May 29, 2009 -- At Leech Lake

Rick with a 23 1/2-inch Leech Lake walleye; off Second Duck Point.

Today was Rick's first day on Leech Lake since September 2008 and he was happy to be back on it. We started fishing today jigging with shiners at the Birches. We caught a couple of small perch but no walleye. Then we motored across Sucker Bay to Big Hardwood Point where we joined about 8 other boats. We again jigged for walleyes with shiners and again were skunked.

We then motored back across the bay to Second Duck Point where we decided to fore go jigging and start trolling crankbaits. That was the ticket.

Using #9 Rapala Minnow Raps -- Rick's in purpledescent color and me with a bleeding hot olive colored lure -- we started to catch fish.

I caught several perch, a rock bass and a small northern (generally disappointing), but Rick did much better. He caught a perch, a small 9" walleye, as well as a 22" and 23 1/2" walleye.

The temperature today was a pleasant 66 degrees as a high, with a low of 42. The water temperature was 61 degrees. The wind while we were out fishing was 6 mph from the south, but by evening it had picked up to 15-25 mph from the NW so we didn't go out trolling tonight. The wind finally died down to around 5-10 mph from the west around 10 p.m.

A very good day on Leech Lake.