June 24, 2008

Today was even warmer than yesterday. Temps hit 82 degrees and the humidity was still very high.

I hit the water around 1 p.m. and started at Second Duck Point using the same rig with which I caught a 16" walleye yesterday -- an 1/8 ounce Bass Pro Shops XPS Walleye Angler jig but in lime/black hologram color, rather than the lime/green color I used yesterday. Today, rather than using a Gulp Alive! 3" black leech, I tipped my jig with a live night crawler. Using this set up I caught several nice jumbo perch and a 14" walleye. I released all of the fish I caught.

After an hour and a half of fishing this way, I put away my spinning rod and reel and switched to my baitcaster which I use for trolling. Today I used a Rapala Minnow Rap, no surprise there, but rather than my favorite hot steel color, or the bleeding shiner I used yesterday, I tied on a perch colored Minnow Rap. I trolled from Second Duck Point to the "Birches" in 8-10" of water and caught numerous perch, 3 decent-sized northern pike and a 12" walleye. After numerous passes along this path I changed up tactics yet again.

I decided to head down to Norm's house -- in the reeds and grass in about 4-6" of water -- and tossed a white/chartreuse spinner bait with two gold colored willow blades. Using this rig I caught a fat 16" largemouth bass and a 24" pike.

At roughly 6:00 p.m. I headed home, in front of an approaching rain storm, and relished my very successful day of multi-species fishing on Leech Lake.

June 23, 2008

Today, rather than fishing in the evening and after sunset, I decided to fish from noon to 5:00 p.m. The winds were calm and the sky was bright and sunny. Temps in the high 70s and it was very humid. A classic, thick-aired hot summer Minnesota day.

I started in Bass Bay where the water temperature was 72 degrees. I was throwing a spinner bait as I made my way from the "harbor" around to Paulsen's house. It was great time, but I only put one small largemouth bass in the boat.

Switching tactics and locations, I moved to Second Duck Point and tied on an 1/8 ounce Bass Pro Shops XPS Walleye Angler jig in lime/green hologram color tipped with a 3" Gulp Alive! black leech. I drifted in the slow current from the south to the north along the point, and hooked a nice 16" walleye. After making another pass with no fish, I switched tactics yet again.

This time I went to my tried-and-true method of trolling with a Rapala Minnow Rap. Although this time I went with a "bleeding shiner" color rather than my typical favorite, hot steel. Out in front of our house in roughly 9' of water I caught a very healthy 20" walleye. I admired its golden color before releasing it back into the lake.

Another great day on Leech Lake.

June 22, 2008

Tonight I started fishing at 8:30 p.m., with the sun still in the sky. Sunset wasn't until 9:18 p.m. with the moon waning at 85%. The air temperature had dropped to a relatively cool 60 degrees, while the water temperature stayed a warm 70 degrees.

I made my usual trolling run from just south of Second Duck Point to just past the Malays cabin. I made several runs through this prime spot in about 8-10 feet of water. I used my favorite lure -- a Rapala Minnow Rap in hot steel. I caught one northern pike pushing 30", another pike just over 20", two nice 16" walleyes and a 22" walleye. I decided to release all fish back into the lake.

I really enjoyed a quiet and beautiful night out on Leech Lake. I watched the sun set, caught a few fish, and around 11:00 p.m. made my way back to shore.

I love fishing on Leech Lake.

Remembering the Summer of '08

I've been making my way through the journal I kept this past summer by posting here my experiences during my six-month stay at Leech Lake. While I'm remembering the summer of '08 it is actually the winter of '09 as I make these posts. Since it's winter, I thought I'd post a picture of our Leech Lake house during a winter snow storm a few years back.

June 21, 2008 "First Day of Summer"

Another very windy day today, with winds 20-25 mph from the west once again covering the lake with white caps and very large swells. The temperature was 77 degrees, making it a very warm first day of summer. But with the strong winds pushing large waves up against the shore, I stayed off the water today. No fishing.

June 20, 2008, "Windy Mittens"

The temperature was 76 degrees today, one of the warmest days since we arrived at Leech Lake just about a month ago. It was, however, extremely windy -- winds at 20-25 mph out of the west, making the lake churn with white caps. I stayed on shore today and planted two small white spruce trees at the cabin (unfortunately, these two trees would not take and would be dead by late August).

June 19, 2008

We didn't leave St. Cloud until after 4 p.m. today, which meant by the time we got home to Leech Lake it was roughly 7 p.m.

Kathleen and I unloaded the truck, put away the groceries and then had a bite to eat.

Since the winds were calm and the temperature was a very comfortable 70 degrees, I decided to do a little evening trolling.

I hit the 69 degree water at 8:30 p.m. and trolled from Second Duck Point to the Malays several times. As usual, I was using a hot-steel colored Rapala Minnow Rap. With clouds of mosquitoes constantly buzzing around my head I patiently trolled back and forth with little success. I was able to hook one 25" northern pike before calling it quits after two hours of battling the swarms of very pesky mosquitoes.

June 16, 17 & 18, 2008

This morning Kathleen and I set out for St. Cloud to spend the next several days with Kathleen's mom. We spent Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and a good chunk of Thursday in St. Cloud. Obviously no fishing on Leech Lake these days.

