May 21, 2009 -- At Leech Lake

The winds today were out of the west at 15-20 mph. The high temperature was 61 degrees with a low of just 40 degrees. The sky was sunny and there were white caps on the lake, but I needed to get out on the water.

I awoke early this morning and had my boat on the lake by 6:30 a.m. I drifting using 4" Gulp minnows in smelt color on a Northland Slurp! Jig. I started fishing 8-10 feet of water off Second Duck Point, and gradually worked my way toward our house and eventually motored down to the Birches.

I caught a one jumbo perch, which I put back in the lake, and one FIB walleye (i.e., a rock bass). At 8:00 a.m. I went back to shore because the wind was really starting to pick up and the swells were getting a bit too big for me.

I saw my neighbor John Newman out on the lake, also up early and fishing, and he invited me over for coffee when we both got back on shore. We shared a pot of coffee, caught up on things and then I left to continue a variety of chores back at the house.

The order of business was to take the snow plow off the ATV and move the ATV from the garage attached to house to one of the out buildings we've dubbed the ATV garage. I keep the ATV in the attached garage during the winter, with the plow attached, to make it easier to plow the snow away from the house. But come springtime, I like to move it to the ATV garage so we have more room in the garage at the house.

I went to start the ATV but the battery was completely dead. I keep a trickle charger attached to the battery during the winter to keep the battery fresh, but I guess the battery is so old (7 years by my count) that it could no longer hold a charge. I used the pull cord to get the ATV started, lowered the winch I so could remove the snow plow blade, and then moved the ATV to the out building. I think I'll take the ATV into Bemidji Sports for service and a new battery next week sometime. I do a lot of the service on the ATV myself -- oil and filter change, air filter, grease all the various bearings, etc. -- but I have never had it in for a professional service and it's now due.

My next project was getting the Mosquito Magnet up and running. I had already charged the battery for 24 hours, so I was now ready to clear the hose entry and hook up a propane tank. At first the Magnet didn't work. But when I switched out propane tanks the thing fired up and started running properly.

As the sun set, the wind died down so I decided to go trolling for walleye -- my first such trip of the new season. I tied on a #7 Rapala Minnow Rap in a hot steel color and began trolling from Malays to past Second Duck Point in 8-12 feet of water. The water temperature was 58 degrees.

From 9:00 to 10:15 p.m. I caught a 12", 14 1/2", 17 1/2" and an 18 1/4" walleye. I kept the 17 1/2" fish for a later dinner.

After the various inconveniences of the past few days, it was really nice to settle into my Lund Pro V 1800 IFS boat and do some walleye fishing on Leech Lake!