June 11, 2008

The winds picked up again today and were as strong as 20 mph out the ENE. There were thunderstorm warnings and it rained pretty much all day. Around mid-day, the temperature dropped to 50 degrees and it began to hail -- hard! I've included a couple of pictures of the hail that covered the ground.

Needless to say, I decided to stay on shore and do some work around the properties. No fishing.

June 10, 2008

It's been overcast and rainy the past several days, but at least today the winds have died down some. With a breeze of roughly 10 mph out of the NNE and temperatures in the mid-50s, a 15 degree drop from yesterday, I decided to go out onto the lake around 3:30 p.m.

Last winter I decided come open-water season that I'd fish as much as possible with artificial bait and I've stuck to that for the most part. Today I used a 1/4 ounce Fin-tech original Nuckle Ball jig in a green/chartreuse color, tipped with Gulp Alive! 3" leeches. I was drifting off Second Duck Point and caught 3 nice perch, which all went back into the lake.

Around 5:30 p.m., I decided to change tactics and started trolling with the hot steel-colored Rapala Minnow Rap. I love this lure and it always produces for me. Trolling back and forth from Second Duck Point to our cabin I caught a small northern pike, a 21-inch walleye (released) and a beautiful 17" walleye which I kept for a later dinner. I pulled onto the boat lift around 7:00 p.m.

There are many ways to use a Minnow Rap, casting, trolling, using it with a planer board, or even on the end of lead-core line. My preferred method is to tie a Berkley Cross-Lok snap swivel, which can be purchased at Cabela's, onto the end of Berkley 14-pound test Fireline Crystal line. I've found that even when I catch a bigger fish, such as a tiger muskie or a big northern, the 14-pound test is more than strong enough to haul them up to the boat.

I've also done my own testing and have found the Fireline Crystal to be much harder to see in the water than the regular Fireline (in either smoke or flame green). How the walleye actually see it is anybody's guess, but it seems to work for me.

Now I know a lot of guys like tying their lure directly to the line without a swivel, but I've found that with a swivel I virtually eliminate any line twist. Plus, the Cross-Lok snap swivels are much stronger than the safety-pin varieties of swivels. Again, these are my personal preferences, and they work well for me.

It's still early in the season, but I've already replaced the two original treble hooks on my Minnow Rap with new Gamakatsu red round-bend treble hooks. Keeping sharp hooks on your lures is a must.

June 9, 2008

The winds today were strong, 15-20 mph, out of the southwest, with gusts nearing 30 mph. Rain fell most of the day and the temps hovered around 70 degrees. As the day progressed, the winds shifted to the west, but were no less strong.

I did not go fishing today.

June 8, 2008

NOTE: I spent six months this past summer at Leech Lake fishing and enjoying the northwoods. I am now back in California and am making these posts from the notes I took in my "fishing journal."

Today is my parent's 51st wedding anniversary. Last year we had a big celebration at their house outside of Chicago (yes my parents are FIBs), but this year I celebrated their anniversary by going fishing on Leech Lake.

I decided to start early and was on the water at 7 a.m. I began my day at Second Duck Point using a combination of drifting -- there was a slight breeze from the south -- and trolling using my MinnKota Maxxum Pro electric trolling motor. The water temperature was 62 degrees and the air temp was slightly warmer at 65 degrees.

I fished for three hours, but was only able to pick up one 13" walleye. I was using a Northland Gum-Ball "neon-toned" jig tipped with a 3" Gulp Alive! black leech. Even though my morning venture onto the lake wasn't as successful as I would have liked, it was great to be on the water again after being shore-bound for three days due to inclement weather.

My second trip of the day began at 3:3o p.m. and lasted less than two hours. The temperature had warmed to a pleasant 70 degrees and likewise the water had warmed to 65 degrees. The afternoon sky was had become overcast and it was starting to sprinkle. The winds, however, were still calm, with just a hint of breeze from the south.