June 15, 2008 -- Father's Day

The winds were strong today, 15+mph out of the WNW, churning up the water with large waves and whitecaps. The sky was overcast and grey, and the temperature was only 56 degrees.

After a morning cup of coffee and a light breakfast, Kathleen and I decided to go sit on the benches at the end of the dock (see picture below; not taken today obviously). It was exhilerating sitting there with the wind blowing straight into our faces.

At some point, Kathleen looked to our left -- south from our dock -- and asked what that was that had blown onto shore. I looked carefully and recognized it as the Giza's boat lift.

Let me back up for a moment. A few days earlier we had some very bad storms, complete with strong winds and hail (see June 11, 2008 post). The waves on the lake were so big that they lifted the Giza's boat up and off the boat lift and blew it onto the rocks on shore. As it turns out, one of the Giza's sons had come up for a visit that day and discovered the boat being bandied about on the rocks.

With my help, Giza's son was as to get the boat off the rocks and out into the very rough water. It was too difficult to get the boat back onto his boat lift, so we decided to pull the boat into my harbor and onto the empty boat lift there (my boat is on the lift at the cabin).

The next day, Marv Giza and his son took the boat off my harbor lift, and using the boat ramp at my cabin, took his boat out of the water to assess the damage. Their boat was severely damaged, suffering several holes punched into the hull. With the boat securely trailered, Marv took the boat home where he would contact Lund about how to handle repairs.

This meant Marv's boat was no longer on the Giza's boat lift. Any one with any experience with boats and boat lifts will tell you if you don't have the boat sitting on the lift for an extended period of time, you better remove the boat lift canopy. Why? Without the weight of the boat holding the lift in place any strong wind will lift the boat lift right out of the water and blow it where ever the winds take it.

In Marv's haste to get his boat home to repair the damages, it slipped his mind to remove the boat lift canopy and now the winds had blown it to the same exact place where his boat had washed to shore a few days earlier.

I got some extra heavy rope out of the garage and set about securing the Giza's boat lift to some trees on shore in an attempt to minimize any further damage to the lift. I then had the unfortunate task of calling Marv at home to tell him that in addition to his damaged boat he now had to contend with a damaged boat lift.

We discussed options about how to get his boat lift off the rocks and back in place next to his dock. I suggested Marv call Mark at Shore Brothers in Bemidji -- the outfit that puts in and takes out my boat lift and docks. Mark has a pontoon raft equiped with a fork lift that would enable him to get Marv's boat lift off the rocks and back in place. Marv did call Shore Brothers, and within a day or two, Mark had Marv's boat lift standing next to the dock -- minus the canopy this time.

Quite an eventful Father's Day.

Our dock and harbor, looking west.

June 14, 2008

We waited to go fishing until later in the day today. At 9:00 p.m., Kathleen and I went onto the lake with the temperature right around 60 degrees, the water temperature at 63 degrees, winds out of the southwest at 5 mph. There were flashes of lightening off in the distance and thunderstorms on the horizon. We thought we'd get in an hour or so of fishing before the storms would force us to retreat to shore.

We started trolling as soon as we left the boat lift headed toward Second Duck Point. I was using my old-stand by lure, the Rapala Minnow Rap in hot steel color, and Kathleen was using a Cotton Cordell Wally Diver lure in perch color. We trolled past Second Duck Point -- on our way toward Duck Point -- but turned around over the flats between the two points and trolled back to Second Duck Point toward the Malays.

During the return trip toward the Malays I hooked a nice 17" walleye out in front of the Giza's cabin. We kept this fish for a later dinner.

Then right in front of our house, Kathleen called out that she had hooked something. She doesn't fish all that much, and she has rarely gone trolling with me at night, so she was really excited at the fight that the fish was putting up. Kathleen finally reeled in a beautiful 22" walleye. I unhooked the golden 'eye and released it back into the lake in accordance with the Leech Lake slot limit regulations. It was the biggest fish Kathleen had ever caught.

By 10:15 p.m. the thunderstorms had moved in very close and we made a hasty retreat to the boat lift. We unloaded our gear, I put the 17" walleye in the fish basket attached to the end of the dock -- I figured I would clean it the following morning -- and we hustled back to the house just as the storm hit shore. The winds had picked up considerably and the rain pounded down.

What a great night on the water with Kathleen, and now a great night inside watching the lightening storm over the lake from the comfort and safety of our living room.

June 13, 2008

No fishing today.

June 12, 2008

Today I fished from 5:00 to 6:15 p.m. The temperature was 72 degrees and the water temperature was 64 degrees. Under partly cloudy skies, the wind was calm at the start of my trip and picked up only slightly to about 10 mph out of the south by the time I headed in.

I drifted around Second Duck Point using an 1/8 ounce Lindy Max-Gap jig in an emerald shiner color, tipped with a Northland Slurpie Swim'n Grub in a Super Glo Lady Bug color and a Berkely Power Bait grub. No fish this evening.

Prayer of Thanks

I've always heard that the Native American people in the Northwoods around Leech Lake -- the Objibwe -- would give thanks to the animals they ate following a hunt, or when fishing. When I selectively harvest fish from the lake, I say the following prayer of thanks before I kill and clean the fish:

Thank you Mother Earth
Thank you Spirit of the Lake
Thank you soul of the walleye
These fish will give their lives so we can have a healthy and delicious meal
Thank you.

I just thought I'd share my little ritual with you.