August 20, 2008 on Leech Lake

With Kathleen's mother and sister visiting us (me, Kathleen and Joe), if we were going to have a fish fry I needed to catch a few more fish. So I hit the water's of Leech Lake today at 2:00 p.m. with the goal of catching several jumbo perch or a couple of eater-sized walleyes.

The weather today was almost identical to yesterday -- a temperature of 85 degrees, winds varying from calm to 8-10 mph out of the NW, mostly sunny skies and a water temperature of 77 degrees.

With the weather identical to yesterday, and since yesterday was one of the best days I've had on Leech Lake fishing for panfish, I decided to employ the same tactics in the same location. And once again it paid off.

I started fishing in 12" of water in front of Schiebe's cabin and drifted SE along the weed line toward our cabin. I used the same 1/16 oz. yellow Northland Neon-tone Gum-Ball jig tipped with a variety of 2" lime-green Gulp grubs, 2 1/2" Gulp minnows in smelt or shiner color, and 3" Gulp Alive! minnows in an emerald shiner color.

I caught dozens upon dozens of perch, including numerous jumbos, lots of pound-plus sized crappies and a few big bluegill. I kept only what I needed for a nice dinner for five -- 3 jumbo perch. Along with the two jumbos and the walleye from yesterday, I had just enough for a fish fry.

At 4:45 p.m., with my mission accomplished, I headed for shore. One small note: upon reviewing the size of the 5 perch in my basket, I decided to let one of them go. The four jumbo perch and 16 1/2" walleye would be more than enough food for the five of us. No sense wasting fish.

Here's an example of the jumbo perch I was catching.