to move several wheelbarrow loads of rock from the pile at the cabin to around the harbor wall at the house. Even though Peterson Excavating had brought in a dump truck load of rock, they only put it in the spots where they had added cable to reinforce the harbor walls. There were still other areas that needed to have rock added to fight against erosion by providing better drainage.

The temperature by this time had climbed to 81 degrees and with the humidity at 82 percent, I was soaked in sweat by the time I had finished my work. So, I did what I always do at Leech Lake when I'm really hot -- I jumped in the lake.

The initial shock of the 69 degree water was electric, but after a while the water temperature felt great, and I ended up spending a half an hour playing and swimming in the lake.

Later in the afternoon, when she had returned from her 6-mile run, Kathleen decided to take a bath in the lake using camp soap and wanted me to join her. We swam between the docks at the house and cabin, and washed ourselves in the water near the dock at the cabin.

After playing in the water a bit, we climbed onto the dock at the house and sat in our lounge chairs for the next several hours just talking and hanging out.

Finally, just after sunset we went into the house, had some dinner and just enjoyed the warmth of the summer night.

Tomorrow it's supposed to be even hotter -- some forecasts calling for temperatures in the 90s. I'm sure if it does end up being that hot that Kathleen and I will end up in the lake again.

June 28, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

2011-06-28T11:47:00.012-05:00

This morning we awoke to sunny skies, big billowy white clouds, a light breeze out of the NW at 5-8 mph and a temperature of 62 degrees.

We could finally enjoy our coffee while sitting in the warm sun on our back porch overlooking the lake.

By 1:00 p.m. the wind had shifted and was coming out of the SSE at 8-12 mph, most of the clouds had moved on leaving the sky clear and blue and the temperature had warmed to near 70 degrees.

Kathleen and I decided that since it was such a beautiful afternoon that we'd take a drive out to Lake Itasca State Park, where 30 years ago we stayed overnight as part of our honeymoon. It is the headwaters of the Mississippi River and we plan to walk across the small stream that it is at its origin.

It's a beautiful drive out Hwy. 2 to Hwy. 71 and eventually to Hwy. 200 which takes you through the small town of Lake George and finally to the east entrance of Lake Itasca State Park. Once inside the park we drove the short distance to the Douglas Lodge where we had lunch. Thirty years earlier, Kathleen and I had dinner, and the next day breakfast, inside the same rustic, log lodge.

We then walked down to the edge of the lake near the start of the Brower Trail where we came across a large patch of Lady Slippers, Kathleen's favorite flower. We walked a short way up the Brower Trail, but eventually cut up the hill and emerged near the cabins where we had stayed three years ago when we had gathered on the shores of Lake Itasca for the Coyle Family Reunion.

Itasca State Park, Kathleen with Lady Slippers and at Lake Itasca

Kathleen and I then drove the five miles to the headwaters of the Mississippi River. Once there, we walked the 800-foot trail that leads to the start of the mighty Mississippi River. At its origin, it is so small and shallow that it is easy to walk right across it. Both Kathleen and I waded into the cold waters that make up the first few feet of the Mississippi. Unlike in times past when we've been here, the water was both colder, deeper and faster moving. It must be a result of all of the rain we've had the past few days, up to 4 inches by some estimates.

After some enjoyable time at the headwaters of the Mississippi River, we walked back to the truck and drove back to Leech Lake. As wonderful as Lake Itasca State Park is, and it is wonderful, for us, nothing beats the beauty and splendor of Leech Lake.
We got home at 7:30 p.m. and the temperature was still 72 degrees. The wind was calm and the sky was almost completely clear. We opened a couple of cold beers and walked out to the end of the dock to sit in our lounge chairs and watch the sun set.

The sun didn't actually set while we watched, but it did drop lower and lower into the western sky. At 8:45 p.m., about a half an hour before sunset, I took the boat out to do some fishing, while Kathleen enjoyed some quiet time to herself; which she greatly deserves.
I trolled from our house south past Second Duck Point into the middle of Duck Bay in 9-12 feet of water pulling a silver shad-colored jointed Shad Rap at a ground speed of 2 1/3 mph. The water temperature was just over 69 degrees.

During my first circuit I caught but one rock bass. I decided to switch lures and go back to my favorite #9 Minnow Rap in the Tennessee Shad color. I once again trolled south past Second Duck Point into Duck Bay before turning north and heading back to our house. On my way north I hooked into a nice fish and when I got it on board I measured a 19 1/2-inch walleye; a slot fish so it immediately went back into the water.

