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.