Kathleen and I left the hotel around 10:30 a.m. and went to the MSP airport to pick up Joe and our two dogs, Marco and Elsa.
After meeting Joe in the baggage claim area, we waited around for the dogs to be taken off the plane. This was the first time Marco and Elsa had flown in a plane so before leaving San Jose, Joe gave them each a pill to relax them. When the dogs arrived in their kennels, Marco was very lethargic and sluggish, but Elsa was as full of energy and as ready to play as ever. She probably could have taken three of those pills and still felt no effect.
We got Joe, the dogs and the kennels loaded into the truck and with all haste left Minneapolis for Leech Lake. We did make a quick stop in Grand Rapids to buy groceries, but were once again on our way back to the lake.
We arrived at the house around 6:30 p.m., unloaded the truck, got a bite to eat, and then Joe and I went out fishing.
We left the boat lift at 7:45 p.m. The air temperature, which had been a high of 82 degrees during the day, had cooled only slightly to the mid- to high-70s. The wind was light at about 5-7 mph out of the SSW. The water temperature was 73 degrees and the moon was at 3% waning (almost a new moon).
We decided to troll, as usual, from Second Duck Point to just past the Malays in 8-12' of water, at a speed of 570 rpm on the Mercury Smart Craft. Using a purpledescent-colored Rapala Minnow Rap, Joe caught 3 decent sized pike and one perch. I used my usual hot steel colored Minnow Rap and caught a very big 30" plus pike (my Lakeborne Tackle "Judge" tournament ruler only goes to 30 inches and this esox lucius was longer than the ruler).
Welcome to the lake Joe!
Sunday, February 22, 2009
June 30, 2008, Part 2
Around 3 p.m. this afternoon, Kathleen and I left Leech Lake for the 5-hour drive to Minneapolis. We making the trek to pick up our son Joe and our two dogs, Marco and Elsa, who would be flying in from San Jose the following morning.
We took a leisurely drive on Hwy. 2 East to Floodwood, then headed South on Rte. 73. Along the way we saw a beautiful orange-yellow flower blooming all along the roadside. We stopped and examined the flower, although to this day Kathleen and I don't completely agree on what it was. She swears it was a member of the aster family, and I agree, suggesting it was the orange hawkweed, which is a member of the aster family. Kathleen is not convinced this is the flower we saw. Either way, the picture is below.
In Moose Lake we connected with Hwy. 35 and headed South to the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport. Once in Minneapolis we took a hotel room near the airport, and then made a brief visit to the Mall of America so Kathleen could go to a book store. We then went back to our room, ordered Chinese food delivered in, and just hung out.
Tomorrow we'll pick up Joe and the dogs and head straight back to Leech Lake. Even one night away from the lake makes us homesick.
Saturday, February 07, 2009
June 30, 2008
Finally the winds have died down!
I woke up this morning to relatively light winds of 5-8 mph out of the SSW and a temperature of 74 degrees. An absolutely beautiful day. After breakfast, I packed up a few things for our trip to Minneapolis, we'll leave this afternoon, and then headed out onto the water around 11:00 a.m.
I decided to do some drifting along Second Duck Point. My lure choice today was a Northland Mimic Minnow silver shiner jig head with a golden shiner body. I caught numerous perch, including a couple of nice jumbos, and a very solid 25" northern pike. All fish were caught in 8-12 feet of water, and all were released.
I stayed on the water only a short time, and by 1:00 p.m. was on shore loading up the truck for our trip to Minneapolis. Kathleen and I have been here at our Leech Lake house and cabin for just over a month now all by ourselves. It has been wonderful.
Tomorrow our son Joe and our two dogs arrive, and in a few weeks, our daughter Melissa and our granddaughter Ashley will join us as well. We figure that until sometime in September, maybe even October, it won't be just the two of us again. And that's fine with us. We love our family and look forward to having them here with us at our paradise on Leech Lake.
I woke up this morning to relatively light winds of 5-8 mph out of the SSW and a temperature of 74 degrees. An absolutely beautiful day. After breakfast, I packed up a few things for our trip to Minneapolis, we'll leave this afternoon, and then headed out onto the water around 11:00 a.m.
I decided to do some drifting along Second Duck Point. My lure choice today was a Northland Mimic Minnow silver shiner jig head with a golden shiner body. I caught numerous perch, including a couple of nice jumbos, and a very solid 25" northern pike. All fish were caught in 8-12 feet of water, and all were released.
I stayed on the water only a short time, and by 1:00 p.m. was on shore loading up the truck for our trip to Minneapolis. Kathleen and I have been here at our Leech Lake house and cabin for just over a month now all by ourselves. It has been wonderful.
Tomorrow our son Joe and our two dogs arrive, and in a few weeks, our daughter Melissa and our granddaughter Ashley will join us as well. We figure that until sometime in September, maybe even October, it won't be just the two of us again. And that's fine with us. We love our family and look forward to having them here with us at our paradise on Leech Lake.