Once back on shore, I got a fire going in the fire pit at the cabin and Kathleen sat around the fire and talked for an hour or so before walking out onto the end of the dock and looking at the millions of stars in the clear night sky. The Milky Way was clearly visible, as was Saturn, Libra and Scorpio.

We had another wonderful day at Leech Lake, and the area that surrounds it.

June 27, 2011 -- At Leech Lake

2011-06-27T10:52:00.006-05:00

At 8:00 a.m. this morning it was still raining and there was thunder rumbling off in the distance. The temperature was 55 degrees and the wind was strong at 12-17 mph out of the NW. The sky was mostly cloudy, with little patches of blue here and there.

For most of the morning and into the early afternoon rain continued to fall. Finally, around 1:00 p.m. the rain let up so Kathleen and I immediately took advantage of the break and went for a long walk. We walked to the "beaver pond" or as Kathleen calls it, "swamp 1," and back. About a 3 mile walk.

On our way back we saw Tom Malay driving his truck toward the community center. He stopped and informed us that a tree had fallen across West Shores Road between Harbor Dr. and the community center. He told us that he had his chain saw with him and that he planned to clear the road; and get a little firewood in the process.

Once home, I quickly got on the ATV and rode out to the site of the fallen maple to help Tom clear the road. It's always a good idea to have someone with you when you're using a chain saw.

The tree hadn't snapped off in the wind, rather it had simply fell over as a result of the three inches of rain we've had in the past 36 hours. We have standing ponds all over our properties, so it's not hard to imagine a large maple tree toppling over from its own weight in the super-saturated ground.

Ron Newstrand joined Tom and me for the tree-cutting operation. During our efforts a large diesel pickup truck hauling a big back hoe came down the road, but had to stop until we were able to clear the road. A UPS truck came from the other direction on its way to making a delivery, but was able to turn around in the road and go a different route.

After an hour of chain sawing and hauling, the three of us loaded a cut maple into the back of Tom's and Ron's trucks, since both use wood to heat with during the winter. No sooner had we opened up the road than it started to rain.

Since I was on the ATV I took off first for home. I managed to get the ATV stored in the garage and myself into the house before the rain got worse. We did get more rain between 3:30 p.m. and 5:30 p.m., but by 6:00 p.m., the rain had stopped, the clouds parted somewhat and we actually saw some sunlight. The temperature, however, never got past 60 degrees. The had shifted and was coming out of the west at 12-15 mph.

After dinner it was nice enough to go out onto the dock and watch the sunset; although it was still quite windy. Tomorrow it's supposed to be sunny and warm, which will be a welcome relief from the cool temperatures and the rain. I'm hoping to be able to get out onto the water to do some fishing tomorrow.

June 26, 2011 -- Our 30th Anniversary -- On Leech Lake

2011-06-26T10:28:00.006-05:00

Thirty years ago today, my wife Kathleen and I married along the shores of the Mississippi River in St. Cloud, Minnesota. I can't believe it's been 30 years. In some ways it's gone by like a blink of an eye, yet in other ways it seems like a lifetime ago. We were so young!

The temperature here at Leech Lake 10:00 a.m. was 60 degrees, the sky was overcast and grey, and the wind was 10-15 mph out of the SSE, but because of the way we're positioned on the peninsula, the water in front of our property is still and the flag is limp against the pole. The ground was still wet from the overnight rain.

As the day went on it got warmer, and eventually topped out at 73 degrees. The wind remained out of the SSE for most of the day, but shifted to the NNE about 4:00 p.m. For most of the afternoon the sky was partly sunny.

Kathleen went running at 2:30 p.m., which gave me an opportunity to go fishing. I spent a little more than two hours on the lake and tried a number of different tactics to catch some walleye, but came up empty on all counts.

I tried jigging with a leech, casting a Mimic Minnow Spin over the tops of deep weeds (in 14 feet of water) and tried trolling with a jointed Shad Rap, but all I could catch were some perch and rock bass.

The water temperature was 68 degrees.

Once I was on shore and Kathleen was back from her run, we cleaned up and made a wonderful anniversary dinner. Kathleen looked amazing in her little black dress, and we enjoyed a champagne toast to our 30 years of marriage.

