September 3, 2008 on Leech Lake

Today was 70 degrees, mostly sunny, with just enough wind to push the boat along at 0.5 mph. A perfect day for a Leech Lake panfishing expedition.

Along with Joe and my mother, we hit the water at 2:30 p.m. The water temperature matched the air temp at 70 degrees. The air and water are starting to cool. Autumn is just around the corner.

We all used similar rigs -- 1/16- or 1/8-oz. Northland Neon-tone Gum-Ball jigs tipped with 3" Gulp minnows in smelt color. We caught dozens of perch, crappie and bluegills, but kept only 4 jumbo perch. Together with the perch I caught a couple of days ago, these four are inching us closer to having enough fresh fish for a fish fry.

My mother was a trooper and stayed out on the water for 3 hours, but at 5:30 p.m. we headed to shore. Primarily because my father was beginning to worry that we had been out on the lake long enough! We'll try again tomorrow.


Three generations of Jursa's -- Ron, Joe and me (Steve) on the lake-front deck of our Leech Lake house.