June 29, 2008
Today is the third straight day of heavy winds and severe thunderstorm warnings. The temperature has gone back up to 70 degrees, but the winds are the strongest they've been in days at 27+mph out of the NW.
I was sitting in the living room looking out at the white caps covering the lake when I saw a particularly large wave lift the stairs on our dock up and out of the water. I watched as wave after wave, after that big one, pounded our dock's stairs until at last the stairs were completely ripped off from the dock! Wow, I've never seen the lake this angry before.
The strong winds and thunderstorms kept up all day. Once again, no fishing. That's four days in a row. And tomorrow, Kathleen and I are driving down to Minneapolis. Our son Joe and our two dogs -- Marco and Elsa -- are flying from San Jose to Minnesota on July 1. If I'm going to get any fishing in it'll have to be in the morning.
I was sitting in the living room looking out at the white caps covering the lake when I saw a particularly large wave lift the stairs on our dock up and out of the water. I watched as wave after wave, after that big one, pounded our dock's stairs until at last the stairs were completely ripped off from the dock! Wow, I've never seen the lake this angry before.
The strong winds and thunderstorms kept up all day. Once again, no fishing. That's four days in a row. And tomorrow, Kathleen and I are driving down to Minneapolis. Our son Joe and our two dogs -- Marco and Elsa -- are flying from San Jose to Minnesota on July 1. If I'm going to get any fishing in it'll have to be in the morning.
June 28, 2008
The thunderstorms continued through the night and we woke up today to more crazy Minnesota weather.
The temperature plummeted to 60 degrees, down around 12 degrees from yesterday. The winds are blowing stronger today than yesterday, at 20+ mph, and straight out of the NW, thus the colder temps.
Despite the winds and the on-again, off-again rain, I set up our new Mosquito Magnet. We had purchased the Liberty Plus model of the Mosquito Magnet online about a week or so ago, and it arrived today. The mosquitos have been very thick this summer due to the high amount of rain we had in May and June.
Our neighbors, the Malays, have a Mosquito Magnet and swear by it, so we thought we'd give it a try. I did get it set up, and everything seems to be working OK. I hope it catches millions of mosquitos. Those little suckers are really annoying.
No fishing again today. I'm really starting to miss being out on the water. Maybe tomorrow.
The temperature plummeted to 60 degrees, down around 12 degrees from yesterday. The winds are blowing stronger today than yesterday, at 20+ mph, and straight out of the NW, thus the colder temps.
Despite the winds and the on-again, off-again rain, I set up our new Mosquito Magnet. We had purchased the Liberty Plus model of the Mosquito Magnet online about a week or so ago, and it arrived today. The mosquitos have been very thick this summer due to the high amount of rain we had in May and June.
Our neighbors, the Malays, have a Mosquito Magnet and swear by it, so we thought we'd give it a try. I did get it set up, and everything seems to be working OK. I hope it catches millions of mosquitos. Those little suckers are really annoying.
No fishing again today. I'm really starting to miss being out on the water. Maybe tomorrow.
June 27, 2008
We woke up this morning to very ominous skies, dark clouds, winds out of the WSW at 15 mph, gusting to more than 20 mph, and temperatures of 72 degrees. The lake was churning with white caps and was an eerie color green. The National Weather Service issued severe thunderstorm warnings for our area and they were right!
We had a good amount of rain on and off during the day, with a couple of good old-fashioned Midwest thunderstorms. throughout the day and night.
During a lull in the storms I went over to the cabin and out to the boat lift thinking I might try to get in a quick bit of fishing. Unfortunately, the storms blew out the circuit breaker to the electricity running out to the boat lift, so the electric-motor powered boat lift would not work. I wasn't about to resort to hand-cranking the boat up out of the water should I get caught on the lake when the storm kicked up, so I decide to stay on shore.
I called Todavich Electric and scheduled a time for them to come out and replace the circuit breaker and GFI outlet near the shoreline.
Unfortunately, no fishing today.
We had a good amount of rain on and off during the day, with a couple of good old-fashioned Midwest thunderstorms. throughout the day and night.
During a lull in the storms I went over to the cabin and out to the boat lift thinking I might try to get in a quick bit of fishing. Unfortunately, the storms blew out the circuit breaker to the electricity running out to the boat lift, so the electric-motor powered boat lift would not work. I wasn't about to resort to hand-cranking the boat up out of the water should I get caught on the lake when the storm kicked up, so I decide to stay on shore.
I called Todavich Electric and scheduled a time for them to come out and replace the circuit breaker and GFI outlet near the shoreline.
Unfortunately, no fishing today.
June 26, 2008, Our 27th Wedding Anniversary
It's hard to believe, but it's been 27 years that Kathleen and I have been married.