My game plan for the afternoon was to troll, using the SmartCraft function of my Mercury Verado outboard motor. It's an amazing option to the Verado motor. It allows me to set the RPM to whatever speed I want, down to a low of 550 RPM. When trolling Rapala Minnow Raps, as I was today, I use the SmartCraft to set the RPM between 580-600 depending on the direction I'm trolling -- faster into the wind, slower with it.

Using my favorite "hot steel" color I picked up a nice 4-5 lb. northern pike, a 16" walleye (which I was tempted to keep, but released) and a 26" tiger muskie, which is a hybrid of a muskellunge and a northern pike. Leech Lake has healthy population of both muskie and northern, so tiger muskies are not rare on the lake; although this was the first time I had actually caught one.

The rain started to pick up around 5:15 p.m. so I decided to head to shore to dry off and have dinner.

June 5, 6, and 7, 2008

The winds were high -- near 20 mph out of the NW -- and there were severe thunderstorm warnings off and on for three days. I didn't go fishing any of these days.

June 4, 2008, my rant against the FIBs

I fished for about 2 1/2 hours today, from 2:30 to about 5:00 p.m. The temperature was 56 degrees, almost 10 degrees warmer than yesterday, the winds were 10 mph from ESE, it was very overcast and the water temp was 57 degrees.

My excursion began at "the Birches," where I used a Northland Gum-Ball jig tipped with a Northland Slurpies Swim'N Grub (in firetiger) to catch a couple of jumbo perch, which I released, and a couple of rock bass, which I would never consider keeping. And while I'm on the topic of keeping "junk" fish such as rock bass, let me pontificate for a moment on the people who visit Leech Lake and stay at one of the many resorts that offer access to our Northern Minnesota wonderland.

Many of these "resorters" are what we who own property on the lake refer to as FIB's -- or F^*#ing Illinois, Indiana or Iowa Bastards, which is where many of these people call home. These meat-hunters are here to load up their coolers with as many fish fillets as possible with no regard to the size or species of the fish. I've seen FIB's at Birch Ridge Resort cleaning perch no bigger than 6 or 7 inches. Many FIB's think nothing of keeping 12" walleye, 18" pike, big largemouth bass (these days who eats largemouth bass for goodness sake!!) and of course, the king of junk fish, the rock bass. I know many "dock boys" and "fish cleaners" at the resorts who simply refuse to clean a rock bass. And if they do agree to clean them, it often carries a price double what they charge to clean other fish. I know, the lake is here for everyone to enjoy, but those of us who live here want to see the fishery remain healthy; and most FIB's are a disease we could live without.

Now where was I? Oh yeah. After my jigging efforts at the Birches, I started trolling from the Malays to past Second Duck Point, but landed no fish.

June 3, 2008

The temperature dropped dramically overnight and only reached a high today of 48 degrees. Winds were relatively light at 5-10 mph out of the ENE, but there was a steady rain all day.

Kathleen is in St. Cloud today visiting her mother, so I decided to lay low and spend the day working around the properties -- clearing fallen tree limbs, trimming dead tree branches, organizing the fish cleaning house, etc.

No fishing today.

Here's a photo of the "cabin," which is next door to the "house." The picture was not taken today, but it's on this property where I spent most of the day.

June 2, 2008

With winds out of the NNE at 10-12 mph, I thought today would be a good day for drifting Sucker Bay jig fishing for walleye. The temperature during my 1:00 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. drift was 58 degrees. The water temperature had cooled slighty over the last few days to 61 degrees.

Using a Parakeet-colored Northland Gum-Ball "neon-tone" jig tipped with a 3" Gulp Alive! black leech I caught one small walleye.

The fishing was slow, but it was great to be on the lake. This was the first time this year I'd been on the lake fishing by myself. While I always enjoy fishing with others -- be it Rick or one of my many neighbors/friends -- it's nice to have some solitude on the water. It really gives me time to reflect on the world and my place in it. I don't know if I found any profound answers, but the search was very rewarding.

