June 12, 2009 -- At Leech Lake

At 10 a.m. today the sun was shining, but the sky was a bit hazy, the wind was out of the SW at 8-12 mph and the temperature was 62 degrees. I heard on the radio last night that the high temperature today was going to be 72 degrees. If that were the case, today would be the warmest it's been in more than two weeks. Maybe summer is finally arriving in the Northwoods.

Today is Rick's last full day at Leech Lake. Tomorrow I take him to the airport where he flies from Bemidji to Minneapolis to Washington D.C. After his conference ends in D.C., he's flying to Colorado to visit his sister before making the long trip home to Brisbane, Australia. I hope it's been a good visit/vacation for him.

After the pot of coffee was brewed the morning, I poured a cup and made my way out onto the dock to survey the lake. I was greeted by a flotilla of 24 fishing boats. Apparently the Wal-Mart FLW Walleye Tournament is being held on Leech Lake from June 10-13 and a number of the professional anglers decided that the stretch in front of my cabin is productive water (which of course it is).

I see that the leader of the tournament, a Chevy pro from Wisconsin, has a two-day weight of more than 34 lbs. for his 10 fish. That's not a bad weight at all for 10 fish. The tournament runs through Saturday afternoon, so I'm sure I'll have a number of boats in front of my house again tomorrow morning.

At 1:20 p.m. Rick and I took the boat out into 12-18 mph SW winds that created a decent chop on the lake. We started in 9-11 feet of water off Second Duck Point using jigs and shiners. Both Rick and I were using 1/4 oz. Bass Pro Shops XPS Walleye Angler Jig Heads in lime green and lime green/black tipped with spot-tail shiners (which we purchased at Froggy's Sports in Cass Lake and at Birch Ridge Resort on Leech Lake's Sucker Bay).

During the next two hours, and at least three different bouts with rain, we caught 8 small walleye between us ranging from 10" to 15", and numerous perch. All fish were released. With yet another storm front moving toward us, and this one showing some lightening and thunder, we headed to shore.

In about 30 minutes I'm going to go over to the cabin to clean the 17" walleye that's been in the basket for the past several days. I'm going to make pan-fried walleye for Rick's last dinner at Leech Lake during this visit.

As of 5:00 p.m., the wind has calmed somewhat to maybe 10 mph out of the SW and the temperature is 70 degrees. The water temperature was 62 degrees.

After our walleye dinner, Rick and I went out for one last troll for walleye before Rick leaves for Washington D.C. We got on the water around 8:45 p.m. and watched a beautiful sunset. The wind picked up during the next hour or so, and ended up at about 15 mph out of the SW. The water temperature had warmed just slightly to 62.5 degrees and the air temperature was 60 degrees.

In the north there was a very large thunderstorm system that kept us entertained all evening with spectacular lightening shows. There was a smaller thunderstorm system to the west that was also producing lightening. But directly overhead the sky was clear and stars were visible.

Unfortunately, the fishing wasn't nearly as entertaining as the lightening. We trolled #9 Minnow Raps in 8-10 feet of water from Malay's to Second Duck Point (newly dubbed "The Alley") but caught only 3 rock bass and one 16 3/4" walleye that hit Rick's purpledescent lure. At 10:45 p.m. we called it a night.

Despite the lack of walleye action, it was another beautiful night on Leech Lake.