After dinner we sat in the living room and talked. As the evening wore on the thunder started to rumble and just after midnight we had a powerful thunderstorm complete with a fantastic lightening show. It was great way to end our anniversary celebration.

June 25, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

2011-06-25T12:18:00.004-05:00

This morning the temperature was 60 degrees at 9:15 a.m., the wind was variable from 8-17 mph out of the SSW and the sky was mostly sunny.

By 11:00 a.m. my parents had loaded up their car and were heading down West Shores Road on their way back to Illinios. We had a very nice visit with them.

Kathleen and I enjoyed our coffee on the back porch, ate some breakfast and then temporarily went our separate ways. Kathleen went running, while I went fishing.

Since it was Saturday, there were about 10 boats motoring around from Second Duck Point to our house. After getting my boat out onto the 68 degree water, I joined them in the general area.

The sun was shining, the temperature was 72 degrees, and the wind was still fairly strong at 12-15 mph out of the SSE when I dropped my jig tipped with a leech into 10-12 feet of water. With the stiff wind blowing I opted to use a slightly heavier jig and tied on a 1/4 ounce parrot colored Gumball jig instead of my usual 1/8 ounce jig.

Even with the drift sock in the water the wind was pushing the boat along at 1/2 to 3/4 mph. I made several drifts between Second Duck Point and our cabin, but could catch no walleye. I repositioned the boat near the Malays and drifted past Norm's, but again, could catch no walleye.

I eventually switched to a Mimic Minnow Spin while drifting from the Birches past Schiebe's cabin, but could only manage to catch a few perch. I gave up and came ashore about 2:30 p.m.

Kathleen was just getting back from her run, so we decided to go for a bike ride. The temperature was now around 75 degrees, and the wind felt great during our ride. We rode down to the boardwalk on Duck Point and back; about a 8 mile ride.

When we got home we cleaned up, listened to a Prairie Home Companion, ate dinner, and then sat out on the dock to watch the sunset. We moved our party to the back porch just after the sun dipped below the horizon and just enjoyed being together.

Just after midnight I could hear the rain falling. I guess the 50% chance of showers was actually greater than that. I was a wonderful day on the shores of Leech Lake.

June 24, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

2011-06-24T10:20:00.005-05:00

This morning at 9:00 a.m. the temperature was a very pleasant 58 degrees, the sun was shining and the wind was out of the SSE at 5-8 mph. It's the first time in more than a week that the wind has blown from a southerly direction. The lake has some small ripples, but is basically calm. It'll be a nice day to get out on the water.

Kathleen and I greeted the day with a cup of coffee on the dock. It's always great to have a morning cup of coffee sitting over the water listening to the loons and other birds while watching bald eagles soaring overhead.

We then walked over to the cabin and visited with my Dad who was sitting on the deck overlooking the lake. After a few minutes, I decided to go fishing, so I grabbed the fatheads and leeches and joined the 10 other boats out in front of my house.

With the breeze coming out of the south, I actually motored out to a spot in front of Giza's cabin in 10 feet of water before turning off the motor and deploying the drift sock. I again used an 1/8 ounce Northland Gumball jig in parrot color tipped with a large leech.

I made a complete drift from Giza's to Malay's and only caught a couple of perch, one of which was about 10 1/2 inches and boarding on being a jumbo. But with the fishing slow, and my parents visiting, I stowed my fishing gear and went ashore.

We spent the afternoon visiting and just hanging out.

At 4:30 p.m., we left the lake and drove north on Sucker Bay Road out to Hwy. 2, where we headed east to have supper at the Big Fish Supper Club in Bena, near Lake Winnibigoshish, where my Dad treated us to supper for our anniversary.

All four of us, my Mom, Dad, Kathleen and I, had the walleye dinner.

The landmark Big Fish Supper Club

After dinner we drove back to the lake and spent a couple of hours on the back porch watching the sunset and listening to my Dad tell stories about his college days, when he was admitted to Yale but decided to go to Boston University instead, how he hitchhiked from Oslo, Norway to Copenhagen, Denmark and how he ended up a principal of a high school at the tender age of 27.

We had a very relaxing and enjoyable evening on the shores of Leech Lake.

June 23, 2011 -- At Leech Lake

2011-06-23T09:00:00.011-05:00

My wife Kathleen.

At 8:24 a.m. local time I received a text message from my beautiful wife Kathleen that she was on the plane and would very soon be on her way to Minneapolis. From there she will fly to Bemidji where I will meet her at the airport at 4:40 p.m. It will be wonderful to have her join me at our lake home on Leech Lake.