This evening I went trolling from the Malays to past Second Duck Point. Using my standard "hot steel" Minnow Rap, I hooked a 15 1/2" walleye, several perch, and a northern pike that was almost 30". The winds tonight were calm, the temp was 60 degrees, and the moon was 1% waning, almost a completely new moon.

June 1, 2008

Kathleen and I took Rick to the Bemidji airport today so he could begin his Bemidji-to-Minneapolis-to-LA-to-Sydney-to-Brisbane trip home.

Afterward, we did some grocery shopping and other in-town errands. No fishing today.

May 31, 2008

From 1:00 p.m. to 2:15 p.m. Rick and I fished Bass Bay. We started near the "harbor" entrance just north of Paul Wagner's cabin and worked our way south toward Paulsen's. We were again using Northland Reed-Runner spinner baits. The air temperature was a very pleasant 65 degrees, the water temperature was 60 degrees, the winds were calm and the sky was mostly sunny.

On my second cast of the afternoon something strange happened -- my rod broke. I was using a Shimano Compere baitcasting rod, and when I went to cast the spinner bait the rod just snapped -- right between the second and third line guide. I have no idea why it broke. I did not contact Shimano about the incident since the rod was past its warranty period. It didn't leave a great impression on me regarding the quality of Shimano rods. Usually I use St. Croix rods, made in Park Falls, Wisconsin, for my spinning reels, and maybe I need to switch to St. Croix for my baitcasting rods as well.

I caught one largemouth bass and Rick caught three. Then we decided to head down to Second Duck Point to jig for walleye. We fished that spot for roughly an hour before heading back to the cabin. In that time, Rick caught, and released, a very nice 20" walleye and a small one under 12". Rick was using a silver flash Lindy Techni-Glo Fuzz-E-Grub tipped with a 3" Gulp Alive! black leech.

That evening we went out on the water at 9:00 p.m. and fished for about two hours. The air temp had dropped to just under 60 degrees although the water temperature had actually warmed to 62 degrees. The winds were still calm, and the moon was 13% waning. While trolling Minnow Rap crankbaits we caught and released five walleye. I had fish of 14", 15" and 23", while Rick boated 'eyes of 20" and 21". This was to be Rick's last night of fishing. On June 1, Kathleen and I drove him to the Bemidji airport so he could start his long journey home to Brisbane, Australia. See you in the Fall Rick.

May 30, 2008

Rick and I again focused our walleye fishing tactics by trolling crankbaits near sunset. There was a light rain falling, the temperature was 60 degrees, the water temp was 57.7 degrees, and the winds were at 10 mph from the NW. There was very heavy cloud cover.

Using a purpledescent Minnow Rap, Rick caught walleyes of 12", 16", and 21". I used my old stand by, the hot steel Minnow Rap, and caught two walleyes that taped out at 12", and others at 16", 16 1/2", 20" and 23". This highlighted link will take you to an In-Fisherman video of Doug Stange and Mark Fisher casting and trolling with the Rapala Minnow Rap, which for my money is the best walleye crankbait on the market. All in all, Rick and I had another great evening of walleye fishing on Leech Lake's Sucker Bay.

Here's Rick with another nice walleye.

May 29, 2008

The temperture today hovered around 55 degrees all day, the winds were calm, it was overcast and the water temperature was 58 degrees. Since we were having our best luck walleye fishing when trolling crankbaits at night, Rick and I decided that today we would hang out around the cabin and concentrate our fishing efforts near sunset.

We left the dock around 6:30 p.m. and immediately started catching fish. With the sun sinking lower in the sky, the perch and pike were both biting. I caught numerous perch and a couple of medium-sized pike. Likewise, Rick caught several perch, including a "pygmy" perch that topped out at just barely 4". The perch was the same size as the Minnow Rap with which Rick was trolling.