Today was a beautiful sunny day with the temperature around 72 degrees. The winds were out of the SSW at about 8 mph. Kathleen and I decided that today we would take a drive to the Itasca State Park, which is the oldest state park in Minnesota, and the headwaters of the Mississippi River. It also happens to be one of the places that Kathleen and I stayed right after our wedding. We thought it fitting to return on our anniversary. Plus, we actually had another reason to visit Itasca, to check out the park facilities and cabins we were going to be using in August when we all gather at the park for the Coyle Family Reunion.
We drove from our place on Hwy. 2 through Cass Lake toward Bemidji and then went south on Hwy. 71. We made our way to Itasca and arrived right around lunch time. We decided to have lunch in the historic Douglas Lodge, located on the shores of Lake Itasca. After ordering our lunch -- I had their famous buffalo burger -- we met with the event planner at the park to discuss arrangements for the Coyle reunion. We discussed a variety of issues with the guy, but then our lunch arrived and we decided to pick up the conversation after Kathleen and I ate.
After completing our wonderful lunch we again met with the event planner, scouted out dining areas and our cabins. With our business finished, we took a leisurely drive back to Bemidji, picked up some groceries and other supplies, then drove back to Leech Lake.
We had a wonderful dinner of salmon, risotto, and asparagus. After dinner Kathleen and I went out onto the dock to watch another spectacular Leech Lake sunset. We had a fantastic time together on our 27th anniversary.
Oh, by the way, no fishing today.
Today was a beautiful sunny day with the temperature around 72 degrees. The winds were out of the SSW at about 8 mph. Kathleen and I decided that today we would take a drive to the Itasca State Park, which is the oldest state park in Minnesota, and the headwaters of the Mississippi River. It also happens to be one of the places that Kathleen and I stayed right after our wedding. We thought it fitting to return on our anniversary. Plus, we actually had another reason to visit Itasca, to check out the park facilities and cabins we were going to be using in August when we all gather at the park for the Coyle Family Reunion.
We drove from our place on Hwy. 2 through Cass Lake toward Bemidji and then went south on Hwy. 71. We made our way to Itasca and arrived right around lunch time. We decided to have lunch in the historic Douglas Lodge, located on the shores of Lake Itasca. After ordering our lunch -- I had their famous buffalo burger -- we met with the event planner at the park to discuss arrangements for the Coyle reunion. We discussed a variety of issues with the guy, but then our lunch arrived and we decided to pick up the conversation after Kathleen and I ate.
After completing our wonderful lunch we again met with the event planner, scouted out dining areas and our cabins. With our business finished, we took a leisurely drive back to Bemidji, picked up some groceries and other supplies, then drove back to Leech Lake.
We had a wonderful dinner of salmon, risotto, and asparagus. After dinner Kathleen and I went out onto the dock to watch another spectacular Leech Lake sunset. We had a fantastic time together on our 27th anniversary.
Oh, by the way, no fishing today.
June 25, 2008
Today I switched back to my strategy of fishing right at sunset and after dark, so I hit the water at 8:30 p.m. My preferred method of fishing at this time of day is trolling, so as usual, I used a Rapala Minnow Rap, although tonight I used the "purpledescent" color.
Since the fishing has been very good right out in front of our house and cabin -- to the north to the Malays and to the south between Second Duck Point and Duck point -- I confined my fishing there. I trolled in around 9-feet of water at a speed of around 1.5 to 2.0 mph. This type of speed control is very easy using the SmartCraft feature on my Mercury Verado motor.
The temperature tonight hovered right around 70 degrees, and the water temp was a little warmer at 71.2 degrees. The winds this evening were out of the SW at 3-5 mph.
I caught one small northern pike just before sunset -- which is typical. I find that the northern bite just before the sun sets and the walleye bite picks up just after sunset. And that's exactly what happened. About 30 minutes after sunset I hooked my first walleye, a nice strong 14-incher. Many people would keep such a fish, especially those who stay at the resort, but I released it. A little while later I hooked a very stout 24-inch walleye. What a beautiful fish. Of course being 24" meant it was in the slot and by MN DNR law had to be released on Leech Lake.
I motored into shore just before 11 p.m. after yet another fantastic night on the lake.
Since the fishing has been very good right out in front of our house and cabin -- to the north to the Malays and to the south between Second Duck Point and Duck point -- I confined my fishing there. I trolled in around 9-feet of water at a speed of around 1.5 to 2.0 mph. This type of speed control is very easy using the SmartCraft feature on my Mercury Verado motor.
The temperature tonight hovered right around 70 degrees, and the water temp was a little warmer at 71.2 degrees. The winds this evening were out of the SW at 3-5 mph.
I caught one small northern pike just before sunset -- which is typical. I find that the northern bite just before the sun sets and the walleye bite picks up just after sunset. And that's exactly what happened. About 30 minutes after sunset I hooked my first walleye, a nice strong 14-incher. Many people would keep such a fish, especially those who stay at the resort, but I released it. A little while later I hooked a very stout 24-inch walleye. What a beautiful fish. Of course being 24" meant it was in the slot and by MN DNR law had to be released on Leech Lake.
I motored into shore just before 11 p.m. after yet another fantastic night on the lake.
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