The temperature this morning, the second full day of summer, was 46 degrees. The sky was grey and overcast again, without a hint of blue to it. It wasn't raining so much as it was spitting a heavy mist. The wind was strong at 12-17 mph out of the north, with gusts well over 20 mph, creating rolling waves and white caps on the lake. I did see one brave boat on the water at about 9:15 a.m.

Even though it was wet from all of the mist and light rain T&K showed up at 10:00 a.m. to mow the lawn. With all of the rain during the past week or so the grass has grown really tall and desperately needed to be cut.

My parents and I visited in the early afternoon while continued to do some final cleaning and straightening up around the house. At 3:30 p.m. we left the lake to drive into Bemidji to get Kathleen.

As we drove into Bemidji the clouds parted and the sun came out for the first time in days. By the time we were loading Kathleen's luggage into the car it was 73 degrees in Bemidji, sunny and warm.

We stopped at the grocery store, picked up some unbaked pizzas and drove back to the lake. We ate our pizzas, enjoyed the conversation and then Kathleen and I sat on the dock and watched the sunset.

I am looking forward to a couple of very relaxing and enjoyable weeks at Leech Lake with Kathleen, celebrating our anniversary.

June 22, 2011 -- At Leech Lake

2011-06-22T11:07:00.006-05:00

Another cool, rainy day at Leech Lake. This morning at 10:00 a.m. the temperature was 55 degrees, the wind was 8-12 mph out of the NNE and the sky was grey, cloudy, and a light rain fell.

In fact, rain fell all day long. At some periods it rained hard, but most of the day there was just a light steady rain falling. The high temperature today on the shores of Sucker Bay never got past 56 degrees. The wind was also fairly steady at 8-15 mph out of the NNE, with gusts up to 25 mph.

No fishing today. I stayed inside and visited with my parents.

June 21, 2011 -- Summer Solstice -- On Leech Lake

2011-06-21T05:11:00.010-05:00

Despite going to bed at midnight last night, I was wide awake at 4:45 a.m. When it became clear that sleep was not going to come easy, I decided to get up. And since I was up, I figured I might as well go fishing, so at 5:30 a.m., just 8 minutes after sunrise, I was on Leech Lake.

The wind was stiff at 12-15 mph out of the NNE creating some decent sized swells and a classic walleye chop. The temperature was 50 degrees, the water temperature was 65.5 degrees, and the sky was cloudy and grey.

The wonderful thing about being on the lake so early is there are no other boats to contend with. In fact, I could not see another boat in any direction on Sucker Bay.

With the water to myself, I motored out to 10 feet of water in front of Poage's cabin, put in the drift sock, and drifted south and out into the bay at a ground speed of roughly .60 mph. I tipped my parrot colored Northland Gumball jig with a leech and began fishing.

About halfway through my drift I caught a rock bass. But as I got closer to Second Duck Point I started marking a lot of fish on my Lowrance electronics. As if on cue, something bit my jig quickly and took the leech. It felt like the "tap" of a walleye.

Within 5 minutes of dropping a new leech into the choppy waters off Second Duck Point, I felt that familiar weight of a walleye and quickly set the hook. I could tell right away it was a good fish, most likely in the slot (which on Leech Lake is 18-26 inches; any fish in that "slot" has to go back into the lake).

I had forgotten to get the landing net ready, so while fighting the fish with one hand I extended the shaft on the landing net with the other. Soon I had the net under the fish and into the boat. The walleye measured 21 inches, and was a very solid, almost fat, fish. I gently released the fish back into the water.

At that point my lack of sleep was creeping up on me so I decided to go ashore. By 6:30 a.m. I was back in the house wondering if I should give sleep another shot.

Here on the shores of Leech Lake, the Summer Solstice officially arrived at 12:16 p.m., although you wouldn't know it was summer by the weather. The temperature was 55 degrees and there was light rain was falling as summer arrived in the Northwoods,. Within an hour a larger storm moved in and with it heavier rain. The color-weather radar on weather.com's site shows the strongest part of the storm to move over Ottertail Peninsula around 2:30 p.m.

By 3:30 p.m., with heavy rains still falling, the part of the yard that had been torn up by the harbor repairs by Peterson Excavating, looked like a swamp, with standing water atop the mud. At least this should help the grass seed I spread soak into the ground and hasten the recovery of the lawn.