At just after 8:00 p.m. a steady rain began to fall, and that's when the walleye turned on. Rick caught a small 'eye of about 12", and others at 17", 19" and 22". I caught a personal one-day best 10 walleye: four approximately 12", then six others at 16", 16 1/2", 17", 20", 21" and 22". As usual for us, all fish were released. In fact, if I don't mention that a fish was kept, you can rest assured that it was released unharmed.

Here's a photo of Rick (in yellow) and me (in green), each with a walleye taken this night.

May 28, 2008

We worked on the cabin deck most of the day (see May 26 entry for photos), so our fishing was limited to trolling in the evening. We left the dock at 9:00 p.m. to light winds from the south, air temperatures of 56 degrees, and water temps of 60 degrees.

Rick was using his bleeding copper Minnow Rap, while I stuck to my hot color, hot steel. I caught three walleyes, a 16", a 19" and a 23 1/2". After catching a couple of small walleyes on the bleeding copper color -- a 16" and a 16 1/2" -- Rick switched to a purpledescent colored Minnow Rap and caught a couple of larger walleyes -- 17" and 23". We were back on shore by 11:00 p.m. Another great night of walleye fishing on Leech Lake.

May 27, 2008

The winds today were out of NNW at 10-15 mph. The air temperature varied between 55-65 degrees throughout the day and the water temp was 56 degrees. It was a perfect day to drift for some walleye.

We worked on the cabin deck early in the day, so we didn't hit the water until nearly 2 p.m. It didn't long for us to get onto the fish at Second Duck Point. Using an 1/8 oz., Lindy Techni-Glo Fuzz-E-Grub in a silver flash color tipped with a 3" Gulp Alive! black leech, Rick caught and kept a beautiful 17" walleye.

A little over an hour later, we had switched to trolling crankbaits, and using a MR09 Rapala Minnow Rap in "bleeding copper," Rick caught another nice walleye, this one 16 1/2", and again, we kept it. Two nice 'eyes in the box which would become dinner in a day or two.

At 9:00 p.m. we went out again. The winds had died down to nearly calm, and the water temp had warmed slightly to 57 degrees. Trolling Minnow Raps (Rick using his bleeding copper color, while I opted for the hot steel) we had great success. In less than two hours Rick boated walleyes of 10", and two at 22". I caught three fish as well, a 10", a 16" and a 20". Since we already had a couple of walleye in the basket from earlier in the day, all six 'eyes were released. Heck, we're not meat hunters from the resorts.

Here I am lowering the boat into the water.

May 26, 2008

The weather today kept us on shore. It was roughly 55 degrees, winds 25+ mph from the NNW with rain off and on throughout the day. The bay was churning with whitecaps. Since we couldn't go fishing, Rick decided he'd rip out the old deck at the cabin and replace the rotted boards. Over the next few days, Rick would wake up early and work on the deck. Here are a few photos from the restoration project. Thank Rick, the deck looks great!!

Later in the evening, around 9:30 p.m., we did try casting crankbaits off of the dock, but had no success. Several years ago, my son Joe and I did the same thing, and caught numerous large walleye right off the dock. But with the late spring this year, the fish were probably still spawning and not in the mood to eat.

May 25, 2008

Since it was day three of Rick's visit to Leech Lake, we decided to go fishing three different times during the day.

We started at 1 p.m. and were met with light winds at 10 mph out of the south. The water temperature was 58 degrees. Our first stop was "Bass Bay, " a nickname for a cove near Third Duck Point on Sucker Bay. At this time of year the vegetation in Bass Bay is more fully developed than other parts of Sucker Bay since it is relatively shallow, about 3-5 feet, and on the north end of Sucker Bay, thus getting more sunlight throughout the day than other parts of the Bay. With warmer water and plenty of emerging weeds, bass, pike, bowfin, sunfish, bluegills, and crappie all migrate to the area to spawn and feed.

As the name Bass Bay suggests, Rick and I were targeting largemouth bass. We were casting Parakeet- and sunfish-colored Northland Reed-Runner spinner baits as close to the shoreline as we could, then reeling them back through the weeds. Rick caught 3 medium-sized largemouths and I caught two, along with a 28-inch northern pike.

