August 19, 2008 on Leech Lake

I spent nearly five hours fishing today, although I love being on Leech Lake so much, that the time went so quickly that if you had asked me, I probably would have guessed I was fishing for no more than an hour and a half.

I left the cabin at 12:30 p.m. under mostly sunny skies, variable winds from near calm to 8-10 mph out of the NW, a temperature of 85 degrees or warmer and a water temperature of 77 degrees.

I again started my fishing in 12 feet of water in front of Schiebe's cabin and drifted SE toward our cabin along the weed line, a distance of roughly 3/4 of a mile.

Like yesterday, I used the 1/16 oz. yellow Northland Gum-Ball jig, tipped with either lime-green 2" Gulp grubs, 2 1/2" Gulp minnows in smelt or shiner color, or 3" Gulp Alive! minnows in the emerald shiner color.

I caught one nice eater-sized walleye (about 16 1/2 inches), more perch than I can count, upwards of 75, including several large jumbos, lots of bluegill, and a number of pound-plus slab crappies. The panfish bite has been outstanding for the past 7-10 days, but today was by far the best action of the lot. I decided to keep the walleye and two of the jumbo perch for a later fish fry.

I finally headed home at 5:00 p.m., even though I would have sworn it couldn't have been later than 2:30 p.m. Another fantastic day of fishing on Leech Lake.

Upon my arrival at the cabin, I found that Kathleen's mother and Kathleen's sister, Margaret, had arrived. I knew they were coming for visit, but figured they wouldn't arrive until later that evening. It was nice to see both of them again, and I promised them a fish dinner with the walleye and perch I caught today. Although I thought to myself that we'll need a few more jumbo perch or a nice walleye to ensure we have enough fish for all of us (I guess I'll have to fishing again tomorrow). Everyone loves a fresh fish fry when visiting Leech Lake.