My parents called me from Grand Rapids at around 2:15 p.m. as they were about to go into the grocery store. I figure after shopping and the drive to the lake, that they should arrive sometime around 4:00 p.m.

Sure enough, just after 4:00 p.m. my parents arrived. We spent an hour or so talking and catching up, and then I got the grill going for some dinner. At 8:00 p.m. I came back to the house and just as I got inside it started raining again. It was raining at 9:30 p.m. as I closed down the PC for the night.

Obviously no fishing tonight. But if there's a break in the weather tomorrow, I will try to get out and catch some more Leech Lake walleye.

June 20, 2011 -- On Leech Lake

2011-06-20T10:27:00.004-05:00

At 9:30 a.m. the temperature was 49 degrees, the sky was grey and overcast and the wind was out of the NE again at 8-12 mph, with gusts up to 17 mph. As I started to write this post the furnace kicked on. If I'm not mistaken, tomorrow is the first day of summer, so shouldn't it be warming up soon?

I took care of some chores around the house this morning before driving into Bemidji at just after noon. I registered the truck for another year at the DMV, picked up some new wiper blades for the truck at the Chevy dealership, did some grocery shopping and eventually made it home around 4:30 p.m.

I got everything put away, took the garbage down to the community center bins, put on the new wiper blades and cleaned up around the house. At 6:00 p.m., with the temperature at 66 degrees and mostly cloudy skies, I decided to go fishing.

The wind was out of the north at 10-15 mph, and there were some pretty good waves on the lake. I figured the "walleye chop" might make the fishing good. I took the boat out in front of the cabin, put in the drift sock, and drifted south toward Second Duck Point in 10 feet of water. The water temperature was 66 degrees.

I tipped my parrot colored Northland Gumball jig with a leech and started fishing. Even with the drift sock in the water, the wind pushed the boat along at a ground speed of .50 to .67 mph. I caught several rock bass and perch, but only one small walleye, a 13-incher.

I didn't go out trolling tonight, opting to stay in after dinner and read. Tomorrow my parents are set to arrive. I haven't seen them in more than a year so it will be great to spend time with them. And then on Thursday of this week, Kathleen is arriving in Bemidji. It will be fantastic to have her join me here at Leech Lake. We will be celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary on Sunday, June 26.

June 19, 2011 -- Father's Day -- On Leech Lake

2011-06-19T08:23:00.008-05:00

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there, especially my dad, who is the greatest dad a guy could ever hope to have! Thanks Dad.

This morning at 8:15 a.m. the temperature was 53 degrees, the sky was grey and overcast, the lake and the horizon blended together in a silvery-grey mist and the wind was calm; once again the flag lay limp against the pole and the water looked like glass. I could not see across the lake, it was simply a silver-grey expanse.

There has been a strange visitor in the yard this morning --a pigeon. Now, if I was in San Francisco, Minneapolis, or maybe even Bemidji, I wouldn't be surprised seeing a pigeon, but here on the shores of Leech Lake, that's very unusual. In fact, in the 10 years we've had our properties on Leech Lake, I had never seen a pigeon up here until today.

One other interesting aspect to this particular pigeon, it had a green band around its left leg and a blue band around its right leg, just above its feet. Maybe it's a homing pigeon that had lost its way. Anyway, the darn thing was eating the grass seed I just put down yesterday, so I had to shoo it away. But, it kept coming back, so eventually I just gave up chasing it away. At some point it will have its fill of grass seed.

Despite overcast skies and the threat of rain, I decided to fishing at 2:00 p.m. The temperature was 66 degrees, the wind was light at 5-8 mph out of the NE and the water temperature was 67.5 degrees.

I started fishing in 9-12 feet of water in front of Schiebe's cabin, and didn't catch anything. I moved a little further south to the Birches, but caught only a rock bass, although something big hit my line and bit off the jig. I retied another 1/8 ounce, parrot color Gumball jig, tipped it with a leech and resumed fishing.

Unfortunately, I was not able to catch anything else. Not even a small perch. I suppose if I was using a fathead instead of a leech I may have caught perch, but I was after walleye. At 4:00 p.m. I came ashore.

Nature Update: For some reason the wind seems to be blowing almost exclusively out of the east, or some variation of the east, such as NE. In my many years here at Leech Lake I have typically seen wind out of the north, south and west, but rarely the east. But for some reason, the prevailing wind direction during the past six weeks is east.