Later in the day, around 3:30 p.m., we moved to Second Duck Point for some walleye fishing. I was using a 3/16 oz. Bass Pro Shops XPS Walleye jig in a lime/black hologram color tipped with a 5-inch Gulp Alive! black leech. I caught a very healthy 15 1/2" walleye, which I returned to the lake.

It was at that time that Rick and I decided on our own slot limit. You see, on Leech Lake, all walleyes between 18-26 inches must immediately be returned to the lake. You may keep four walleyes per day, only one of which can be bigger than 26". Many people, especially those who stay at the resorts, will keep a 14- 15- or 16-inch walleye. We decided that for us to keep it, the walleye had to be between 16 1/2" and 17 1/2". Not a big slot limit, to be sure, but a sporting one no doubt.

We went fishing for the third time between 8:30 and 10:30 p.m. Our target was walleye, and our method of fishing was trolling crankbaits. The wind had picked up some to 15-20 mph out of the southwest creating a good chop on Sucker Bay. Under a quarter moon, Rick caught two small pike and two small walleyes --10" and 12". I caught a 24" pike, but no walleye.

After coming home that night, we heard on the news that there had been a water spout on another part of the lake that afternoon. It was in the vicinity of Battle Point and Sugar Point on the southeast end of Portage Bay. Here's some footage of that bizarre weather event.

2008 Open Water Season in Review, intro

I'm back in California after spending a spectacular six months at Leech Lake. I know the purpose of this blog it to provide real-time reports on fishing news from Leech Lake, but I was too busy on the lake fishing to take the time to sit in front of a computer and enter my day-to-day fishing experiences.

Luckily, I kept a written log of my time on the water -- including air temperature, water temperature, wind speed, and of course fish caught and lures used.

During the next several weeks/months, I will be posting a review of my 2008 open-water fishing experiences on Leech Lake.

Stay tuned.

May 24, 2008

We planned to feast on fresh walleye for dinner on Saturday night, May 24, so Rick and I limited our fishing to the afternoon. The stats:

Time: 1:00-3:30 p.m., CDT
Location/method: Trolling @ Ottertail Peninsula Point (very rough water), Duck Point and Second Duck Point; drifting with jigs and Gulp Alive leeches and minnows at "The Birches."
Winds: South, 10-15 mph, gusting to 25 mph
Water Temp.: 54 degrees

No fish caught. We did enjoy a tasty walleye dinner from the two fish I caught the previous evening. I cleaned the fish just an hour before cooking them for dinner. That's fresh fish!!

After dinner, Kathleen, Rick and I enjoyed a roaring fire in the fire pit at the cabin.

May 23, 2008

Rick and I went trolling on Sucker Bay on Friday, May 23. Our target fish, as always, was the walleye. Here are the vital stats:

Time: 8:15-10:45 p.m., CDT
Location: Second Duck Point to the Malays
Winds: calm
Water Temp.: 54 degrees
Sunset: 8:57 p.m.
Moon: 88% waning
Lure: Rapala Minnow Raps (Rick: Bleeding Copper Flash; SJ: Hot Steel)

Rick caught 3 walleye; 10", 15", 21" (all went back into the lake)
SJ caught 2 walleye; 16", 16 1/4" (both were kept, and made an excellent dinner the following night)

Summer of 2008, Arrival

On May 22, Kathleen and I left San Jose for an extended stay at our cabin on Leech Lake. Our flight left San Jose an hour late due to mechanical problems and we just barely made our connection in Minneapolis for Bemidji.

On the flight to Bemidji we met up with our friend Rick from Australia, (see the Feb. 20, 2005 post for a picture of Rick with a 50 1/2-inch Leech Lake muskie) who was going to stay with us at the lake for 10 days.

