Here's a picture of Leech Lake taken by my neighbor John Newman from my property looking south in early December. The ice is already 10-inches thick and is blanketed with nearly a foot of snow. I haven't received any ice-angling updates from either John, or Tom Malay, so for this post I'll dig back into my notes from my mid-October visit. I know, that's nearly two months ago, but that trip did provide some excellent late season walleye fishing. Better late than never.Day 1: Friday, Oct. 12, 2007
I arrived in Bemidji around 4:30 p.m. CT and proceeded to go straight from the airport to Gander Mountain. My goal was to buy an aeration unit for my minnow bucket because I planned to buy a scoop of shiners, and without a good supply of oxygen, shiners tend to die over night. After my stop at Gander, I made a stop at the grocery store, liquor store and finally, Bluewater Bait. I picked up two scoops of fatheads and one (very generous) scoop of shiners. Once home the shiners went into the aerated minnow bucket and out to the cold of the garage. Just the ticket to keep shiners alive.
Day 2: Saturday, Oct. 13, 2007 (Happy Birthday Melissa)
I awoke to a beautiful day with a light wind out of the southwest under partly sunny skies. John and I drifted from Second Duck Point to the "Birches" several times pulling fatheads on Northland Fireball jigs and Johnson Beetle spins with very limited success. John caught a few small perch and I was skunked. Rarely do I have to use this old saw, but today it was right on the money, "the worst day fishing is better than the best day working." It's rare that I don't catch anything, but today was one of those days. Still, I love being out on the water of Leech Lake.
Day 3: Sunday, Oct. 14, 2007
I didn't record the exact weather conditions for this day, but I can say it was windy (small white caps) from the north. I fished by myself in my Lund Pro V 1800 IFS using jigs and shiners and had a much better day. I caught five beautiful walleye, including a very nice 24-incher. I also caught a perfect 'eater' walleye -- 16 1/2 inches -- that I kept for dinner.
Day 4: Monday, Oct. 15, 2007
Today I fished with Tom Malay. That outing yielded only a few perch, but it was fun to be out on the water with Tom. I always enjoy angling with Mr. Malay -- either in a boat or on the hard water. After returning to shore for a mid-afternoon snack, I went back out onto the water by myself to battle the cold (mid-40s) and windy (20 mph winds from the north) conditions. As is often the case, these nasty conditions can provide some of the year's best fishing. I caught four walleye in about 1 1/2 hours, including a nice 23-inch beauty.
Day 5: Tuesday, Oct. 16, 2007
Went out onto the water myself again today and caught five more walleyes. All were caught on 1/4-ounce, long-shank shiner jigs (that I purchased at Cass Lake's only bait and tackle shop, Froggy's) tipped with shiners. The fish were fairly well dispersed between the "Birches" and Second Duck Point, including a nice 24-incher caught right in front of my house.
Day 6: Wednesday, Oct. 17, 2007
Another solo trip out onto the cold and choppy water. Water temperatures had dropped to around 50 degrees, and the air temperature was a good 5-10 degrees cooler. The wind had calmed some, but there was still a good "walleye chop" to the lake. I caught four eyeballs using the same jig and shiner set-up as the previous day. The biggest fish of the day was a 23-inch beauty taken in front of the Newman's cabin. It was an interesting catch because as I was drifting along I felt the classic "weight" on my line, so I let out 20-30 feet of 6-pound, Trilene XT line from my Shimano Symetre, closed the bail, set the hook and BANG, the walleye was on. But before I could get the walley' in the boat, it came off the hook. I quickly began reeling in the jig for another pass over the spot. The jig was in sight, a foot or so under the surface, when I saw a flash! The walleye, or a walleye, appeared, inhaled my jig and shiner, turned and headed toward the bottom. This time I didn't mess around with feeding him any line and instead immediately set the hook. A few quick turns of the handle on my reel later, I netted a beautiful golden walleye. That's the first time I had a walleye chase my minnow back to the boat. It behaved more like a largemouth bass that a finicky walleye. A great way to finish another day out on Sucker Bay.
Day 7: Thursday, Oct. 18, 2007
This is beginning to sound a bit redundant, but I fished alone again today, there was a slight chop to the cool water and the weather was cold and grey. But the fishing was again good. I caught several perch and four more nice walleyes. I didn't keep any, but I did finally clean the fish I had caught earlier in the week. I planned to have a nice Friday-night fish fry.
Day 8, Friday, Oct. 19, 2007 (Happy Birthday Kathleen)
I had planned on pulling the boat out of the water today, but it was so windy that all on-water activities were scrapped. No fishing today. I spent the day cleaning up around the house, and began the "winterization" process for the house and cabin. For dinner I had a fantastic meal of walleye fillets! Mmmmm.
Day 9, Saturday, Oct. 20, 2007
The forecast for today was light winds in the early morning, but picking up as the day went on. Therefore, I decided to pull the boat out of the water early. By 8 a.m. John Newman and I were on the water's edge putting my boat onto the trailer. By 10:30 a.m. I had pulled the boat out of the water, cleaned out all the tackle, rods, and other miscellaneous items on board, drove into town and dropped it off at Corner Sports where she'll be housed for the winter. Later that day I cleaned out the gutters of the house and did various other chores before joining John Newman and his boys out in the woods for a beer and a look at his new deer stand (the picture below). We then all went home, got cleaned up and went to the Ottertail Peninsula Fall potluck. I can't believe this was my seventh potluck. I'm getting to be an old-timer.
Day 10: Sunday, Oct. 21, 2007
More cleaning around the house -- fireplace, bathrooms, kitchen, etc. Around 3:30 p.m., Tom called and asked if I wanted to go out fishing one last time before heading back to California. You bet I did! By 4 p.m. Tom and I were out on Sucker Bay trolling Rapala Minnow Rap crank baits. We only had one good hit. Just before dark I had a big fish on. The way it fought and rolled, both Tom and I thought I'd hooked a northern pike. Since neither of us like having "northern slime" in our boats, I reached for the fish glove so I could take the "snake" off the hook without bringing him into the boat. But as the fish got close to the boat, we could see it wasn't a northern at all, but a big walleye. Quickly we scrambled for the net, but too late. The momentary slack in the my line was all the time the big eyeball needed to unbuttoned himself from my lure. We both got a good look at the fish, and by our humble estimates, we put him at roughly 25-inches. We didn't get the fish in the boat, but it was nice to hook a big walleye one last time on open water in 2007. The next day Tom drove me to the airport and I caught a plane to Minneapolis then San Jose. As I type this I am already looking forward to my visit to Leech Lake in February for some hard-water angling. More then. <*)))><
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