June 10, 2009 -- At Leech Lake

The female common goldeneye

The sky is filled with large billowy clouds with little patches of blue peeking through here and there. The wind is 8-12 mph out of the west and the temperature at 11:30 a.m. is 56 degrees.

This morning as I sat in the living room enjoying my coffee, I spotted a female common goldeneye swimming just outside our harbor surrounded by 6 little ducklings no bigger than my fist. As they swam, they would dunk their heads below the surface of the water looking for something to eat. They paddled north along the shoreline before disappearing out of sight.

At 12:35 p.m. Rick and I left the boat lift to do some afternoon fishing. We started in 8 feet of water off Second Duck Point using jigs and shiners. We caught a couple of perch, but the action was slow. About a quarter past 1:00 p.m., I took us north on Sucker Bay to "The Hole."

Again we used jigs and shiners in 13-15 feet of water. The water temperature was 59 degrees. During the next 2 1/2 hours I caught dozens of perch, including a couple of good sized fish, and three walleye measuring 15", 14" and 15". The second 15" fish was already showing some girth. Next year that will be a perfect eating fish. Rick had tougher luck, but still managed to catch a number of perch.

At about 5:30 p.m. Tom Malay stopped by with my ATV. Tom was in Bemidji and while driving by Bemidji Sports he decided to stop in to see if my 4-wheeler was ready (it had been in for service). It was indeed ready, so Tom brought it home with him.

Tom told me and Rick that he had heard from Frank at Birch Ridge Resort that someone caught a 28 1/2" walleye the other day. That's a nice fish, but both Rick and I are targeting the elusive 30" walleye. So far, it's proven to be very elusive since neither one of us has caught a fish of that size.

Rick and I hit the water tonight at 9:05 p.m. The wind was out of the north at 8-12 mph, but as the night wore on the wind died down completely. By 11:30 p.m when we called it quits, the lake was calm.

We started trolling Minnow Raps in 8-11 feet of water. Throughout the night I caught 3 northern pike and walleyes measuring 15", 18 1/2" and 15".

Allow me a slight digression here. Remember the old "Peanuts" comic strip with Charlie Brown? Well, on Halloween Charlie Brown and the other kids from his neighborhood -- Linus, Lucy, Schroeder, Violet, etc. -- would go trick or treating. The unfortunate joke on hapless Charlie Brown was that while the other kids all got candy and treats, he got nothing but rocks.

In fishing, the rock bass is the equivalent of Charlie Brown's trick or treat rocks. This evening, I had the unfortunate luck of catching three "Charlie Browns," or "Chucks," i.e., rock bass. One I managed to hook in the top of the head.

Rick, on the other hand, got a bag full of candy. That is, Rick caught six beautiful walleyes measuring 15" (2), 17 1/2", 18", 20 1/2" and a very hefty 24".

There were some clouds in the sky this evening, but it turned out to be a mostly clear night with millions of stars visible from the lake. It was yet another beautiful night of fishing on Leech Lake.