Rick and I launched the boat on morning of Friday, May 23 and instantly discovered a malfunction with the toggle switch on the ShoreMaster boat lift. We were able to use the hand-powered crank to raise and lower the boat until a replacement switch could be delivered by Shore Brothers on Saturday.

We also encountered some trouble with the Lowrance LCX-28C HD recording sonar/GPS+WAAS unit. After many discussions with the good folks at Corner Sports in Bemidji, we figured out it was simply a loose connection between the unit and the fuse panel. With the wire firmly connected, the unit was back in business providing our location and showing us if we were on the fish or not.

What follows is a series of fishing reports from my stay at one of Minnesota's premier fishing lakes, and my home waters, Leech Lake.

Last Ice Report of 2008

As reported here in an earlier post, my fishing expedition to Leech Lake in February did not produce many fish. I caught a few perch, enough for a meal, but not nearly the hot-and-heavy action of years past. My less-than-stellar experience just may have been a matter of timing. The usual pattern for fast-paced perch and walleye action is little- or no-snow cover, and warming weather. Sometimes that occurs in late-February, but this year it didn't happen until early-April.

The report from my fishing buddy John Newman is that the perch fishing was fantastic this past weekend. Above is a picture of a sink full of nice jumbo perch, taken by John in his fish cleaning house on the shores of Sucker Bay.

During his weekend of late-season fishing, John also had TWO run-ins with a big muskie -- both times resulting in a snapped line before the fish could be hauled out through the hole in the ice. He also caught a few nice walleyes, which went right back into the water because the walleye season is closed in Minnesota and doesn't open again until May 9.

There's nothing like a great jumbo perch bite late in the season when you can set up camp outside, on the ice, under sunny, warm skies.

Until open water...

2008 Walleye Opener -- May 9

Minnesota's walleye opener is just over a month away. Officially, we can start fishing for marble-eyes beginning May 9. Here's the link for the Governor's Fishing Opener, to be held this year at Pequot Lakes and Breezy Point.

Live vs. Artificial

The Minneapolis Star Tribune recently ran an article about the expected shortage of shiners in Minnesota to be used as bait for walleye. That got me thinking. I had great success last fall fishing for walleyes using shiners as bait. Every day I fished Leech Lake during the 2007 MEA week I caught at least 5 walleyes. All fish were caught using lime green or chartreuse 1/8-ounce or 1/4-ounce jigs tipped with lively 4-inch+ shiners.

But with shiners expected to be in short supply this year, I decided to conduct a little experiment. This coming season, I will fish exclusively with artificial bait. In the pictures above, the image on top is of a real emerald shiner. The image on the bottom is a Berkley Gulp! Alive! 4-inch minnow in emerald shiner color. This May when I launch my boat and begin my open-water hunt for walleye, I will no longer use real shiners, rather I will fish only with artificial shiners and leeches.

Another part of my usual approach for walleye is using 4-inch Northland Slurpie Swim'n Grubs in either firetiger or Super-Glo ladybug colors on Neon-Tone Gumball jigs. I also will continue to use this very productive method for catching walleyes this season.

Another artificial bait with which I have had great success for walleye is the Northland Mimic Minnow Spin, particularly in the gold shiner color. Hmmm, the Star Tribune says that real golden shiners are going to be in short supply and I've already had great success using artificial gold shiners. Why use the real thing when an artificial will do?

Plus, artificial baits have several advantages. First, they never die. Anyone who has ever shelled out $5 plus for a good scoop of shiners only to find every last one of them floating belly up in the bucket the next morning knows how frustrating live bait can be.

Second, live shiners, or fatheads for that matter, often come off the jig when casting. I've often had my jig go in one direction while my bait sails off in another direction. With Slurpies or Mimic Minnows this never occurs.

Third, you can catch several fish on a single Slurpie or Mimic Minnow before having to replace the bait. With real shiners, I have found that if I don't put a new shiner on after every walleye I catch, my chances of catching another fish goes way down. That's if the fish didn't eat the shiner completely. I've not yet fished with the Gulp! Alive! minnow, but from what I've read, I'm expecting to be able to catch multiple fish with one bait. I know for sure I can catch multiple fish on Slurpies and Mimmic Minnows.

Of course, all of this is nothing but theory at this point. I won't know for sure until I hit Leech Lake in May if artificial shiners and leeches will perform as good as, or better than, live bait. I'll have a detailed report right here at that time, so stay tuned.

Cold, cold, cold

My recent President's Day visit to Leech Lake can be captured in one word -- COLD. As you can see from the photo, the temps were often 25 degrees below zero or colder!

Unfortunately, the fishing was about as cold as the weather. Reports from my neighbors for most of the hard-water season had been about the same -- slow, a few jumbo perch every few days, the occasional 3-4 lbs. northern pike, every so often (mostly at dusk) a slot-limit walleye and even one eelpout. My experience was the same. I caught dozens of 5-8" perch and several small northern pike, but no jumbos and not one walleye. I did see a small "eyeball" swim by while peering down a hole in the ice, but couldn't hook a single one. My neighbors Tom and John didn't have much better luck. John did take a ride over to the "government cabin" area of Sucker Bay where he picked up a couple of nice jumbos. But in our usual spots, the fishing was very slow.

That's not to say we didn't have some excitement on the lake. On Tuesday, Tom, Ron Neustrand and I were out fishing in Tom's fish house. It was a slow fishing day, but we thought if we stayed out until dark we might nab a walleye or two. Darkness descended on Sucker Bay and we still couldn't catch a walleye so we decided to drive back to shore. Tom and Ron had both driven their trucks out to the fish house so we planned to caravan back to land. During our hours in the fish house, the wind had been blowing very hard; upwards of 25-30 mph. The wind, coupled with the recent snow fall made for some very big drifts. The wind also brought the temperature -- which was hovering around 20 below zero -- to wind chills of around 45 below zero. Packing up the trucks and securing the fish house for the night was a cold affair indeed. But it wasn't until Tom got his truck stuck in a snow drift that we really learned how cold it was out on the frozen lake that night.

Both Ron and I tried to shovel the snow out from Tom's truck, while Tom intermittently tried rocking the truck forward and back in four-wheel drive trying to break free from the snow drift. When we were unsuccessful at digging Tom's truck free, we decided to use a strap attached to Ron's truck to pull Tom's truck out of the drift. But as Ron backed his truck closer to Tom's truck so we could attach the strap, Ron's truck also got stuck in the drift. At this point we were all nearly frozen and had to take a break in the trucks to warm our frozen hands, feet and faces. After digging the snow away from Ron's truck, Ron put the vehicle in four-wheel drive low, and then Tom and I began pushing. At last we got Ron's truck free. We then repositioned Ron's truck on the side of the drift and just close enough to Tom's truck to attach the towing strap.

By this time nearly an hour had elapsed and not only were the three of us nearly frozen solid, but our wives on shore had become very concerned. They could see the truck lights out on the ice, but couldn't figure out what we were doing. I used Ron's cell phone to call Kathleen to let her know we were stuck, but that we were working on the problem ourselves and there was no need to call for back up, yet.

With frozen fingers crossed, Ron put his truck and drive and hit the gas. Tom was in his truck and began gunning his engine as well. With both trucks in four-wheel drive low, and strapped together, we finally got Tom's truck free from the drift.

I don't think any of us realized just how cold we were until we got inside our respective houses. Sixty-eight degrees inside was more than a 100 degree difference from the weather we were just battling outside. That's quite a delta. I think my face, back and hands were cold for an hour before I finally began to warm up.

When I wasn't out on the ice fishing, I was usually inside enjoying the company of my beautiful wife Kathleen. We made food together, enjoyed watching a little TV and had our best times near the warmth of the fireplace. Yes, it was cold during my recent visit to Leech Lake, but I wouldn't trade a minute of it for all of the 70-degree days here in California.